West Orange HS football team enjoys another great season, finishes as state sectional runner-up

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WEST ORANGE, NJ — The West Orange High School football team enjoyed another great season.

The second-seeded Mountaineers unfortunately lost to fourth-seeded East Orange Campus, 13-7, in the championship game of the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association’s North Jersey, Section 1, Group 5 state playoffs on Friday night, Nov. 15, at WOHS’ Joe Suriano Stadium.

The Mountaineers, under sixth-year head coach Darnell Grant, finished with a 9-3 record this season.

Junior running back Farad Green Jr. rushed for 141 yards and a touchdown on 28 carries and junior quarterback Brandon LaBanca completed four of 13 passes for 47 yards, all to senior wide receiver Terrell Wilfong, for the Mountaineers.

East Orange Campus senior quarterback Sa’eed Cole hooked up with junior wide receiver Alex Hanks on both touchdown pass plays, including the go-ahead TD in the fourth quarter.

EOC took a 6-0 lead in the second quarter when Cole hit Hanks on a 12-yard TD. The extra-point kick was blocked.

The Mountaineers answered with Green’s 6-yard TD run in the third quarter, followed by senior Mason Insana’s extra-point kick, to take a 7-6 lead.

West Orange was looking to extend the lead early in the fourth quarter. On fourth down-and-goal at the EOC 3-yard line, EOC junior linebacker Quadir Parrish broke up a pass, giving EOC possession on downs. East Orange scored on the possession as Hanks caught a pass from Cole and turned it into a 92-yard TD with 10:03 left. Senior Samuel Adekolu kicked the extra-point to give EOC a 13-7 lead.

The Mountaineers tried to answer, driving from their own 45-yard line to the EOC 12-yard line. Sophomore lineman Esa Wittenberg recorded a sack to make it fourth down-and-10 at the 16-yard line. EOC senior cornerback Shakur Taylor then intercepted a pass at the goal line with 7:09 remaining. EOC kept possession for the rest of the game.

EOC improved to 9-2, winning its second state sectional title in the past four seasons. In 2021, they won the sectional and regional titles to cap a 13-0 season.

West Orange defeated EOC, 7-0, this season in a Super Essex Conference-Freedom Red Division game at Paul Robeson Stadium in East Orange on Saturday afternoon, Oct. 19. In that game, WOHS senior starting quarterback Charlie LaMorte suffered an injury that kept him sidelined from the rest of the season.

WOHS pulled off two onside kicks, recovering both. The first was the opening kickoff and the second was after it scored to make it 7-6. The Mountaineers this season won the SFC-Freedom Red Division title with a 5-0 divisional mark.

“We were without our quarterback, Charlie LaMorte,” said Wilfong. “This is our last year and it was Charlie’s goal to win a high school championship. We really wanted to get that for him, since he was out with his injury.”

Wilfong will be heading to Syracuse University next fall to continue his football career, looking to major in criminal justice. “Although we didn’t get the win, I think this experience helped us prepare for our futures, knowing that we can’t have everything to be given to us. We have to go get it and earn everything we have,” Wilfong said.

“It was another tough game,” said Grant. “We had two opportunities to get scores after getting the onside kicks, but their defense was on point, keeping us from capitalizing on their mistakes.” Grant is no stranger to big games from his time with Irvington and Shabazz. It marked the second time in Grant’s six years that the two schools met in the sectional playoffs, battling in low-scoring affairs. “No matter how you look at it,” he said, “whenever you have either one of our schools in the mix, it’s going to be a tough out.

“I have to give it to them; they are doing a great job over there. I just wish we scored on those opportunities.”

West Orange was looking forward to a rematch against Union City, since it lost to them, 20-14, in the North Jersey, Section 2, Group 5 semifinal last year that was hotly-contested at Union City’s Roosevelt Stadium, better known as “The Rooftop”.

West Orange (9-3)