WEST ORANGE, NJ — The West Orange High School football team’s mission this season is to win a state championship.
The WOHS Mountaineers moved closer to achieving that goal. As the No. 1 seed, the Mountaineers defeated fourth-seeded Livingston 21-0 in the semifinals of the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association’s North Jersey, Section 1, Group 5 state playoffs on Friday night, Nov. 7, at WOHS’ Joe Suriano.
Head coach Darnell Grant’s team has reached the North 1, Group 5 state championship for the second year in a row. It marked the program’s third sectional final. Their first appearance and title was in 2022 – Grant’s fourth year at the helm – when they won the North 2, Group 5 title.
“The boys were fantastic tonight in all three phases of the game – offense, defense and special teams,” Grant said.
WOHS won its fifth straight game to improve to 9-2 on the season. Livingston had its five-game winning streak end and finished the season at 7-4.
The Mountaineers will host No. 2 seed Passaic County Tech in the final on Friday, Nov. 14, at 7 p.m. Passaic County Tech defeated No. 3 seed East Orange Campus 35-0 at PCT in Wayne in the other semifinal for its fifth straight win to improve to 8-3. EOC fell to 8-2, with its other loss to West Orange 14-13 on Oct 17 at West Orange. Last year, EOC defeated West Orange in the North 1, Group 5 final at WOHS.
Passaic County Tech has reached a sectional final for the sixth straight time that the playoffs have been conducted.
The Mountaineers defeated PCT in their second game of this season and their first win on Sept. 7 at home. In 2022, PCT defeated West Orange in the North Jersey, Group 5 regional final.
Last season, WOHS lost to PCT 28-21 in the second game at PCT.
West Orange won both meetings with Livingston this season. In Friday’s playoff victory, quarterback Brandon LaBanca threw three touchdown passes, including two to junior Sydney Padilla.
In the second quarter, LaBanca connected with senior Ahkir Morgan on a 19-yard scoring pass for a 6-0 lead. The extra-point kick was blocked.
LaBanca found Padilla for a 7-yard TD pass later in the second quarter. LaBanca then threw the two-point pass to senior David Moore to extend it to 14-0.
In the third quarter, Padilla scored on a 19-yard pass from LaBanca. Aaron Godinez kicked the extra point.
LaBanca was 8-of-13 passing for 168 yards. Morgan finished with six catches for 128 yards. Senior running back Farad Green carried 15 times for 76 rushing yards.
Cynthia Cumming contributed to this article
Photos Courtesy of Cynthia Cumming
West Ornage vs. Livingston (North 1, Group 5 semifinals)
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