Noah Terry
WEST ORANGE, NJ — The buzz of last year’s state sectional championship season is still palpable in West Orange.
The West Orange High School football team enjoyed an unforgettable run, reaching its first-ever state sectional championship game a year ago. They won all the sectional games on the road. After defeating third-seeded Watchung Hills, 18-10, in the quarterfinals and second-seeded Ridgewood, 34-31, in a thrilling overtime semifinal, the sixth-seeded defeated top-seeded Phillipsburg, 28-7, in the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association’s North Jersey, Section 2, Group 5 state championship game.
Though the Mountaineers fell to a strong Passaic County Tech team, 21-7, in the Group 5 state semifinals to finish 8-4, head coach Darnell Grant’s team is entering this season hungry for another great run at the state title. Passaic County Tech won both meetings with West Orange last season, winning 12-6 at West Orange in week 3.
This year’s Mountaineers have stayed grounded, much to Grant’s delight.
“What I really like about this group is they are humble; they are a humble group,” said Grant, entering his fifth season at the helm. “They worked their butts off in the offseason and they are conscientious of not having the honeymoon hangover kind of thing. More or less, (they are) trying to work and earn their own spot and make their own mark with this program, so I am really excited about that.”
The Mountaineers return several key players such as senior running backs Adonis White and Rayel Hunter, senior two-way linemen Ricky Camacho and Jake Jeffay, senior tight end-defensive lineman Zekai Wimberly and sophomore linebacker Chris Barrino.
White and Hunter provide a strong 1-2 punch in leading the ground game.
Wimberly recently gave a verbal commitment to Syracuse University.
Barrino is expected to be a force at linebacker, Grant noted.
White, Camacho, Barrino and Jeffay each made the second team on the all–Super Football Conference–Freedom Red Division last season, as voted by the divisional coaches.
The Mountaineers will have a new starting quarterback, as Amir Stewart and Quran Ali have graduated. Junior Jasia Mumford-Lee and sophomore David Moore were in a battle for the quarterback job.
After capturing a state sectional title, the Mountaineers now have a reputation as one of the highly-regarded teams in the area. But Grant is quick to point out that becoming the best program in the state is “a process” and they are in year five of that process.
“We want to be the best program in New Jersey, so we’re going to keep working,” Grant said,
Notes – Saboor Karriem, who has continued his career at the University of Illinois, where he is a defensive back, caught a 10-yard, game-ending touchdown pass from Stewart as the Mountaineers beat Ridgewood in overtime in the sectional semifinals. It was Karriem’s second TD catch of the game after he scored the first TD of the second quarter to put West Orange up,14-7.
Ridgewood kicked a field goal on the first possession of overtime before Karriem’s winning score.
Besides Karriem, the Mountaineers had other players who have gone on to Football Bowl Championship schools. Gensley Auguste, a defensive end, is playing at Temple University and wide receiver Jarvis Jones is playing at the University of Connecticut.
The other teams in the Freedom Red Division, which includes Barringer, Bloomfield, Dickinson and East Orange Campus.
Schedule
- Sept. 2: Montclair, at Hinchliffe Stadium, in Paterson, 7 p.m.
- Sept. 8: vs. Bloomfield, 7 p.m.
- Sept. 14: at Passaic County Tech, 6 p.m.
- Sept. 22: vs. Mount Olive, 7 p.m.
- Sept. 29: at Bayonne, 6:30 p.m.
- Oct. 7: at East Orange Campus, 1 p.m.
- Oct. 13: vs. North Bergen, 7 p.m.
- Oct. 20: at Irvington, 7 p.m.
Photos by Steve Ellmore
Videos by Joe Ragozzino
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