WEST ORANGE, NJ — The Mountaineer Football Classic was a big success during the Labor Day weekend. It was the highlight of all things high school football in an action-packed Week 0 schedule that saw 14 Essex County schools in action highlighting top college recruits who are making their names felt throughout the local, regional, and national recruiting trails. Some are looking to go to elite Division 1 schools, while others will seek to compete at the Division 2 or Division 3 levels. The Mountaineer Classic was one of five big showcases throughout the state of New Jersey, the biggest being The Battle at the Beach where two Essex County schools were in heated competition against South Jersey teams.
The Mountaineer Classic featured five games over three days where they had a food truck social, as well as debuting new amenities at Suriano Stadium in West Orange. On display was a new Jumbo-tron scoreboard complete with 25/40-second field clocks that are not highly popular in the Garden State due to the age-long tradition of the referees keeping the play clock on the field. The event brought out an estimated crowd of 5,000 people each day.
The Verona Hillbillies kicked off the three-day event this past Thursday evening, Aug. 29, when they took on the Falcons from Jefferson Township in Sussex County. It was the debut of new Verona head coach Manj Singh, who was previously at Glen Ridge High last season. In a recent interview, he praised the staff and his former players for their continued drive towards excellence and wished them well under new Glen Ridge head coach Chris Strumolo. The Hillbillies looked like they were ready for their season opener as they made quick work of the Falcons, cruising to a 39-6 victory. Verona was led by senior quarterback Connor DeMasi, who with the help of junior defensive lineman Logan Knoetig, running back Bodie Maisano and defensive back Jayden Nigro, took control of the game from the first series. Both Nigro and Maisano scored on runs of 15 yards and 2 yards to jump out to the early 14-0 in the first quarter. Maisano would score his second touchdown of the night to start the second quarter. DeMasi would uncork a 66-yard bomb to put the game slightly out of reach, with the addition of Jayden Nigro’s 35-yard scamper to put the game at 32-0 at the half. Nigro would cap Verona’s scoring after a scoreless third quarter where he scooted another 12 yards for the eventual 39-0 lead. Jefferson’s wide receiver, Dalton Talmadge, would manage to haul in a 14-yard pass from sophomore quarterback Connor Consiglio for the Falcons’ lone score of the evening.
The second day had two top recruits kicking off the day in Snyder’s DJ McClary and Hillside’s Darren Ikinnagbon. They are both committed to Division 1 college programs. For DJ McClary, he was originally committed to Penn State, but flipped his commitment to Rutgers University just a few days before his game against Hillside to kick off his senior season. “It felt right when I spoke to Coach (Greg) Schiano” he said after his game against Hillside. He detailed that he was familiar with some of the players who are currently there and they made him comfortable in his decision to stay in New Jersey for college. Hillside’s Darren Ikinnagbon reiterated the same thing with his commitment to the University of Georgia. The future mechanical engineering major said it was about his ability to go and play at an elite level with hopes of playing as a professional one day. Both teams traded touchdowns in bang-bang plays to go into the half 20-20.
Snyder’s McClary would start it with a 10-yard touchdown and 2-point conversion for the early 8-0 lead. Hillside sophomore RB Mitchell Jenkins made it abundantly clear that the Comets weren’t going anywhere anytime soon as he answered with a 55-yard scorching touchdown to trail the Tigers by two points. But the Tigers turned it up a notch when senior quarterback Shymeir Hargrove found senior wide receiver Keyon Thorpe on a 49-yard connection to take the lead 14-6 to end the first quarter. Hillside scored back-to-back touchdowns to tie, before a 5-yard run by Jenkins and a 10-yard dart from senior quarterback Zion Risher to Travis Miles to go ahead of the Tigers 20-14. Snyder’s McClary wasn’t having it and promptly flipped a 51-yard strike to Thorpe, tying the game at 20 apiece at halftime. The second half was a tale of a different story as a sudden injury and cramping bug plagued Snyder where they were already down players due to mild injuries. “We had no time to prepare or scrimmage due to changes in our system prior to the start of the preseason,” said Snyder head coach AJ Dobson, who acknowledged that his team still performed at a high level despite the rest of the game. Hillside pulled away in the third quarter, taking advantage of back-to-back short-field situations, scoring both times on a one-yard plunge by junior running back Sean Caldwell and Jenkins respectively and taking a 35-20 lead in the third quarter. The Tigers weren’t able to answer, although they managed to get inside the Hillside 30-yard line three times before punting or turning the ball over. The Comets would close the scoring in the fourth quarter with Jenkins; a 4-yard run, taking home the 42-20 victory over the Tigers. “There was a moment where we were concerned,” said Hillside head coach Barris Grant, “but the game was all about adjustments, and being able to adjust is something we had in our favor.”
