Both the Montclair and Livingston football teams would go back and forth, pretty much scoring at will on Saturday afternoon, with neither team gaining the upper hand.

But Livingston would get the best and last chance as Lancers junior quarterback Andrew Egner hit senior wide receiver Dan Abrahams on the two-point conversion for a 44-43 lead with 26 seconds left.

"We did not want to go to overtime," said Egner about going for the two-point play. "We weren't stopping them on defense."

Montclair tried to duplicate what they did against Union City in its first game, when it scored a last-second touchdown for a victory, but it was not meant to be at Woodman Field on Saturday.

With the final seconds ticking off, Mounties quarterback Nate Crutchfield hit Mike Smith on a 20-yard reception, but Smith fumbled the ball and Livingston senior Sam White would recover the football. The fumble ended any Montclair thoughts of a miracle of their own.

With the 44-43 victory, Livingston raises its record to 4-1 while Montclair dropped its third game in a row, falling to 2-3.

"We really are the comeback kids and there is good chemistry on this team," said Livingston head coach Barry Kostibos, whose team scored in the final 22 seconds to defeat Irvington 17-14 the previous week. "This team is really resilient."

He added that when the team got together last December to prepare for the 2010 season, this is where they wanted to be. "We wanted to play some meaningful games at this point of the season," said Kostibos, whose team went through a 0-10 season in 2009.

As of this week's power points, both teams were in the top five of Group 4 North 1 and could face each other in the state tournament if both teams can win later this season.

Egner would throw for two touchdowns and run for another while completing half his passes, 14 for 28 for 217 yards in the air and only one interception. "This was a big win and we knew that Montclair was a very good team," said Egner.

Livingston senior Anthony Cappuccino would score from six yards out to set up the deciding two-point conversion. In addition to getting the winning touchdown, Cappuccino ran for two more scores.

Montclair's loss overshadowed a huge day for Mounties junior quarterback Kahalif Herbin, who topped all of his other offensive games this season by scoring all six touchdowns for Montclair, be it running, receiving, or special teams. "He's a player," said Montclair head coach John Fiore about Herbin. "He's a dynamic player."

Overall Herbin just missed getting 400 all-purpose yards on Saturday. The junior had 398 all-purpose yards including 188 yards rushing, 165 on kickoff returns, and a 45-yard touchdown reception.

And it was Herbin that played a big role in Livingston deciding to go for a two-point conversion instead of going for one point and the tie. "He is just really impressive," said Egner about Herbin.

Fiore said he had wanted to have an extended drive that turned out to be their last touchdown of the game. Herbin, though, would run 31 yards for the touchdown. A Taylor Ullrich point after made it 43-36 in favor of Montclair with 3:32 remaining in the game. "I was trying to run the clock down as much as possible," said Fiore. "You can't tell him (Herbin) to stop from scoring."

After the game, the Montclair head coach said that they gave the game away to Livingston. "We had just too many turnovers," said Fiore.

After Mounties Dante Bellamy intercepted an Egner pass at the Montclair one in the third quarter, Herbin was tripped up on the next play and fumbled with Lancers Scott Hochberg recovering the ball. Two plays later, Cappuccino would go in from two yards out. Cappuccino kicked the point after to tie the game at 22.

It would be the first of the two mistakes that Herbin made on the day. In the fourth quarter the Mountie muffed a punt return that was recovered by Lancers Brent Blanck Singer at the Mounties 23. Two players later Egner would keep the ball from one-yard out to tie the game at 36.

Fiore pointed to a couple of fourth down and long situations that the Lancers were able to take for either a touchdown or a first down. Livingston got its first touchdown on a fourth down and 12 call. Egner hit Tom Johnson on a 29-yard touchdown pass along the right side of the field. The two, Egner and Johnson, hit up on the two-point conversion to tie the game at eight.

Also in the deciding drive, Egner hit Nick Grande on a fourth down and 10 with less than 90 seconds remaining in the game at the Montclair 29.

Kostibos said that this is just the type of team that he has trained. Last week, it was Cappuccino again that scored the game winning touchdown, a two-yard run with 22 seconds left in the win over Irvington. What appeared to be a low-scoring game in the first half became a shootout when the scoreboard reached 0:00 in the fourth quarter.

Next week, Montclair continues its killer schedule when they travel to West Orange, who is 4-1 after losing 51-27 to Seton Hall Prep on Saturday while Livingston hosts West Side, 1-4, on Friday night.