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In search of their first home football victory of the season, Wayne Valley had to work a little extra to get the job done. The Indians had all they could handle from a resilient Montville side until the final pass of the game. In the end, one point was the only separation between these teams in a 14-13 contest.
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Wayne Valley spread out their offense as they scored their only points on their first and last possessions of the game. A seemingly easy first drive led to a Ryan Durr touchdown run and got the Indians off to an early lead.
After the initial drive, though, yardage became harder to earn as the Mustangs defense really stepped up their sports game. Montville would hold Wayne Valley in check for the remaining three quarters while scoring a touchdown of their own on a QB sneak by Vinnie Lizza.
Both teams played very conservative football and used the running game to maintain ball control for as long as they could. Mistakes were held to a minimum as there was only one turnover between both teams. That single turnover almost proved to be deadly as Montville got good field position off an interception by Cody Phillips with four minutes remaining in the game. A short drive led to a game winning FG attempt, but a bad snap prevented the opportunity.
Wayne Valley had the ball first in overtime. The Indians mainly kept to the ground, but a big third down pass by quarterback Pete Savastano was the key play to keeping the drive alive. A few plays later, Pat LaNeve took a handoff over the right side and powered his way through two Montville defenders right into the end zone.
In Montville’s attempt, the same rules applied as they used their tricky run offense to move down the field. A fourth down conversion run kept their hopes alive and moved them within ten yards of a tie. Shortly after, Lizza scored his second TD of the day on another QB sneak to bring them within one point.
Montville coach Gerry Gallagher, who had been playing conservatively all game, went deep into the playbook and chose to go for the two point conversion. A rollout by Lizza seemed promising until the pass skimmed off the fingertips of his receiver and sailed out of the endzone to give Wayne Valley the one-point win.
Coach Brian O’Connor from Wayne Valley called it a huge victory for his football squad in terms of qualifying for the New Jersey state playoffs. "If we did drop to 2-2, it would have been a big hole to dig out of. Being 3-1 is very huge for us. It wasn't pretty but a win's a win."
On the other sideline, there wasn’t much to be ashamed of. "I couldn't be any prouder of my team had we won the game," said Gallagher.
Wayne Valley plays host to Millburn next Friday while 1-3 Montville willl be back home to take on Passaic Valley. -- Anthony Mulvihill for Jersey Sports Now
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