SPORTS WRAP
ARTICLE BY WILLIAM HATHAWAY, JR.
PHOTOS BY FELICIA OWENS
In local football news, the Irvington Blue Knights continued their run in the state top 10, beat Columbia High at home 40-0. West Side squeezed Orange at home 37-6, with the Roughriders now 4-0 on the season. In the upset of the weekend, Passaic Tech beat West Orange on the road 12-6, while the Bloomfield Bengals defeated Livingston 33-26.
The National Football League recently wrapped up Week 2, and both local teams are doing fine so far. First, the Giants are 2-0 for the first time in years, as the team successfully defended MetLife Stadium with a 19-16 win over the Carolina Panthers. Former Cleveland quarterback Baker Mayfield was on the losing end, as the Big Blue defense came out and forced three fumbles in the first half alone. Kicker Graham Gano had a clutch 56 yard kick in the clutch. With the win, NY is in first place on top of the NFC East division, which hasn’t happened in ages.
Speaking of Cleveland, the New York Jets won there in comeback 31-30. This came after Gang Green was losing at one point 30-7. After the Jets successfully recovered an onside kick, Joe Flacco found Garrett Wilson with a touchdown pass in the final moments of the game.
Finally, Aaron Judge is knocking on the doors of history. As of presstime, he now sits at 60 home runs on the year, tying a mark once reached by Babe Ruth. Now, the Yankees slugger sits just one behind Roger Maris for the franchise and American League for home runs in a season. Also, Judge is now staring down a Triple Crown, as he sits atop the home run, batting average, and runs batted in rankings. Despite all that Shohei Ohtani has done this year, Judge is much more deserving of the 2022 MVP, as his team is headed to the playoffs while the Angels are sitting around 20 games back in their division and eliminated from playoff contention.
