The New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) will crown its champion this Saturday when the Montclair Red Hawks (8-1) host the Kean Cougars (8-1) at Sprague Field. The winner will get an automatic birth in the NCAA tournament which begins next Saturday.
Quarterbacks Drew Cathey of Montclair, and Tom D'Ambrisi of Kean, took very different roads before arriving at this destination.
D'Ambrisi is a four-year starter at Kean, where he has consistently been one the NJAC's best quarterbacks. A quarterback with outstanding elusiveness in the pocket and an ability to run for first downs, D'Ambrisi is also an excellent passer. The 2011 season has been typical D'Ambrisi. The quarterback has thrown for 1625 yards, and 15 touchdowns against 6 interceptions. D'Ambrisi is commonly mentioned alongside Cortland's Dan Pitcher when people discuss the premier quarterbacks in the NJAC.
Junior Drew Cathey started the season backing up Tom Fischer. All appeared well in Red Hawks Land. Montclair rattled off four consecutive victories to start the season with Fischer at the helm. In the fifth game of the season, Montclair built a 24-14 lead in a key game against Cortland State. But late in the first half, Fischer's season ended with an unfortunate injury, forcing Cathey into the game.
Cathey struggled to get up to speed. After a 60-yard touchdown run by Chris D'Andrea gave Montclair a 31-14 lead, Cortland roared back to take a 33-31 lead. But with 1:50 remaining to play, Cathey hit Gerald Silvera for a 41-yard completion deep into Cortland territory, setting up a game winning field goal for Montclair.
Cathey threw for only 83 yards the following week in a win over William Paterson. The following week, TCNJ upset Montclair 27-21. But Cathey was showing progress, throwing for 157 yards and a touchdown, with no interceptions. After an easy win over winless West Conn, Cathey and Montclair rallied from 21-0 down on the road at Rowan to win 37-31 in overtime. The quarterback overcame 3 interceptions to throw for a season-high 318 yards.
While Kean appears to have an edge with D'Ambrisi at quarterback, Montclair's tailback Chris D'Andrea is a great equalizer. Senior D'Andrea averages 6.3 yards per carry, and better than 160 yards per game.
Both Kean and Montclair bring nasty defenses to the table. Each yields less than 18 points per game, and less than 6 yards per pass play. Neither team compiles huge sack numbers, but both hurry the quarterback and rarely give up big plays.
While Montclair versus Kean will not be mistaken for an episode of All In The Family, it is notable that Kean rebuilt its once struggling program under Head Coach Dan Garrett, former all conference player and Defensive Coordinator at Montclair. Garrett took over in 2006 and has never had a losing season with the Cougars, who were perennially weak in the NJAC prior to his arrival.
Venerable Head Coach Rick Giancola of Montclair is in his 29th season with the Red Hawks. Giancola has compiled an amazing 129-41 record within the NJAC, one of the toughest conferences in Division 3.
Our pick to win? We're going with Montclair in a tight defensive thriller. The Red Hawks passing game is back, and you can't say enough about the importance of home field advantage in a November championship game. Whichever team loses will likely be one of the most talented teams not in the NCAA tournament.
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