Montclair High School head coach John Fiore sort of hinted that his team was thinking about December 4 rather than Thanksgiving Day eve. Even so, come Wednesday evening, the Mounties first-year coach said it will be impossible for the team to forget its rivalry with neighboring Bloomfield when the annual holiday game plays out.

"I think that they will be pumped up," said Fiore. "It's a rivalry game and they don't want to embarrass themselves."

Fiore knows and there have been coaches who have kept their starters off the field for most of the Thanksgiving Day eve game or the entire game to preserve them and keep them from getting injured before a state final.

But that will not be the case for Fiore. "We're playing to win this game," he said. "We want to keep the momentum going into the state finals."

Indeed, Fiore and Montclair have a lot of momentum after defeating Union City, 35-12, last Saturday in the Group 4 North 1 semi-finals. The Mounties take on Randolph in the Group 4 North 1 state sectional final at the Meadowlands Stadium on December 4 at 4:30 p.m.

In addition to keeping the "momentum" going, the Mounties want to keep the winning streak alive with the Bengals. Montclair has won six straight battles against Bloomfield, with the last Bengals victory coming in 2003. The game is in Montclair this season, as the games have been the last two seasons, since the Township of Bloomfield shut down the high school football field and the Bengals have been playing all road games for the last two seasons.

Bloomfield is 2-7 on the season while Montclair comes in with a mark of 6-4. The two wins for the Bengals have come over Belleville and Irvington while the Mounties are on a four-game winning streak with victories over Irvington (50-27), West Side (8-7), Ridgewood (38-28), and Union City (35-12).

But Fiore knows that—with the history between the two schools and the long-time rivalry between the towns and the schools—it will be a tough battle. "You can throw out the records with these two teams," Fiore said. "Hopefully the kids understand that."   

Bloomfield has played some tough teams during the season, including a loss of 30-20 to Nutley, a Group 3 North 2 state finalist. In all, the Bengals faced five state playoff teams during the season including losing to Seton Hall Prep (56-21) and West Orange (57-14).   

The top runner for Bloomfield that the Mounties defense will be trying to stop is Doug Collins who had a pair of touchdown runs in the 28-7 win over Belleville in September.

While Bloomfield has a spread offense, Fiore said that the key to another win on Thursday is for the defense to contain the Bloomfield running game. "You got to stop the running game and force them to throw the ball," Fiore said.

And that will be the key for the Montclair defenders like Julian Pinnix-Odrick, Otis Wright, Stephaun Marshall, Christopher O'Neal, and Sam Parker.

During the season, the Bengals moved their quarterback Keith Marek to wide receiver and placed sophomore Michael Carter, the son of Bloomfield head coach Mike Carter, in at the quarterback position. Carter threw a touchdown and ran for another in the 44-14 loss to Livingston at the end of October.

Offensively again for Montclair, it will be quarterback Khalif Herbin who is sure to tear apart the Bloomfield defense if the Mounties want to win its seventh game of the season. Herbin ran for a touchdown and threw for another one in the victory over Union City in the playoffs. The junior quarterback ran for 127 yards on the ground in the victory.

Montclair, though, will be without running Anthony Webb, who sprained his foot against Union City. Fiore added that Webb will be ready for the state final next week. The Mounties are sure to give the ball to running back Marshall.