West Essex Reaches N2G3 Final
After Throttling Montville 21-0

NORTH CALDWELL- The rainfall had reached a torrential downpour for periods of the first half as top-seeded West Essex and fifth-seeded Montville slugged it out in a rather laborious and uneventful stretch as the Knights went into the locker room with a rather undramatic 7-0 lead in the North 2, Group 3 semifinal.

However, as the rain let up to a completely dry conditions and both teams hit the field for the second half it was time for a fire fly of sorts to kick things into high gear.

It was actually a ‘flea-flicker’ which West Essex calls its ‘fire fly’ and quarterback Gaetano Iavarone, in the midst of a masterful and efficient performance, found a wide-open Anthony Conforti deep down the right sideline for a 43-yard touchdown pass with 9:18 left in the third quarter which changed the tenor of the contest once and for all.

With the way the Knights’ lockdown defense was limiting anything substantial for Montville, a 14-0 lead seemed more like 28-0 and an Iavarone 7-yard TD run less than seven minutes later virtually sealed the deal in a 21-0 West Essex victory which propels the Knights (10-1) into next Friday night’s (Nov. 13) N2G3 final at Travis Field vs. second-seeded and state-ranked Wayne Hills.

“Our coaches write the schemes and put together a great game plan, we’re there to execute it, and that’s West Essex football,” said Conforti, the Knights’ two-way standout at wide receiver and cornerback. “It’s a flea-flicker which we call our ‘Fire Fly.’

“Gaetano executed it perfectly and that touchdown really gave us our momentum to finish the job.”

Iavarone, who is just one of the many Knights who have dealt with an injury this season, had a superb overall performance as his team’s field general finishing with a very efficient 15-of-19 passing for 198 yards and the TD aerial to Confortii, plus 23 carries for 87 yards and 2 TD runs as the leading rusher on the evening as well.

“That’s my best friend over there,” said Iavarone while pointing to Conforti standing next to him during the post-game glow for Wessex. “There’s nothing better on a Friday night than making a play like that with him.

“We’ve had that ‘fire fly’ play ready for the last five weeks and it was great to get it out there and be a big play that helped get put us up with even more momentum.”

While the Iavarone-led offense did its job in helping the Knights maintain what became a comfortable margin, the West Essex defense was superlative throughout, limiting Montville’s ground attack to just 81 yards. Yes, the wet conditions in the first half contributed to a sluggish start for both teams, but it was the Knights who kept the clamps applied to a Mustangs attack which was coming off a fairly productive offensive showing in the previous week’s 23-13 victory at fourth-seeded River Dell when senior running back Clement Hofbauer had 41 carries for 229 yards and 3 rushing TDs.

Against West Essex Hofbauer had just five carries for 23 yards to go along with 4 receptions for 44 yards as Mustangs QB Jackson Gering (10-of-17 for 107 yards) tried to help generate any offense he could vs. the Knights’ stellar unit of resistance.

“We’re playing real good defense and I enjoyed watching our guys work tonight,” said West Essex Coach Dan Fulton. “A lot of different guys contributed against a real good team over there plus any time you beat a team like that twice in a season that’s impressive.”

West Essex and the Mustangs opened the 2026 season back on Aug. 28 in Montville where the Knights also roared to a soldi win (27-14).

Helping to lead the West Essex ‘D’ once again in the N2G3 semis Fridaynight were junior DB Nick Dungo with 7 tackles, junior linebacker Luke Cifelli with 5, senior DB Luke DeMarco with 4, Conforti with 3 tackles and an interception, senior DB Rocco Pontrella and junior DB Luke Piccirillo both with 3 tackles and an interception and senior D-lineman Ethan Ivers with a fumble recovery.

Watching the defense do its work was a pleasure not only for the Knights coaches, but also for those who might be more focused at times on their offensive responsibilities.

“Our defense against the run has been outstanding,” said West Essex senior RB Michael Lozito (6 receptions for 64 yards), who has been one of Iavarone’s regular targets in the Knights’ efficient short passing game. “Our line does a great job with their assignments on both sides of the ball and that’s usually the difference for us.

“It’s great watching our ‘D’ go to work continuing to stop teams and we just try to do our part on the offensive end.”

The next challenge for West Essex will be a formidable one against Wayne Hills (10-1) which is ranked 18th in the state according to nj.com. Coach Wayne Demikoff’s Patriots dispatched with sixth-seeded Somerville, 28-11, in the N2G3 semifinals on Friday night.

“They are well coached and have a lot of good athletes,” said Fulton. “We’ll have our work cut out for ourselves against them, but we’ll get back to work and go out and try and beat them, that’s for sure!”

“We have to give 100% in practice and have even better practices than last week,” said Lozito. “Each week we have gotten progressively better.”

NOTES- In all the Knights induced four turnovers by Montville…Fulton said that there is some familiarity and family friends among West Essex and Montville players as there are a few Mustangs who had previously lived in bordering Fairfield and had played for the Fairfield Falcons junior football team…Fairfield is one of the four sending communities (along with North Caldwell, Roseland and Essex Fells) in West Essex Regional High School district…Wayne Hills, which defeated West Essex, 45-38, in overtime, in a regular season game last fall, lost at Old Tappan, 42-14, in last year’s N1G3 final…Iavarone said that he was playing for his younger brother, the Knights’ outstanding junior LB Frank Iavarone, who was lost for the season last month with a torn ACL…West Essex standout senior WR Luke Kesack is also out for the rest of the season due to a torn ligament in his foot.

North 2, Group 3 semifinal:
MONTVILLE (7-4)                0        0        0       0         - 0
WEST ESSEX (10-1)             0        7       14      0         -21
WE- Gaetano Iavarone 1 run (Robert Warmington kick)
WE- Anthony Conforti 43 pass from Iavarone (Warmington kick)
WE- Iavarone 7 run (Warmington kick)                      

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