By William Hathaway
Local high school is still going strong so far, with no major COVID-19 complications. In this week’s action, the West Orange Mountaineers stunned the Montclair Mounties at Woodman Field 35-6. The Mountaineers’ defense set the tone by forcing six turnovers, making the team 2-1 on the season.
At the far end of Essex County, Nutley defended its home turf in a close 21-20 win over Orange. The Tornadoes were led by Montez Boswell with 15 carries for 101 yards and a key 27 yard touchdown late in the game. That gave Orange a 20-14 lead, but Nutley answered with a game winning TD from Matthew Harbison. This game was marred by many questionable calls from the officiating crew.
In other action, the East Orange Jaguars are now 3-0 on the season, thanks to a 35-0 road win over Paterson Kennedy. Leading the Jags was Damian Philips with 189 yards and 2 touchdowns. Also, the West Side Roughriders hammered Millburn 55-7 in another blowout victory, while Weequahic won a high scoring game over Cedar Grove 44-34. Pope John shut out Irvington 24-0, and the Bloomfield Bengals slipped by Passaic 28-26.
After a whole without visiting the win column, the New York Giants finally got their first win under coach Joe Judge. This came in a 20-19 home victory over Washington, thanks to the Giants stopping a 2-point conversion attempt. Devonte Freeman ran the ball 18 times for 61 yards, but NY was led in rushing by quarterback Daniel Jones, who had 74 yards on seven carries, including a 49 yard run in the 2nd quarter.
The Giants are now 1-5 on the season, and still in the division race thanks to the NFC East being awful. Big Blue will play the Eagles on Thursday Night Football. Also getting their first win on Sunday was the Atlanta Falcons, who are now coached by Newark native Raheem Morris after Dan Quinn was fired. Morris previously coached the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Meanwhile, the New York Jets remain winless and uncompetitive, with a nasty loss at the Miami Dolphins 24-0. Former Jets QB Ryan Fitzpatrick picked apart his old team, and running back Myles Gaskin led the dolphins with 18 carries for 91 yards.
In college football, Clemson took the #1 ranking in the nation with a huge 73-7 win over Georgia Tech. Also, Alabama defeated Georgia 41-24 after a COVID-19 scare from coach Nick Saban.
Finally, the World Series is set, as the Tampa Bay Rays fought off a comeback from the disgraced Houston Astros to face the Los Angeles Dodgers, who beat the Atlanta Braves in seven games.
