The college lacrosse trend for the Montclair high schools germinated from an event that occurred more than a half century ago, and involved a former legendary MKA coach who starred scholastically at Montclair High School.

Paul Edwards’ long and ultra-successful lacrosse career came to an end in 2021 at MKA as he has retired as head coach, but perhaps his biggest influence on the game in the Garden State occurred 55 years ago when he was a scholastic laxman looking to embark on a college career.

He was part of a signature event in 1970 as a member of a New Jersey all-star team of high school standouts who went to Washington & Lee University in Virginia and knocked off a highly-touted Baltimore County all-star squad, 11-8, setting off an absolute firestorm of recruiting right on the scene in Lexington.

Edwards of Montclair High along with Michael Perez of the Maplewood Lacrosse Club (Columbia HS) were offered scholarships on the spot by Johns Hopkins, while David Hallock of Fair Lawn and George Martz of the Maplewood Lacrosse Club were University of Maryland bound.

All four aforementioned players went on to win national championships for their respective colleges and were all later inducted into the N.J. Lacrosse Foundation Hall of Fame.

From 1970-74, eight Montclair players guided by the late, great coach Gil Gibbs received scholarships to either Maryland, Hopkins and Navy and played in 42 NCAA Final Fours, with six players winning D-1 national championships.

Edwards, a supreme faceoff artist at Hopkins, helped propel the Blue Jays to the 1974 NCAA title.

Following the signature 1970 all-star game in Virginia it became an annual practice for college coaches to seek out standouts from North Jersey towns such as Montclair where Gibbs was a pioneer in the sport, and in South Orange or Maplewood where coach Bob Curcio built his own very successful program at Columbia High School after beginning with the Maplewood Lacrosse Club.

The stars from Montclair at the next level through the years is seemingly endless behind coaches such as Gibbs, Dean Witty, Chris Johnson and Pete von Hoffmann, and MKA, with Doug Alsofrom, Noll Klank, Edwards and now Dave Giarrusso among those guiding the Cougars.

And, as a quintet of players from Montclair and MKA representing two collee programs proved once again as they gathered after their March 11, 2025 contest at Lafayette, that on-going legacy of college laxmen from one Garden State town’s high school community is much appreciated.

Follow Steve Tober on 'X' @Chattermeister