Mountain Lakes football seizes state championship

EAST RUTHERFORD – Lincoln took the third play of the game for an electric 77-yard touchdown pass – and Mountain Lakes now had to fight uphill in the NJSIAA Section 2, Group II championship game.

"Not the way we wanted to start," Herd standout Brian Olshanski said.

But the Herd got a chance to finish the way they wanted.

And that finish had a very happy ending.

Mountain Lakes rolled to a 36-28 victory for its state-leading 24th consecutive victory and second straight state title.

The Herd may have started slow but once their vaunted Delaware Wing-T got rolling, there was no stopping them. They scored on all three of their first-half possessions with long, time-consuming drives, and then took the second-half kickoff and scored again.

But the game shifted early in the second quarter because of special teams, when Mountain Lakes' Sean Breslauer stripped Lincoln's D'Andrew Wright near the sideline at the Lincoln 8 and then recovered. Two plays later, the Herd scored once again, for two touchdowns in the span of 36 seconds for a 22-14 lead early in the second quarter.

Kicker Zander Kotsen's kickoff seemed to have a strange spin on it and Wright mishandled it.

"That was a great job there by Zander Kotsen," coach Darrell Fusco said. "All week, no ... 11 days, we practiced that. He did it beautifully. That changed the course of the game right there."

Mountain Lakes senior fullback Bobby Frawley followed with a 2-yard touchdown two plays later for what was by far Mountain Lakes shortest time of possession of the game.

If you love watching the old-school Wing T at peak efficiency, the rest of the possessions were a thing of beauty. The Herd ran through their usual assortment of fullback blasts, jet sweeps and misdirections and moved the ball on the ground all morning long.

And they did it at breakneck speed, which left Lincoln gasping for air.

The offensive line, meanwhile, pushed around the weary defenders.

"Our O-Line came out firing," Frawley (21 for 98) said. "They had some big guys but we got the first step and blew them off the ball."

The Herd answered the Lincoln's first touchdown by going 60 yards in 10 plays before quarterback Brad Smith zig-zagged his way through the Lincoln defense for a 21-yard touchdown, his first of three TDs in the first half.

Lincoln responded with a 67-yard drive of its own but missed the two-point conversion.

Mountain Lakes responded by going 63 yards in 11 plays with Smith scoring from the 2. Kosten made the PAT, making it 15-14.

At that point, Fusco and the Herd sideline felt confident.

"At 15-14 we felt we were in great shape," Fusco said. "After our first drive, we felt we could get to them. Our kids could see it."

Later in the half, it was the Herd's defense that came up big, stopping Lincoln on a fourth-and-3 at the Mountain Lakes 17 with 3:07 left before halftime.

Mountain Lakes then took over and marched downfield, scoring when Smith (14 for 94, 3 TDs) rolled right and kept the ball and scored with one second remaining for a 29-14 lead going into the half.

Then in the second half, the Herd's running game continued doing whatever it wished, going 62 yards in 11 plays and scoring when Brad Landry (12 for 59) took an inside handoff, spun past one defender and went in standing up.

Lincoln responded by scoring two touchdowns to within one score, but Frawley recovered an onsides kick. The Herd ran out the clock.

"We're like a band of brothers," Olshanski said. "It's great to go out with a win."

Lincoln-14-0-6-8--28

Mountain Lakes-8-21-7-0--36

L-D'Andre Wright 77 pass from Zymire Gordon (Devell Jones pass from Gordon).

ML-Brad Smith 21 run (Brian Olshanski pass from Smith).

L-Jones 1 run (run failed).

ML-Smith 2 run (Zander Kosten kick).

ML-Bobby Frawley 2 run (Kotsen kick).

ML-Smith 2 run (Kotsen kick).

ML--Brad Landry 10 run (Kotsen kick).

L--Jason Harrison 23 pass from Gordon (run failed).

L--Gordon 3 run (Darius Wade run).

Team records -- Mountain Lakes 12-0, Lincoln 10-2.