Irvington HS football team rallies past Union City, 21-12, to move to 2-0

IRVINGTON, NJ — The Irvington High School football team earned a hard-fought 21-12 win over Union City on Friday night, Sept. 13, in Union City to improve to 2-0 on the season.

Al-jay Henderson, a transfer from Columbia High School, ran for two second-half touchdowns to rally the Blue Knights.

After a scoreless first half, Union City opened the scoring when Zahir Abdus-Salaam, playing against his former team, scored with 1:42 left in the third quarter. Abdus-Salaam, a junior, played for the Blue Knights for the last two years before transferring to Union City.

IHS took the lead at 7-6 in the fourth quarter on a Zahir Swann touchdown run, followed by Kenney Kwarteng’s extra-point with 7:58 left in the game.

Henderson increased the Blue Knights’ lead to 14-6 with a 14-yard touchdown with 3:26 left in the game.

Henderson scored on a 49-yard run with 3:01 remaining to make it 21-6. Union City answered on a 50-yard touchdown pass play to cut it to 21-12 with 2:07 left in the game, but the Blue Knights held on for the victory. Union City moved to 1-1.

The Blue Knights will gear up for a big test in their home opener when they face Ridgewood this Friday night at 7 p.m. Irvington lost at Ridgewood, 34-12, last year in its third game of the season. Ridgewood won its season opener against Old Tappan, 16-15, on Sept. 13. Last year, Ridgewood won the North 1, Group 5 sectional title before losing to Piscataway in the North Group 5 Bowl game at MetLife Stadium to finish 9-3..