The curtain was coming down on Mountain Lakes’ season. The air was out of the Herd balloon. The sun was setting. The 2024 season was drifting away.
Bye-bye, Herd.
Mountain Lakes was kaput – or so it seemed. Things were mighty bleak against spunky Lenape Valley.
The Herd needed a miracle. Actually, they needed two.
They got both.
Mountain Lakes pulled off the unthinkable … twice … and came away with a 17-14 victory that was one-part crazy, one-part insane, and one-part-downright impossible.
Right???
“It looked like our season was over,” coach Darrell Fusco said.
It sure did.
But the Herd, aided by TWO miracles, are very much alive in the state playoffs and headed for New Milford Friday night.
They almost didn’t make it. Lenape almost did.
“We were in a tight spot,” admitted Lakes’ Connor Higgins, one of the engineers of the Mountain Lakes Miracle.
Somehow, some way, they pulled out an incredible victory and advanced in the North 1, Group I playoffs.
“Absurd,” Fusco said.
Absurd, indeed.
Lenape, which lost a 27-6 decision to Mountain Lakes earlier in the season, seemed to have the upper hand all night.
The Patriots had taken the lead with 1:12 left in the game when Tanner Goboda rushed in from the 1 for his second score of the night.
How bleak did things look for the Herd at that point? Goboda seemed to cross the end zone and run to the back of the end zone without even being touched.
Not a good look for Mountain Lakes.
But there was still time left – and some life left for Fusco’s team.
“We never stopped believing,” Higgins said. “The odds were against us, but we have plays in the bag.”
Oh, they sure did – even without stellar fullback Carson Fitch, who was lost with an injury earlier in the evening.
Time for Miracle No. 1.
The Herd took over on their own 39 with 1:07 left and, on first down, quarterback Brett Beierle threw a short pass along the left side to Higgins, who caught the ball and, as he was being brought down by a Lenape defender, flipped the ball to Massimo Corvelli, who tip-toed a bit up the left sideline for 56 yards for a stunning touchdown to bring his team to within one. Kicker Romano Deconciliis then booted the PAT to tie it.
“Beierle made a great throw and Corvelli did an unbelievable job dodging all of their guys,” Higgins said. “It takes everybody to make that play work. The line also did a great job protecting Beierle.”
But it all started with the team believing it still could pull it off.
“When they scored, we still felt like we time,” Fusco said. “’Get a stop and get the ball.’ That’s what we were thinking. But it got late a little early for us.”
That’s when the team connected on its highly unlikely hook-and-lateral play. Oddly enough, the team does practice it 1-2 times weekly (sometimes the kids execute it, according to Fusco) but on the right side of the field. Beierle, new to the program this year, saw something on the left and that is where he threw it.
Fusco just hoped to move the ball downfield. He didn’t expect six points.
“I wanted chunk yardage,” he said, “that gave us some juice.”
It was fitting that the TD was scored by Corvelli, who had season-ending ACL surgery last year
“He has become dynamic,” Fusco said. “He was devastated after the injury. For him to have the surgery, and then to make that play … just tremendous.”
It brought the Herd to life as well as the crowd.
“The right play at the right time,” Fusco said. “Beierle is the new kid trying to make the throw. Higgins catches it and our stud halfback (Corvelli) took it to the house.”
Mountain Lakes hanging in despite being outplayed paid handsome dividends.
“Three quarters of bad football by us is wiped out,” Fusco said. “It looked like our season was over and then … BOOM!”
That set up …
Miracle No. 2
On the ensuing kickoff, the Lenape return man fumbled the ball at his own 16 and Higgins – there’s that man again – recovered.
“They lined up in an onsides kick because I think they thought we’d squib it,” Higgins said. “I just ran down and saw that the ball bounced and that (Lenape’s return man) had a hard time with it and I had a chance to recover it.”
After three running plays, Deconciliis booted a 25-yard field goal to win it.
That left it all up to Deconciliis, who made the clutch kick not once but twice (Lenape Valley had called a timeout a second before he nailed his first attempt).
“He’s a difference maker as a kicker,” Fusco said. “He is our starting defensive end and has become a good kicker.”
Not bad, for a team that seemed out of gas and dead in the water.
But the Herd were not done yet.
“We were reeling,” Fusco said. “They had a first and goal at our 1. We were thinking, ‘Do we let them score? Will they take a knee?’ Then their kid scores and we said, ‘Okay, here we go.’”
And there they went, following an unlikely miracle script to a tee.
Before the fumbled kickoff, Mountain Lakes coaches were simply contemplating overtime.
“We’re thinking, ‘Let’s bury them deep, stop them, and maybe block the punt,’” Fusco said. “We kicked deep, their kid came over, it’s a tough play and we get the ball back.”
Higgins’ hustle paid off handsomely. He opened up the eyes of the staff and became a starter on last year’s star-studded Group I state champions and was one of the few holdovers from that group.
One of the ironic twists of the recovered fumble was that Higgins was not on special teams early in the year but was pressed into service after the Herd surrendered a long kickoff return for a touchdown against Madison a few weeks back.
“We had issues early,” Fusco said. “Sometimes with small Group I schools, you put younger kids on special teams. But we had to put some seniors on. He ran down and made a play. You tell kids to hustle on every play, but any play could be a difference maker.”
Or part of a miracle to help win a playoff game.