WEST ORANGE – The West Orange High School varsity football team has reason to feel excited this upcoming season in the fall.
Looking to improve on last year’s 3-7 record, the WOHS Mountaineers return a good nucleus, led by rising senior C.J. Onyechi, who committed to Rutgers University in June.
Onyechi, a 6-foot-2, 220-pound linebacker, accepted a full athletic scholarship from Rutgers. He picked the Scarlet Knights over offers from Navy, Army, Air Force, Buffalo, Temple, Towson, Harvard, Yale, Princeton and Cornell.
Rutgers has a new head coach in Chris Ash.
Onyechi recorded a team-high 97 tackles along with six forced fumbles, six sacks and 11 quarterback pressures last year.
The Mountaineers, under head coach Jim Matsakis, will be competing in the newly-formed North Jersey Super Football Conference, which is a merger of four conferences: Super Essex Conference, Big North Conference, Hudson County Interscholastic Athletic League, and Northwest Jersey Conference.
Other players expected to return are rising senior running back/linebacker Michael Osuji, rising junior lineman Dael Ceneus, rising junior linebacker Noah Tandy. Osuji rushed for 1,110 yards and six touchdowns, and was second on the team in tackles with 83 last season.
The Mountaineers will be in Liberty Division C in the new conference. The other teams in the division are Montclair, Livingston, East Orange, Morristown, Columbia, and Bloomfield.
West Orange HS football team excited for new season added by Joe Ragozzino on
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