Montgomery football rolls to victory over Plainfield

PLAINFIELD -  To best illustrate the Montgomery football team's utter dominance over Plainfield on Saturday, consider this: the Cougars' offense may have been its third most-effective unit despite registering its highest point total in its last 16 outings, dating to 2014.

A stingy defense and opportunistic special teams certainly made life easier for the offense as Montgomery defeated Plainfield for the sixth consecutive year with an abbreviated 40-6 triumph at Hub Stine Field.

With five of its last seven possessions commencing in Plainfield territory, the Cougars' big-play offense seldom had the need to mount a sustained drive. None of Montgomery's touchdown drives required more than five plays.

"Special  teams were huge today," Montgomery coach Zoran Milich said. "I thought we did one of our better jobs on offense. And the defense, I thought, played very well."

Montgomery's first score, barely one minute into the contest, didn't require any plays from the offense, coming on a muffed snap on a punt that Reese Hilton-Clarke picked up at the 3 and toted into the end zone.

"We were hoping to get off to a fast start, we hadn't gotten off to fast starts in the last few games," Milich said. "We scored six points in the last two games so the whole idea, this game, was let's get out early."

For the afternoon the Cougars recovered two Plainfield fumbles, intercepted two passes and blocked three punts.

"One thing we saw, even in the game's they lost, we felt like their O line got a push, they came off the ball," Milich explained. "We thought we could contain the perimeter, hoping to force them to throw some deep balls. That was our biggest concern, their offensive line taking it to our defensive line."

The Cougars second score came on a 46 yard pass to Ryan Cashman from Michael Patrizio, an efficient 9-of-13 for 179 yards and two touchdowns, on its second possession eight minutes in for a 13-0 edge.

Junior Kyle Kuminski had a hand, literally, in both of Montgomery's second-quarter touchdowns, hauling in a 47-yard pass from Patrizio and tossing a 32-yard strike to Daniel Young on a reverse for a 26-0 cushion at the break.

Messiah Divine extended the lead to 40-0 and invoked the mercy rule and a running clock with a pair of short runs in the third quarter. Divine carried six time for 42 yards, but 5-8, 242-pound Damion Bland was the game's leading rusher with 62 yards on 12 punishing carries.

Plainfield broke through for its third touchdown of the a season on a 12-yard pass from Mark Daniels to Darrien Murphy with 3:30 to play. But that 79-yard march came against Montgomery's second defense and accounted for most the Cardinals' 142 yards of total offense.

MONTGOMERY  (2-3) 13-13-14-0-40

PLAINFIELD  (0-5) 0-0-0-0-6

SCORING SUMMARY

M - Hilton-Clarke 3 fumble return (Villaverde kick)

M - Cashman 46 pass from Patrizio (kick failed)

M - Kuminski 47 pass from Patrizio (Villaverde kick)

M - Young 32 pass from Kuminski (kick blocked)

M - Divine 9 run (Villaverde kick)

M - Divine 3 run (Villaverde kick)

P - Murphy 12 pass from Daniels (run failed)

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing - M:  Bland 12-62,  Divine 6-42, Patrizio 2-7, Schiavo 2-2, Wierzbicki 5-2, Thompson 1-0, Clemons 2-0, Turner 1-minus 1; P: Spencer 8-52, Woodard 8-42, Fort-Fagg 9-15, Daniels 4-8.

Passing - M: Patrizio 9-13-0-179, Kuminski 1-1-0-32; P: Daniels 3-22-1-25, Woodard 0-2-0-0.

Receiving - M: Cashman 3-52, Kuminski 1-47, Young 2-40, Schiavo 2-31, Turner 1-27, Bland 1-14; P: Murphy 1-12, Woodard 1-9, Privott 1-4.