There is recent playoff history to turn to with Cedar Grove having won at Mountain Lakes, 15-7, in the 2021 North 2, Group 1 sectional final prior to edging Park Ridge, 13-12 for a North, Group 1 Regional championship at MetLife Stadium.
The Herd bounced back very nicely the next two seasons, proceeding to finish 11-2 each time while reaching consecutive, overall Group 1 state finals, losing to Woodbury, 31-7, in the 2002 championship game before defeating Glassboro, 24-6, in the 2023 title tilt..
And, while both teams are fully focused on this Friday night’s N2G1 semifinal, also at The Herd’s Wilkins Field, one can’t but harken back 17 years to the last days of the old Colonial Hills Conference, which was a very viable league comprised mainly of Morris and Essex County schools.
In other playoff sectional semifinals this weekend featuring Essex County teams, fourth-seeded Caldwell (5-4) is at 1-Westwood (9-1) in N1G2, 4-Rutherford (8-1) is at 1-Shabazz (8-1) in N2G2, 3-West Essex (6-3) is at 2-Summit (8-2) and 3-East Orange Campus (8-1) is at 2-Passaic Tech (7-3) and 4-Livingston (7-3) at 1-West Orange (8-2) in N1G4.
The last meeting between Cedar Grove and Mountain Lakes on the gridiron in CHC play was back on Nov. 7, 2008, when Mountain Lakes defeated the Panthers, 32-21, as The Herd was on its way to the first of two straight 12-0 seasons under the guidance of the late, great coach Doug Wilkins, who retired from the sidelines after the perfect 2009 season.
Cedar Grove was led by its legendary head mentor Ed Sadloch, whose teams won playoff sectional titles in 2004, 2007, 2009 and 2011. His Panthers did drop what would be their final CHC game at Mountain Lakes, 14-9, back in 2006.
The CHC was no more after the 2008-2009 school year as new conferences around the state including the Super Essex and Northwest Jersey were unveiled.
The current Cedar Grove squad (7-3) is guided by a former Sadloch protégé and ex-Panther star quarterback Rob Gogerty, who is in the midst of 10th season at the helm and guided his team to a superb 13-1 sectional state championship season last fall and an appearance in the overall Group 1 final.
Mountain Lakes (7-2) is directed by 16th-year head coach Darrell Fusco, a former Wilkins assistant.
The Herd had quite the 9-year run from 2006-2013 while putting together a glittering 96-7 record with four 12-0 seasons during that time. In 2006, Mountain Lakes defeated a Dan Sabella-coached Bogota team in a sectional playoff final at MetLife Stadium and the success just kept on coming for the Morris County team.
Wilkins coached the first four seasons during that incredible stretch of outstanding Herd teams and Fusco directed the last five teams in that span of time following Wilkins' retirement from coaching after the 2009 campaign.
Mountain Lakes and Cedar Grove have each won nine sectional state titles apiece, but how far either will go in this season’s Group 1 playoff picture remains to be seen as both have had their hiccups along the way this fall; however, neither is usually an easy out for anyone, especially come playoff time.
“Mountain Lakes and Cedar Grove always bring back some memories including great games in the past,” said Gogerty. “During our initial prep work on Saturday we threw on some old game films from the past to start to get ready.
“It's two great programs that have had so much Group 1 success for over 25 years. I always say at some point to get where you want to go in Group 1 you will have to go through Mountain Lakes at some point.
“We are fortunate to have a ton of former players who coach on staff who are able to share memories and talk about the traditions our team will face at Mountain Lakes on Friday night so I think it's a sort of cool experience for our players to learn what they are walking into.
“The bottom line, though, is that we are preparing to execute a game plan and limit mistakes in order to win a football game during this time no matter where the game is played.”
