Long Valley Raiders Football Teams Battle For County Titles Saturday

No matter how you slice it, history will be made on Saturday.

The Long Valley Raiders junior varsity and varsity teams are both battling for Morris County Championships in their respective divisions, both having reigned supreme throughout the regular season.

The JV team heads into the title game against the Denville Blue Angels at 2 p.m. at Hackettstown High School with an 8-1 record. The team’s only regular season loss came against Randolph, which the Raiders beat in the semifinals last weekend to grab a title game berth.

Long Valley has won the National Conference and Denville has won the American Conference with a 10-0 record. If this sounds familiar, that’s because it is. These two teams squared off in last year’s title game. The Raiders are hoping for the same outcome – a 13-0 win in 2014 – to repeat as Morris County Champs.

Following the JV game will be the varsity squad, the undefeated National Conference champs carrying a 9-0 record into the competition. The elder Raiders squad had their mettle tested last weekend against Parsippany Hills, coming back to win an overtime thriller 22-20 to grab a title game spot.

The varsity team will play the American Conference champs of Lenape Valley at 4 p.m. at Hackettstown High School.

The varsity team’s game is significant for two reasons, however. A win would bring the squad its first Morris County Championship as it ends its Raiders career and heads off to high school, and it will be the final game played in the Raiders original Green and Yellow colors.

Last year the football organization voted to change the team colors to those of West Morris Central’s blue, white, and silver. The change in uniforms was expected to take at least one or two seasons to accomplish. As a result, the varsity team remained green and yellow for the 2015 season and will play its final game Saturday in the colors, which were chosen more than 40 years ago.