West Orange HS football team has solid run at repeat championship

WEST ORANGE, NJ — The West Orange High School football team was hoping to win the state sectional title for the second year in a row.

The Mountaineers were just two wins from achieving that goal.

Unfortunately, their repeat aspirations were dashed, as they fell to a strong Union City team, 20-14, in the semifinals of the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association’s North Jersey, Section 2, Group 5 state playoffs on Friday night, Nov. 3, at Union City.

West Orange, the No. 6 seed, ended the season with a 5-5 overall record. Union City, seeded second, won its ninth straight and improved to 9-1. They will visit top-seeded Phillipsburg in the final on Friday, Nov. 10.

Union City jumped out to a 20-0 lead. Mark Boyd scored on a 52-yard in the first quarter to make it 6-0. The extra-point kick was missed. Boyd had a 20-yard touchdown run in the second quarter and Jayden Chaviano kicked the extra point to make it 13-0. Tyler Koffa had a 10-yard touchdown run, followed by Chaviano’s extra-point kick, in the second quarter.

The Mountaineers stopped the momentum when senior Adonis White scored on a 16-yard run, followed by the extra-point kick, to cut it to 20-7 at halftime.

West Orange cut it to 20-14 after junior quarterback Charlie LaMorte connected with junior Iyan Gainer on a 4-yard TD pass, followed by the extra-point kick, in the third quarter. But Union City held on for the win.

West Orange turned its season around. They were 1-3 before reeling off three straight wins over Bayonne, 29-0, and East Orange, 29-6, both on the road, and North Bergen, 43-0, at home, to improve to 4-3.

The Mountaineers lost at Irvington, 14-0, in the regular season finale. In the quarterfinals of the North 2, Group 5 sectional playoffs, West Orange won at third-seeded Plainfield, 25-21.

West Orange also was the No. 6 seed in last year’s North 2, Group 5 sectional playoffs, winning three straight games on the road, capped by the 28-7 victory at Phillipsburg in its first-ever state sectional final. West Orange then fell to Section 1 champion Passaic County Tech, 21-7, in the Group 5 state semifinals at Franklin High School in Somerset to end with an 8-4 record.

Darnell Grant completed his fifth season as the WOHS head coach. He has a 33-18 record at West Orange. The Mountaineers, under Grant, have made the playoffs in every year that the playoffs have taken place. The 2020 playoffs were canceled due to the pandemic. That year, the Mountaineers finished 6-1. West Orange won in the quarterfinals in each of those playoff seasons. They lost in the semifinals in 2019, which was Grant’s first year, against Union; in 2021 against unbeaten East Orange Campus; and this season. 

  West Orange High School football