Nutley HS football team’s fine season ends after team forfeits playoff game following positive COVID tests

NUTLEY, NJ — The Nutley High School football team had high hopes of going far in the state playoffs.

Unfortunately, those hopes have been dashed. On Thursday, Nov. 4, the day before the team was set to visit Old Tappan in the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association, North Jersey, Section 1, Group 3, playoffs, the game was canceled due to positive COVID tests by a few Nutley players.

Nutley, despite losing its last two games, had a 6-3 overall record entering the game as the No. 5 seed. Old Tappan, the No. 4 seed, was 4-5 going into the game and advances to the quarterfinals to face the winner between No. 1 seed West Morris and No. 8 seed Summit.

The Raiders won their first four games of the season after coming off a perfect 6-0 season in 2020, and had won six of their first seven games of this season, including an impressive 29-28 win over a good River Dell team.

On Friday morning, Nov. 5, NHS first-year head coach JD Vick commended his players, especially the senior group. Vick noted that a lot of his players had to move to new positions that they never played before. But they never complained.

“This wasn’t about them, this was about the team,” Vick said. “I think that was part of our success; they were unselfish in that way.”

Photos Courtesy of Kerry E. Porter

  Nutley High School football