December 1, 1990, Randolph High School football made history. My single favorite moment from all my years as a photojournalist happened 29 years ago today! What’s been called 'The greatest high school game ever played' Randolph High school holder Eric Schaub & Mike Groh (now offensive coordinator of the Philadelphia Eagles) celebrated as Groh's 37 yrd FG with 0:01 seconds left in the game cleared the uprights at Woodman Field in Montclair. Randolph beating heavily favored Montclair 22-21 to capture the 1990 Group 4 Sec 2 State Championship.
Randolph holder Eric Schaeb (left) and quarterback/kicker Mike Groh rejoice after the game-winning field goal in the 1990 title game. Montclair’s Garland Thornton, sprawled on the field, narrowly missed blocking the kick.
”I’ve been around long enough to know how many ways there are to lose a football game. And during this streak there have been about 10 games that you’d ordinarily lose. But the ball keeps bouncing our way. Maybe the Lord is rewarding me for all my hard work over the years.” --Randolph Coach John Bauer Sr.
The time clock showed 0:00. Randolph’s miracle season was over, the score was 21-19. Montclair fans rushed the field as the dejected Rams walked to back their sidelines. After four perfect years, there would be no fifth straight championship, the win streak was over at a state record 47 games. The favored Mounties, the number one team in the state would beat number two Randolph. Seventeen days after the death of their beloved coach John Bauer Sr., the Rams had run out of miracles in the 1990 North Jersey Section 2, Group IV State Championship game. Legendary Coach John Bauer Sr. had planned on retiring after the 1990 season but insisted that he wouldn’t quit until the team lost. He said he didn’t want his son to carry the burden of Randolph losing its first game. As if empowering his team from the great beyond, Bauer Sr. who had coached Randolph since 1965 wasn’t about to let his Rams dream season end with a loss. There was one more victory cigar for him to smoke.
mir·a·cle Pronunciation: \ˈmir-i-kəl\ Function: noun Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French, from Late Latin miraculum, from Latin, a wonder, marvel, from mirari to wonder at Date: 12th century 1 : an extraordinary event manifesting divine intervention in human affairs 2 : an extremely outstanding or unusual event, thing, or accomplishment
The next moments on December 1, 1990 are the things Hollywood movies are made of. The kind with tidy, clean, happy, Hollywood endings. Events that couldn’t possibly happen in the real world. But this epic wasn’t made on a sound set in California, it was fought on the cold tundra of Montclair’s Woodman field. What been known as ‘The greatest high school game ever played’ Holder Eric Schaeb, l, and Mike Groh celebrate as Groh’s 37 yrd FG with 0:01 seconds left in the game clears the uprights at Woodman Field in Montclair. Randolph beat heavily favored Montclair 22-21 to capture the 1990 Group 4 Sec 2 State Championship. The first miracle came with seconds to go in the game. Thousands of Montclair fans rushed the field prematurely as clock hit 0:00, Montclair apparently winning the game by two points. Before the time clock had actually run out, Montclair was whistled for delay-of-game. It was now fourth down and the celebrating fans had to be pushed back into the stands. Montclair was now forced to punt from inside their own 10-yard-line. Six seconds were put back on the clock. The kick went up, straight up, coming down somewhere around the 20 yard line into the arms of Billy Williams of Randolph who smartly called for the fair catch as he went down to one knee, stopping the clock. It was then that Mike Groh stepped back on the field for the last time as a high school star, attempting only his second field goal of the year. With one second left, Eric Schaeb took the snap and Groh took two steps kicking the football 37 yards through the uprights leaving 12,000 fans on Woodman Field stunned at the miracle they had just witnessed. The score was now 22-21, the Randolph Rams were the State Champions, their win streak now 48 games. One New Jersey newspaper calling it the “greatest high school football game ever played.” Mike Groh, 47, who was a celebrated quarterback for UVA in the 1990s currently serves as Offensive Coordinator for the Philly Eagles, talked with me back in 2009 about the highs and lows of Randolph’s miracle season and of course, “the kick.”
“I had only attempted one other field goal all season long and that was a twenty-one yarder. I did make it, however. We rarely needed to kick field goals. When we got in a situation, we usually went for it on fourth down.” He added, “We were fortunate that Billy Williams made the fair catch with a second left which allowed us the opportunity to attempt the kick. I knew I’d make it if we could just line up and try it. I always felt my team had the best chance to win when I had the ball at the end of the game. No matter the sport, I wanted that responsibility. I just focused on the same routine that Eric Schaeb, Mark Schmidt and I worked on every Thursday afternoon.”
I remember very clearly before the fourth down penalty was whistled, running across the field to the Montclair Side so I could shoot straight at Randolph’s bench. I have always preferred taking jubilation over dejection photos, but if Randolph was about to lose this historic game, I had to document it. In a matter of moments I was rushing back to the other side of the field, this time, to make a photo of a dejected kicker and holder after what would certainly be a missed field goal. I can remember looking through the viewfinder, holding my breath as I always doing when I’m about to shoot. And waiting. The ball was snapped, the kick was up, at that moment, my entire world existed in only what I could see through my viewfinder. Whether the kick was good or not, it would be history. Through my whirring shutter, I suddenly saw Mike Groh throwing his arms up in the air. It wasn’t possible! It couldn’t be! It was a miracle! I knew immediately this would be an important photo, my only thought at the time, ‘please let it be in focus.’ Over a twenty five year career where Ive literally made millions of frames, it easily remains one of my top five favorite moments and certainly one of the reason I got into photojournalism.
Actor John Amos, graduate of East Orange High School but on the Montclair sideline cheering on the Mounties
I got a call the next day after my photo appeared dominantly on the front page of the paper. A fellow photographer shooting the game for a weekly newspaper had left prematurely thinking he had made all the photos he needed of the winning Montclair celebration. All I heard after picking up the phone was, “YOU SONOFABITCH!” It was a compliment I’ll always cherish. When I asked Mike Groh how it was possible to stay focused after the loss of their legendary coach, he gave credit to the coaches and assistant coaches (particularly John Bauer Jr.) saying the focus was a tribute to Bauer Sr. “They never wavered in their message of what the goals were for our team. As seniors, we wanted to make sure that our legacy would be secure by winning a 5th straight title and setting the consecutive win record. We knew that would be the best tribute we could ever make for our coach.” -Mike Groh Legendary Coach John Bauer Sr. in his last game with the Rams. John Bauer Jr. would say during an interview ten years after the historic win, “Our primary concern was making sure that the young people who we were with were able to finish what my father had begun. Their legs were cut out from under them, it’s really hard to fathom how a 15 to 17-year-old will react under those circumstances.” Bauer added,
“My Dad told them before the season that they were the best, and I don’t think they believed it before today.”
Groh finished our interview by saying, “Great moments are born from great opportunity. Our team had made a commitment to each other back in the beginning of the summer and playing against a great team like Montclair was the payoff. In order to become one of the great teams in Randolph Football history, we had to have the mindset that we wouldn’t be denied. We knew that if we all just did our job, played with discipline, toughness, effort and relentless competitive attitude that would carry us to victory. I will always be proud to say I played football at Randolph High School, for Mr. Bauer, Sr., and Mr. Bauer, Jr., the coaching staff and all my teammates.” Twenty-five years ago, throughout a historic win streak, a physically and emotionally demanding season and one of the most improbably finishes in high school football history, Mike Groh, his teammates and Coach John Bauer Jr. played like champions giving their beloved coach, John Bauer Sr. the tribute that he deserved.
All my respect and condolences to the family of John Bauer Jr., the architect of Randolph’s stunning 1990 championship who passed away this October.
