On Saturday, August 20, Irvington’s Varsity football team faced off in an exciting shootout against Concord High School at TAK Stadium, ending in a win of 43-42.
The game started off with Irvington and Concord trading blows, with Concord holding the initial lead. However, after a kick return by wide receiver Gabrial Aruwah (11) for a touchdown, Irvington began to gain momentum, climbing their way back. Aruwah eventually made another big play, going over the top of a cornerback for a tide-turning catch.
With less than two minutes left on the clock in the 4th quarter, Concord fought back with a long drive across the field. However, at a crucial moment, free safety Brayden Kubiak (12) picked it off in the endzone.
While injuries ate away at the roster, with captain Tommy Chang (12) suffering a leg injury and Agustin Sedano (12) being pulled out of the game, Irvington still persevered and fought hard. Head Coach Anthony Jackson commented on this, saying, “We had a few linemen out, and I thought some reserve linemen really stepped up and did a great job. I thought that today with the skeleton crew, we still did amazing and were able to run the ball, although not to our best ability.”
After the game, players seemed both confident about their game as well as optimistic about the rest of their season. Quarterback Vivaan Tiwari (11) felt that “it wasn’t just an individual effort, it was really the whole team. The coaches had great playcalling, defense came through in the end, and overall, it was just a great game.”
Chang felt that going into the rest of the season, the team needed to have more confidence and trust in each other in order to keep up their successful run. Coach Jack also saw areas of improvement, saying, “We’ve got to get better. The fight is there, but we have to be more precise and pay more attention to detail. Our quarterback did a good job spreading the ball, and the passing game looked amazing.”
Vivaan Tiwari passed for 303 yards, Gabrial Aruwah led receiving yards with 131, and Santino Sandoval led rushing yards with 33.
The next Vikings game will be on Friday, October 24, at Newark Memorial High School.
