Festive Night Turned Win For Mountaineers
Every start to every West Orange High School (WOHS) school year has to feature Fan-Fest, a day dedicated to recognizing the major sports as well as a social event for everyone to unwind and relax. Principal Hayden Moore came out to have fun with the kids early on in the evening and as the night progressed, the crowd settled in the stands for a football game. This year, we saw the matchup between our Mountaineers and the Bloomfield Bengals.
Heading into this game, the WO-Town Mountaineers were sitting at a 1-2 record while the Bengals had the opposite record at 2-1. Winning this game would not be easy. Starting off the game, WO signal-caller Vincent DeSantis threw behind the line of scrimmage, resulting in a fumble which was scooped up and run into the endzone from 27 yards out. Bloomfield went up 6-0 and seemed to be in command of the field as they picked off Desantis and returned it to near-redzone distance at the 21. The Bengals would get to return the favor, because in the second quarter, WOHS’ L’Trell Bradley picked off a pass and brought it back past the 50, just around the 48. Conducting a quick offensive drill before the half ended with 3 minutes and change, DeSantis threw for his first and only touchdown of the night. Once Bloomfield regained possession of the ball, Bradley had to make his presence known once again, making his second interception heard throughout the stands as he returned it into field goal range. The half finished with a confident WO-Town lead, 10-6.
A stalemate would be met between the two teams until deep in the 3rd quarter, when the Bengals secured their second touchdown of the night. The Mountaineers would answer back with a CJ Wilson rushing touchdown from 62 yards out. The score is now 20-12 that seemed to be more in West Orange’s favor every time they received possession. The Bengals attempted to make the score a bit more respectable by scoring once more, but missing the try for 2 points. CJ Wilson made another end-zone appearance not long after his first, making the score 27-18. As Bloomfield got the ball back, it would be taken from them through an interception by safety Jordan White. This opened up the hat trick for Wilson, as he put the final nail in the coffin for Bloomfield late in the game. The Mountaineers won 34-18 and advance to 2-2. West Orange’s next game is on October 6th, against the Morristown Colonials, at 7pm.
