SPORTS WRAP
BY WILLIAM HATHAWAY, JR.
PHOTOS BY FELICIA LAGUERRE OWENS
New Jersey’s high school football season started this past weekend with a big event that went on from August 29 through September 1st.
The first annual Mountaineer Football Classic featured several local high school teams take the field at West Orange High School. In the first game, Verona beat Jefferson High in a rout 39-6. Verona running back Jayden Nigo scored on a 15 yard touchdown to start the scoring, and Bodie Maisano added a 2 yard TD run to make the score 14-0. Jesse Wagner caught a 66 TD pass from Connor Demasi, while Nigo added two more TDs.
Next up was Hillside, who beat Snyder 42-20 in the second night. Zion Risen led hillside on 12-19 passing for 119 yards and a touchdown, while Mitchell Jenkins rushed for 170 yards and 4 TDs. Keyon Thorpe rushed for 100 yards and had 2 TDs for Snyder.
In the main event, it was a battle of the Oranges, but not a close one as host West Orange defeated Orange 48-0. Senior Charlie Lamonte led WOHS with 187 yards while wide receiver Terrell Wilfong had 79 yards and caught 2 TDs for west orange. David Moore had a TDs and 55 yards while Sydney Padilla also had a TD. While the result was not what they had in mind, Orange should get better as the season goes on.
On Saturday afternoon, Columbia slipped by West Side in a close 10-6 victory. Charlie Knutsen gave Columbia an early 7-0 lead, and Jonah Breen tacked on a 32 yard field goal in the 2nd quarter to make it 10-0 lead at the half. West Side getting on the scoreboard when Essahd Wilson reached to make the score 10-6. It would end up as the last score of the game.
Finally, East Side High defeated Plainfield Cardinals by the final of 8-6. Xavier Smith led East Side with 113 rushing yards.