The Friday nightcap was the highly-anticipated Battle of the Oranges with Orange High School coming up the Mountain to face West Orange after not playing each other since the 2007 season. During that time, Orange had made several playoff appearances, as well as making it to the North Jersey Section 2, Group 2 final in 2009 at Giants Stadium where they lost to Summit 28-19 under former head coach Randy Daniel. Current Orange head coach Khalfani Alleyne was on some of those teams as a player under Daniel. “We always wanted to get the game against West Orange back,” said Alleyne, who remembers playing West Orange as a student-athlete prior to 2008 when conferences were realigned and West Orange was taken off their schedule. “We are coming with a relatively young squad this year, but we are also returning 11 seniors this year and we’re excited to finally see who’s the best,” he said at an interview last month prior to the season kicking off. Orange was edged out of the playoffs last season and lost in the first round of the Regional Consolation tournament to Bergenfield 28-24.
On the other side of the coin was West Orange, which besides being a the host of the Mountaineer Classic, are returning a veteran squad led by senior quarterback Charlie LaMorte, junior athlete David Moore Jr., senior wide receiving corps of Terrell Wilfong and I’yan Gainer, and junior running back Farad Green. This team made it to the North Jersey, Section 2, Group 5 playoffs where they edged out a very tough Plainfield team 25-21 in Plainfield before heading to the Rooftop Stadium to face a very tough Union City squad, which would become the eventual North Jersey, Section 2, Group 5 champs last season. West Orange lost a tough defensive battle to Union City 20-14. The Mountaineers did not pull any punches as they were looking to make their point quickly as the game began against the Tornadoes. Orange High, led by sophomore quarterback Daniel Lewis and senior wide receiving corps of Samir Wilkins and Sameir Ward, were looking to jump out ahead of the Mountaineers after the opening kickoff, but stalled on their first possession, which the Mountaineers jumped all over in a massive way. After fielding a punt, on the first play from scrimmage, senior quarterback Charlie LaMorte pitched the ball to his left to wide receiver and backup quarterback David Moore Jr. who saw an opportunity to launch an opening bomb 48 yards to a wide open Terrell Wilfong walking in untouched for the early 6-0 lead. Wilfong would follow up the first touchdown with another big haul for 31 yards for the 14-0 lead after Charlie LaMorte scored the 2-point conversion. LaMorte would rip another 24-yard pass to Sydney Padilla to stretch the lead 20-0 to end the first quarter.
West Orange would explode to a 42-0 second quarter lead after the junior running back tandem Farad Green and Michah Howell each scored on a 1-yard and 5-yard touchdown after their defense, led by David Moore, Jr., Khalid Rhone and Clavens Pierre, showed their noses for the ball and penchant for intercepting the ball combining for three interceptions. LaMorte and Moore would close out the first half with a 43-yard touchdown connection where they had the game well in hand to close out the first half. Moore wasn’t done when he scored yet his third touchdown of the night with an 80-yard kickoff return to start the second half and eventually closing out the game 48-0.
Saturday saw two defensive battles being waged when Newark West Side took on Columbia in the first game and Newark East Side came to play when Plainfield High decided to visit the area. The first game marked second year after the return of Newark West Side’s head coach Ronly London who was out for personal reasons, during the Roughriders playoff run under former head coach Markell Thomas. Columbia head coach Gary Mobley had his squad ready for a tough game being that they are only separated by fifteen minutes through the South Orange Avenue Corridor. The Cougars took a 7-0 lead in the first quarter on junior wide receiver Charlie Knutsen’s 8 yard dash to the house in the first quarter. Columbia would march down field again in the second quarter garnering a 32 yard field goal by junior kicker Jonah Breen to close out the first half. The Roughriders would rally in the third quarter where Essahd Wilson would punch into the endzone from 2 yards out to close the gap 10-6. The game would end at that score as both teams waged a defensive struggle throughout the remainder of the fourth quarter.
In the final game of the Mountaineer Classic, Newark East Side found themselves in a gritty battle against Plainfield as it marked the first time these two programs met since 2005, with Plainfield winning the game 24-14 that year. The Cardinals were coming off a highly successful 2023-24 season where they made the North Jersey, Section 2, Group 5 playoffs where they were knocked out by West Orange in a down-to-the-wire nail-biter. Plainfield head coach James Williams’ bunch seemed to have picked up where they left off last season as they held a 6-0 lead for most of the game after senior running back EJ Brown scored off a short 5-yard burst into the end zone. But Newark East Side standout juniors Xavier Smith and Nysir Coleman proved to be genuine game-changers after a breakout season last year where the Red Raiders were 7-2 in the Super Football Conference-Ivy Division, losing in the Ivy playoffs against Pascack Hills 28-19. The Red Raiders had the Cardinals pinned against their own end zone when Coleman busted in off the edge to block a punt, forcing the ball to roll out of bounds for a safety and cutting into Plainfield’s lead 6-2. Smith would take over from there, giving the squad the momentum shift they needed to score the final touchdown of the day from 2 yards out to edge out Plainfield 8-6.
“We have a theme this year,” West Orange head coach Darnell Grant said. “We wanted to spotlight top recruits like DJ McClary and Darren Ikinnagbon, but we also wanted to showcase veteran coaches against up-and-coming new coaches for each of these programs.” The event was title-sponsored by the New York Giants, who also had their NY Giants D-Line and other representatives on hand to hand out inaugural trophies.
All schools are in action this weekend for week 1. Check out your favorite teams schedule for more information.
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