Preview of the 'Orange-Out' Rocco Football Game On Saturday – Wayne Hills hosts Wayne Valley
By Skiffo Drake,
18 hours ago
Scenes From the Past Two Hills/Valley Orange-Out Football Games For Rocco Credits: Brian Borchard
WAYNE, NJ - At the midway point of the regular season, the Wayne Hills and Wayne Valley football teams find themselves in a familiar place – heading toward the playoff race with high expectations.
Wayne Valley is 4-1, while Wayne Hills is 3-2, which places both teams in solid position to earn a home playoff game. But first, they must contend with each other. On Saturday night, October 5th, the 22 nd edition of this gridiron rivalry will be written when Hills hosts Valley at 6:30 pm.
Rocco's Game - Courtesy of the Rocco Sivolella Scholarship
The Valley-Hills game on Saturday will be played in honor of Rocco Sivolella, who died in May 2022 after a four-month bout with acute myeloid leukemia. He was 15 years old at the time, a freshman at Wayne Valley who played for the Indians’ freshman squad in the fall of 2021 and never made it to varsity.
This year would’ve been his senior year, making this game even more poignant.
As have been done for the past two years during this rivalry game, the cheerleading squads from both schools have pushed to unify the traditional rival game and bring the town together, wearing orange –the universal color for leukemia awareness – as opposed to either Hills maroon or Valley blue.
On Saturday night, both sides of the Wayne Hills football stands will be awash in orange.
“It's an emotional game for both teams for reasons which go way beyond football,” Valley head football coach Roger Kotlarz said. “Rocco was an awesome kid and was really well-liked by his teammates. His influence brought the team closer. He is an inspiration to this team.”
Wayne Cheerleaders Wear Orange for Rocco - Photo Credit: Brian Borchard
“Anytime you have a tragedy like this it goes way beyond football and one side of town or the other,” added Hills head coach Wayne Demikoff. “A lot of the kids on this team (Hills) were friends with Rocco. It’s a terrible situation, but a positive that came out of it is that it brought the community together. Both sides come together to put this tribute together for Rocco.”
The two coaches were asked about the annual matchup between the two Wayne public high schools.
“This is always an exciting night; it’s an awesome spectacle for sure,” said Kotlarz. “Both teams are doing well this year, so that makes it even more exciting. The hoopla is there. We all know it. Somehow, we still have to approach it like any other game. We can’t get caught up in the excitement.”
“As always, it will be a big game. There are always a lot of people there,” added Demikoff. “The kids on both sides are friends. They grew up playing together. The game is the game. It will be a good event, of course, but our kids and I am sure their (Valley) kids will prepare for this game the way they prepare for any game. You want to win every week no matter who you’re playing.”
Valley enters Saturday’s game off a 26-21 win over Hackensack, and Hills enters the game after a 34-27 loss to Caldwell last week.
Valley and Hills have met 15 times in the regular season and six times in the playoffs, including three times in State Sectional title games (1991, 2007, 2016). Hills hold a commanding series lead, 15-6. Wayne Valley, however, has had the better of the rivalry recently, winning four of the last five meetings.
Wayne Valley's Shrine to Rocco, Present at Every Game - Photo Credit: Hallie Wolford
The rivalry, actually, is not as old as you may think.
Long before there were two separate public high schools in Wayne, there was only Wayne High School, which opened in 1951. Sixteen years later, in 1967, Wayne Hills High School opened to accommodate the growing township population. Wayne High School then became known as Wayne Valley.
The schools were purposely put into different football conferences, making regular season games near-impossible. So, the first meeting between the two schools occurred 24 years after Wayne Hills opened, in the 1991 State Sectional championship in front of 10,000 fans at Valley. In an epic defensive battle, Valley prevailed, 7-0.
Ten years later, the second-ever meeting took place in the 2001 State Sectional Semifinals at Hills. This time, Hills won with ease, 41-6. Hills won again in the third-ever meeting – the 2007 State Sectional championship game at the Meadowlands, 27-7.
The first regular season meeting between the crosstown rivals came in 2009, due to realignment. Hills won that game at Valley, 7-0.
Since then, the two schools have been meeting annually in the regular season and occasionally in the playoffs. They met again in the State Sectional Championship game at the Meadowlands in 2016. Hills won in overtime, 31-24. Valley was finally able to beat Hills in the first round of the 2019 playoffs at Hills, 13-6.
Overall Series
1991: Valley 7, Hills 0, State Sectional Final
2001: Hills 41, Valley 6, State Sectional Semifinal
2007: Hills 27, Valley 7, State Sectional Final
2009: Hills 7, Valley 0
2010: Hills 21, Valley 16
2010: Hills 48, Valley 0, State Sectional Quarterfinals
2011: Hills 41, Valley 0
2012: Valley 23, Hills 17
2013: Hills 17, Valley 14, OT
2014: Hills 36, Valley 0
2015: Hills 28, Valley 18
2016: Hills 25, Valley 24
2016: Hills 31, Valley 24, OT, State Sectional Finals
2017: Hills 31, Valley 0
2018: Hills 14, Valley 9
2019: Hills 14, Valley 7
2019: Valley 13, Hills 6, State Sectional Quarterfinals
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