Orange HS football team vows to work harder, focuses on details

ORANGE, NJ — In each of the last two seasons, the Orange High School football team just missed making the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association’s state sectional playoffs. Instead, they played in the North Jersey, Group 4 state regional consolation tournament. In both years, they lost to Bergenfield in the first round.

Last season, the Tornadoes finished 6-3 after the loss to Bergenfield. Missing out on the playoffs definitely was heartbreaking, but head coach Khalfani Alleyne puts it in perspective.

“Whatever we did last year, it wasn’t enough,” said Alleyne, the fourth-year head coach and a 2001 OHS graduate who was a former wide receiver for the Tornadoes. “Now this year, we have to work harder, we have to be better, faster, stronger and pay attention more to the little things, the little details.” 

This year’s team has a strong group of seniors, but they don’t have much experience.

The Tornadoes particularly will miss quarterback Maurice Williams, a four-year starter who graduated as the program’s all-time leading in passing yards (5,196 yards) and touchdowns (65). Williams, who will continue his career at Sussex Community College, passed for 2,303 yards and 30 yards to set single-season school records last year. 

Even Alleyne knows that you can’t replace a “generational talent like Maurice Williams,” he said.

But the Tornadoes are excited about this year’s new quarterback in sophomore Daniel Lewis, who has a strong arm and good size at 6-foot-1. “He has a good head on his shoulders,” Alleyne said.

Orange also will miss Tyshaun Boyd, a dynamic senior tight end who transferred to Arts in Newark. Since Arts does not have a football program, Boyd will play football for Weequahic in Newark. He will also continue his basketball career at Arts. Boyd’s cousin is Cory Boyd, a 2003 OHS graduate who was a star running back and basketball player who played football at the University of South Carolina, was drafted by the Tampa Bay Bucanneeers and played in the Canadian Football League. 

The Tornadoes will look to senior running back Brandon Tejada and senior wide receiver Samir Ward to spark the offense. Both returnees also will be in the secondary on defense.

The offensive line returns all but two players, led by sophomore tackle Mehki Douglas and senior Hamaadi Godrey, who will move from guard to center. 

Defensively, OHS boasts a strong edge rusher in 6-foot-1, 215-pound junior outside linebacker Aaron Biart. He also will look to contribute on offense as a tight end.

Biart will pair with another solid outside linebacker in senior Davon Leeks.

Godfrey will lead the D-line at the nose tackle position.

For the Tornadoes, the playoffs are not on their minds. It’s about taking the season, week by week, and beating high-caliber teams, such as West Orange in the season opener in the inaugural Mountaineer Football Classic, hosted by West Orange. Orange will face West Orange on Friday, Aug. 30. The Mountaineer Classic features five games over three days, Thursday to Saturday, Aug. 29-31.

“This team is starting to jell at the right time,” said Alleyne of his squad. “Those guys are hungry and they jell well together. They communicate well on the field, on offense and defense.”

The Tornadoes were visited by 72 college recruiters during the offseason from all levels, such as Montclair State, Monmouth and Michigan.

The Tornadoes will host East Orange Campus on Friday, Sept. 27. It marks the first time that Orange will face an East Orange team since 2000, when they played Clifford Scott High School in the season opener that year. East Orange High School and Clifford Scott merged into EOC in September 2002.

Schedule

• Aug. 30: at West Orange (inaugural Mountaineer Classic), 7:30 p.m.
• Sept. 6: at Irvington, 7 p.m.
• Sept. 12: vs. Columbia, 7 p.m.
• Sept. 21: at Lincoln (Caven Point, in Jersey City), 7 p.m.
• Sept. 27: vs. East Orange Campus, 7 p.m.
• Oct. 4: at Newark East Side (Eddie Moras Stadium), 7 p.m.
• Oct. 11: vs. Union City, 7 p.m.
• Oct. 18: vs. Randolph, 7 p.m.
• Oct. 25: at Bayonne, 6 p.m.

Photo by Joe Ragozzino

  Orange High School football