Montclair Prep Pummels St. Genevieve, 55-14

When the least effective offense in the Valley came up against the stingiest defense Friday, something had to give.

Predictably, it was St. Genevieve High that gave way in a 55-14 loss to Montclair Prep in a nonleague game Friday at Valley College.

St. Genevieve (2-3), sporting the worst offense among the Valley’s Southern Section teams, managed only 85 yards in total offense and threw four interceptions against Montclair Prep (5-0), the Valley’s best defensive unit.

The Mounties were equally impressive on offense, scoring on four of their first seven plays. Not even the absence of tailback Michael Jones, who had amassed 656 yards in the first four games but sat this one out because of a bruised knee, slowed them.

Without Jones, the Mounties just marched in Derek Sparks, wound him up and watched him run for 215 yards and six touchdowns in 11 carries. Sparks is no understudy: He entered with 664 yards.

At one point, Sparks scored on five consecutive carries, raising St. Genevieve Coach Mark Lovett’s eyebrows. He knew of the Mounties’ reputation of running up the score: 61-0 over Brethren, 37-0 over Serrano, etc. Montclair Prep has outscored its opponents, 202-20.

“We knew they were going to try to run it up,” Lovett said. “That’s why we asked the refs not to stop the clock at the end.”

Indeed, the final two and a half minutes were played with running time. But Mounties Coach George Giannini was quick to point out that he had pulled Sparks early in the second half.

“I think when the score is 49-0 (49-7, actually), you have to pull your best backs,” he said.

As small consolation, the Valiants limited the Mounties to only 252 total yards. However, that was mostly because St. Genevieve continually turned the ball over in its own end. Montclair had gained only 64 total yards when it led, 28-0.