Nutley HS football team uses trickery to defeat West Milford on final play of the game

NUTLEY, NJ — The play was dubbed “Flipadelphia.”

It was a play that resulted in arguably the greatest ending in the 106-year history of the Nutley High School football program.

In front of their home crowd at the Park Oval, the Raiders were down by three against West Milford with just 15 seconds left. They had the ball at their own 17-yard line. Essentially, they had just one more play to win the game. And they had to go a long way to do it. 

Miraculously, the Raiders pulled it off, using a bit of trickery.

Making his first varsity start, sophomore quarterback Brayden King threw a short pass down the middle to junior wide receiver Mike Misner. After making the catch, Misner immediately flipped the ball to senior wide receiver Jordan Small, who was in front of Misner as he was cutting across the field from the left side, for a successful hook-and-lateral. 

Small, indeed, came up big, as he streaked down the field and outran the entire West Milford defense. He made a celebratory dive into the end zone as time expired to complete the 83-yard TD play and give the Raiders an amazing 18-15 victory on Saturday afternoon, Oct. 12.

NHS second-year head coach Chris Helm and his entire team were on Cloud 9 after that incredible ending. 

The buzz from the victory was still strong the next day when the annual Nutley/Belleville Columbus Day Parade down Franklin Avenue took place.

A video clip of the play became a viral sensation.

It was the Raiders’ second straight win and third in the past four games to improve their record to 4-3 overall, surpassing last year’s three-win total. West Milford fell to 5-2.

Also making it even sweeter was the fact that the Raiders avenged the 37-0 loss to West Milford in last year’s season opener, which was also Helm’s debut as Raiders head coach. 

Nutley gained 21 power points with the victory and put the Raiders at No. 13 in the North, Group 4 United Power Rankings. The top 16 teams earned state sectional playoff berths. Nutley has two more regular-season games.

Notes – Helm was a star running back/linebacker for NHS, graduating in 2001. He was an assistant coach for NHS from 2005 to 2011 under late head coach Steve DiGregorio. After going to Wayne Valley for a few years as an assistant coach, Helm returned to his alma mater as an assistant coach in 2021 after DiGregorio retired a few months after the 2020 undefeated season. DiGregorio, a 1979 NHS graduate and former Raider standout lineman, passed away in October 2021 from a long and courageous battle from pancreatic cancer. The Steve DiGregorio Young Man of the Year Award, bestowed by the 112-member Super Football Conference, was created in his honor. One senior player from each team in the conference is nominated for the award.

Nutley (4-3)

• Aug. 29: loss, vs. River Dell, 42-7
• Sept. 6: win, at Bloomfield, 20-7
• Sept. 13: loss, at Wayne Hills, 30-20
• Sept. 19: win, vs. Passaic, 20-14
• Sept. 28: loss, at West Essex, 28-0
• Oct. 5: win, at Millburn, 21-12
• Oct. 12: win, vs. West Milford, 18-15
• Oct. 18: at Passaic Valley, 7 p.m.
• Oct. 25: vs. Caldwell, 6:30 p.m.

Video Courtesy of Nutley HS head coach Chris Helm

  Nutley High School football