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The Montville Mustangs closed the 2008 football season with a thrilling victory on the road. The Mustangs were resilient, showing a won’t-quit sports attitude throughout the game and, overcoming a two touchdown deficit to beat Fair Lawn in a North Jersey consolation game.
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The Mustangs struggled to start the football game and everything that could go wrong, went wrong, from penalties to fumbles. Fair Lawn took advantage of the Mustangs' misfortunes and took the lead on an 81-yard run by Joe Visaggio.
After the Cutters extended their lead, the Mustangs' fire seemed to return and they drove down the field to score. On one play the Montville offensive line pushed Fair Lawn back about 20 yards, and Cody Phillips ran one in on the next play to make it 14-7 as the first half was coming to an end.
The Mustangs began the third quarter moving the football effectively and looked on their way to square the sports contest. A startling fumble recovered by Fair Lawn ended those hopes. And if it wasn’t bad enough, Fair Lawn’s Kevin Carlson took a 55 yarder in for a TD.
Now down 21-7 and somewhat demoralized by the change of events, the Mustangs had to dig deep. As so they did with a solid drive to inch closer at 21-14. Quarterback Vin Lizza took it in for a short TD and the Mustangs had new life. After an interception gave Montville good field position, Phillips’s second touchdown of the game squared the game at 21-21 just before the end of the third quarter.
Not to be outdone, Fair Lawn drove the football and scored to take the lead. However, they failed on a 2 point conversion on an attempted trick play. That decision would come back to haunt the Cutters.
The Mustangs had the football with eight minutes to go and used their strong running game to gallop down the field. Phillips ran in for his third score to give the Mustangs a 28-27 lead with just under four minutes left.
The defense was able to finish what they started as they stood their ground, forcing Fair Lawn to try a 42-yard field goal against the wind. The kick never had a chance as the kicker slipped and missed well short.
Coach Gerry Gallagher of Montville said, “We had four gut-wrenching losses this season. It was nice to finally get a gut-wrenching win." The victory also means the Mustangs end the season with an above-.500 record at 6-4. --Emir Liguori for Jersey Sports Now
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