After a long offseason, the Wayne Hills Patriots are attempting to set the tone early and win their third game of the season. Hills, despite late heroics, fell to Harrison (MO) in a crazy finish (38-37). The one point loss will be a driving factor for the Patriots in the continuation of their season, travelling all that way to come that close, they will be hungry for revenge.

This Friday, the 17th, is the faceoff between Wayne Hills and Passaic. Hills is coming into the matchup at 1-1 and Passaic is coming in at 1-2. Wayne Hills is coming off a huge win against Kennedy where they eased through a 32-7 win.

Passaic, on the other hand, is coming off an unfortunate loss to Perth Amboy, a dominant team who took down Passaic, 39-17.

Passaic’s team is a solid one, the core of it includes seniors, Antonio Perez and Eddy Fortuna, and juniors, Jameil Chalmers and Armando Cardona. When asked if these players would be a problem for Hills, senior Ben Contella responded by saying, “We’ve had the week to prepare for Passaic and are ready to head into the game. Passaic does have a few key players we are prepared for. We’re approaching them and the rest of the team as we do every game. As long as everyone does their job on both sides of the ball we’ll come out of the game with a 2-1 record.” It should be interesting to see how both teams’ diligent film studying and research plays out during the game.

Wayne Hills, led by Seniors Joey Riina and Ben Contella are looking to continue last week’s success. Joey Riina had a total of 2 touchdowns, one passing and one rushing. Ben Contella rushed for 37 yards and 3 touchdowns. Junior, Makai Gray had 2 receptions for 50 yards and a touchdown. Joey Riina achieved his first varsity win at quarterback. “It’s a great feeling overall. But I know that me and the rest of the team aren’t satisfied.” (Joey Riina Senior). When asked about his thoughts on the upcoming season Riina said, “We have enough talent to win the whole thing. Once we clean up a few things, success will come.” (Joey Riina Senior).

The start to this game will be pivotal for both teams, Passaic will be looking for a bounceback from their recent loss, while Hills is confident coming off their massive win. Will Hills find themselves on top or will Passaic turn things around from last week’s loss, tune in at 7 p.m. to find out.