It’s hard to believe that these two teams met over two months ago to open their seasons and will now meet to decide which one’s season ends. Time sure does fly and on Friday night at 6PM the Old Tappan Golden Knights will host the number two seed West Essex Knights for the Section 1 Group 3 North Title.

Last Time They Met:

When West Essex traveled into Old Tappan to open the season, it was the first time they had ever faced off against one another. Christian Copen and I called what was a game of two halves for both schools.  

The Golden Knights struck first on a pick-six from lineman Michael Gracey that went for 59 yards to electrify the home crowd and put Old Tappan up 6-0.

A West Essex fumble then gave us our first look at the new Old Tappan offense, with Zach Miceli at quarterback and not last year’s starter Alex Orecchio. It took the sophomore just one play to show off his arm strength as he delivered a dime to Ronan Malady, giving the Golden Knights a 12-0 early lead. Miceli later connected with Orecchio for 39 yards, and it was all Old Tappan heading into the half leading 19-0.

West Essex came out on a mission in the 2nd half and their defense began to slow down the Old Tappan offense. It as up to Jake Long and company on offense to get back into the game, and they did just that with seconds left in the 3rd quarter. Long used his legs to march the Knights into OT territory, and running back Max Garcia capped off the drive with a 10-yard touchdown run.

With the deficit cut to 19-7 the Knights could not get into the end zone in the 4th quarter, giving Old Tappan the win on opening night.

Similar Seasons

Since they met on opening night back in August, both teams have gone 8-1 to finish out the year and will be different teams this time around. West Essex has looked strong in the running game and has not scored less than 13 points since opening night.

Brady Phillips leads the way with eight touchdowns, while Nick Sangillo and Michael Lozito are right behind him with five scores each. Max Garcia is the team’s leading rusher with 488 yards on the ground, with three touchdowns of his own.

When Long wants to throw the ball he has his top target, Anthony Drago to throw the ball up to and make big time plays. Drago on the year has 34 receptions for 677 and five touchdowns, including an 81-yard bomb against Passaic Valley:

Old Tappan has something special in their sophomore quarterback, as Zach Miceli has thrown for 1,738 yards with 17 touchdowns to only two interceptions. Alex Orecchio and Ronan Malady, like in the first game, have been Miceli’s top targets, combining for 1,028 yards and nine receiving touchdowns.

Nick Rossi leads the ground game with 679 rushing yards and nine touchdowns entering the Section Final after rushing for 108 yards the first time these two teams met.

Final Thoughts

This game is my personal pick for the Game of the Week out of all the Section Finals that we will see. If West Essex can get the ball moving down the field and limit the turnovers, then we could see a back and forth type of game. Long was picked off three times in the opener but has only thrown five total in the nine games since.

The Golden Knights will look to do much of the same as they did in the opening quarter of the season by creating turnovers and big plays. In their first meeting, Miceli was 8-13 for 136 yards with two touchdowns but did throw an interception. The West Essex defense slowed the Golden Knights after their halftime adjustments and will look to build off that this week.

If Old Tappan jumps out to an early two score lead like they did last time, then it will be difficult for West Essex to overcome. The flip side is that if West Essex can limit the big plays, then we could be in for one heck of a football game!

The game can be seen on our airwaves this Friday 11/15 starting at 6 PM.