EAST ORANGE, NJ — The West Orange High School football team defeated East Orange Campus High School 7-0. The WOHS Mountaineers won their second straight and fifth in the past six games to improve to 6-2 on the season. The EOCHS Jaguars saw their three-game winning streak end and move to 5-2.
If there were a time to have an epic battle on the football field, then the annual “War of the Oranges” lived up to its name and reputation. East Orange Campus came home to Paul Robeson Stadium this past Saturday afternoon, Oct. 19, with rival West Orange Mountaineers making the trip down the Mountain to meet them at their front door. Both teams have been fairly busy in the past couple weeks. East Orange pitched two consecutive shutouts before applying their version of Ghost-busting magic last week when they defeated the Ghosts of Paterson Eastside to the tune of 41-3.
West Orange, on the other hand, started the season with a relatively respectable 4-1 record until the Mountaineers had the Stateliners from Phillipsburg come for a visit. They would lose that game in a hotly contested 21-14 nail-biter, but quickly rebounded with a 33-14 decision over Montclair, which thrust them into the hotly-contested Super Football Conference–Freedom Red Division race and setting up a must-win situation for both teams.
Since East Orange lost to Montclair head-to-head this season, the division championship would have three co-champions should East Orange defeat West Orange. However, if West Orange managed to escape the Jaguars clutches, then West Orange would win the division for the second season in a row outright. The was set for an all-out war on the gridiron, where there were plenty of personal fouls, overly zealous plays and a knockout, drag-out defensive struggle between the hashes.
A heavy, no-fly zone was enforced on both teams, shutting down the opposing aerial threats and applying heavy pressure to the quarterbacks of each team. East Orange quarterback Sa’eed Cole was dumped three times while West Orange quarterback Charlie LaMorte was sacked twice before being replaced by backup Brandon LaBanca. But they both were productive in the run game, although the opposing defenses were not so giving in the trenches.
The “war” waged scoreless through the third quarter, where the turnover battle was in West Orange’s favor. Cole’s pass to wide receiver Alex Hanks was intercepted for the second time with 2:36 remaining in the third quarter. It sparked a 14-play, 74-yard march that spanned nearly six minutes over the third and fourth quarters. West Orange athlete David Moore took the snap from under center following the flow of traffic off his right side. “I saw the lane open up and I knew I was going to score,” said Moore, who dove in on a second effort from three yards out for the game’s lone score with 8:32 left for all the marbles.
East Orange wasn’t letting things slide so easily, although the Jaguars had to solve the turnover bug that was plaguing them all game. East Orange running back TyShawn Sewell had a rare case of fumbling the ball, giving the advantage back to the Mountaineers with the clock waning down against them with 6:50 remaining. But the Mountaineers, led by the wide receiver corps of I’yan Gainer, Moore, Ahkir Morgan and Terrell Wilfong, along with the running back tandem of Christopher Barrino and Farad Green, weren’t able to get anywhere with East Orange’s defense, led by linemen Alvins Collin and Shaheen Dezonie and linebacker Darrell James Jr. They were on hyper-drive as they forced a punt that stemmed from an illegal procedure call and three personal fouls, pushing the Mountaineers into a fourth-and-country mile situation.
The Jaguars would get the ball on the Mountaineers’ 43-yard line with 2:36 remaining in the game. Cole went to work, utilizing his legs for three yards, then using short passing lanes fo find wide receivers Samaj Toney El for 13 yards, Hanks twice for 5 yards and Shakur Taylor twice for 22 yards. With :09 left, at the Mountaineer 22-yard line after a 5-yard sideline warning penalty against East Orange, Cole attempted to find Hanks near the end zone, but Gainer had other ideas. With the game on the line, Gainer stepped in front of Hanks, making the game-saving interception to give the Mountaineers the Super Football Conference–Freedom Red Division championship for the second consecutive year.
“It always comes down to us and East Orange,” said West Orange head coach Darnell Grant. He stressed the fact that he expected a tough game, regardless of the outcome. “We focused our plan on the running game, seeing that we may have a slight advantage,” he said. He also said that if it weren’t for the interception, they would have had a different scenario to deal with, something similar to his first year at the helm, where East Orange pulled out a last-second 8-6 overtime win back in 2019. “This actually reminds me of the time I was at Irvington and we lost to Linden 7-0 back in 2007. That game was very similar to this game, where they beat us with a late touchdown,” said Grant, who was the Irvington head coach at the time.
“We played them very well, but the turnovers are what killed us today,” said East Orange head coach John Jacob, who was aware that his Jaguars lead the division in interceptions with nine, including four pick 6 returns. “We were able to come up big at the end of the first half with two interceptions, but we weren’t able to convert them into points.” He said that at the end of the day, they knew they were in for a tough game, which would have gotten them at least one playoff game at home. But before that can be looked at, they have a tough Clifton team that is chomping at the bit to play spoiler as the playoff seedings are looming closer. Clifton has two wins on the season, both over Paterson Eastside and Newark East Side. Their last game was 40-0 mauling at the hands of Passaic Tech.
West Orange will be big-game hunting as the Mountaineers will play host to the Bloomfield Bengals, who lost to Livingston 42-14 after defeating Paterson Kennedy 27-0 the week prior. West Orange will kick off at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 25, at West Orange High. East Orange will be home at Paul Robeson Stadium on Saturday, Oct. 26, at 1 p.m.
Photos Courtesy of Kerry E. Porter
West Orange HS football team defeats East Orange Campus HS, 7-0; clinches Freedom Red Division division title added by Kerry E. Porter on
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