Football Game Preview: West Essex Knights vs. West Morris Mendham Minutemen

The West Essex Knights will look to defend their home field on Friday against the West Morris Mendham Minutemen at 6:30 p.m. West Essex will be strutting in after a victory while West Morris Mendham will be coming in after a defeat.

On Saturday, West Essex was able to grind out a solid win over Morris Knolls, taking the game 39-26.

Jake Long went supernova, rushing for 126 yards and two scores, while also throwing for 281 yards and three touchdowns while completing 94.1% of his passes. The dominant performance also gave him a new career-high in passer rating (172.2).

Meanwhile, West Morris Mendham was not able to break out of their rough patch on Friday as the team picked up their third straight loss. They took a 21-14 hit to the loss column at the hands of Randolph.

West Essex will have to keep a close watch on Owen Lieberwirth and Thomas Guido, a pair of players who had a big impact on West Morris Mendham's prior game. Lieberwirth rushed for 103 yards and one TD, while Guido rushed for 61 yards and one touchdown.

West Essex pushed their record up to 5-3 with the victory, which was their fourth straight on the road. The road wins came thanks in part to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 41.0 points over those games. As for West Morris Mendham, they now have a losing record of 4-5.