So many little boys growing up in Montclair, N.J., in the 1950s, 60s, 70s and 80s shared the same dream: To one day play for the high school football team, the Mounties. They didn’t know exactly why, but football and a deep connection to the sport just seemed to be in their blood.

The genesis of that love — how the Montclair Mounties became more or less the New York Yankees of New Jersey high school football — is explored in the second episode of NJ.com’s new podcast, “Lights Out: The loss of a lifetime.” You can listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

The latest episode follows a group of boys who begin playing in Montclair’s youth football program, where they set records and win a national championship. This same core of kids will go on to form the foundation of the 1990 Mounties — the team that who eventually suffer the most devastating loss in New Jersey high school history, in a game known as “The Miracle at Montclair.”

Listeners will meet former players, coaches, media members and superfans like Mike Maffucci, a colorful Montclair native who talks about his family crying anytime the Mounties lost a game.

“If Montclair lost, we were in a depression,” Maffucci says. “The whole family. The whole block. Probably the whole town. It was bad. It was like somebody died.”

Lights Out is a production of Campside Media and Entertainment One, in association with NJ Advance Media and XTR. The podcast is based off NJ Advance Media’s 2019 award-winning feature story, “The day that changed everything.”

You can listen, rate and subscribe on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts. New episodes will be released every Tuesday.

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Matthew Stanmyre may be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @MattStanmyre. Find NJ.com on Facebook.