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On a chilly Halloween night, West Orange came knocking and found the same resilient squad from Wayne Valley. The Indians clinched their fourth consecutive football conference championship with an exciting 27-23 win over the Mountaineers.
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In a game that saw several lead changes, Wayne Valley continued the trend of once again producing a come from behind win in the fourth quarter and then proceeded to hold onto the lead for good.
Wayne Valley executed perfectly on their first drive which ate up 7 minutes on the clock and ended in a Pat LaNeve 17 yard touchdown run. The Indians came out with a healthy dose of both running and passing plays to keep West Orange flat-footed. After a slow start to last week's football game, Coach Brian O’Connor had made it a point to come out strong.
After conceding a safety, Wayne Valley’s sports momentum seemed to falter as they let up two quick touchdowns. Down 15-7 late in the first half, many teams would have just knelt on the ball to not dig an even deeper hole. Instead, Pete Savastano used his legs to avoid pressure and heaved a bomb to Colton Callaghan to get within the 5 yard line. On the very next play, Savastano once again took control as he took the football himself into the end zone to make it 15-14 with only a few seconds remaining.
Just as in the first quarter, Wayne Valley started out strong and once again took the lead behind the running of Ryan Durr. Durr found several holes on his way to pounding through the West Orange defense and it paid off with a 20 yard touchdown run at the end of the drive. After a failed extra point, Valleys defense took the field with a 5 point lead.
Shortly after, West Orange drove straight down the football field and looked determined after a second TD from Mitchell Montlouis gave them a 23-20 lead, following the successful two point conversion.
Wayne Valley refused to give in and put together one of their signature clock-controlling drives which ended in a 1 yard touchdown leap from Durr, his second on the day. The Indians now led 27-23 on the fourth lead change of the game.
Needing a touchdown to win, West Orange took the field for their final drive in a last ditch effort to become co-conference champs. All looked promising as the Mountaineers drove into the red zone. Just when the Mountaineers looked ready to take their third lead of the day, Pat LaNeve made the play of the game as he put on his best thief costume and stole the football away from the West Orange receiver in the endzone for the interception. The Indians then followed the gameplan that got them here and ran out the clock on a beautifully executed final drive before Savastano kneeled out the final seconds.
Coach Brian O’Connor couldn’t have been happier with his team's performance. “They are getting the nickname "Cardiac Kids” because every game is a close one. We knew we had the conference title coming in, but we did not want to share it (with West Orange).”
This win likely gives Wayne Valley a #2 seeding for the New Jersey state playoffs, but first they don’t want to look past DePaul next week. “We haven’t played them in a while and we want to start a winning streak against DePaul,” said Durr. Durr also said than an injury he suffered on the final drive was only “the worst charlie horse of my life” and that he will be ready for next week's game.
- Anthony Mulvihill for Jersey Sports Now
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