Orange HS football team crushes Memorial, but misses out on state playoffs

ORANGE, NJ – The Orange High School varsity football team crushed Memorial of West New York, 46-0, Friday night, Oct. 26 for their second straight win to improve to 6-3 overall.

Unfortunately, the Tornadoes missed out on a state playoff berth.

Senior quarterback Jamear Reed ran for 137 yards and three touchdowns and passed for 95 yards and a score, and senior running back Trevion Thomas rushed for 188 yards and two TDs to lead the Tornadoes.

Reed scored on runs of 50, 25 and 11 yards and threw a TD pass to Keyshawn McCurdy. Reed finished 5 of 6 passing.

Thomas scored on runs of 75 and 50 yards, both in the first quarter.

Junior defensive tackle Al’kjuan Green returned a fumble 4 yards for a TD and finished with seven tackles with a sack.

Senior outside linebacker Curtis Lynch had 10 tackles and forced a fumble; senior defensive end Nigil Thomas had eight tackles; sophomore OLB Beckens Raymond had five tackles and a forced fumble; sophomore DE Louce Julien had four tackles, a sack, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery; senior defensive back Ramir Philips had three tackles, a sack and a forced fumble; and junior DB  Ashly Hertilien and Justin Cesaire each recovered four tackles.

The Tornadoes have won four of their last five games after starting 2-2.

However, Orange was unable to secure a top eight spot in the NJSIAA North Jersey Section 2, Group 4 playoff standings. This year, a new playoff formula was devised. Called the United Power Ranking System, the formula combines traditional power points system with Born Power Index, which is an ever changing mathematical evaluation of a team’s relative strength against similar competition, according to the NJSIAA website. The index includes a blowout factor that rewards teams for doing well against stronger opponents and discourages running up the score against weaker teams.

The state playoffs begin this weekend.

The Tornadoes will host Woodbridge on Thursday, Nov. 1, at 7 p.m.