It was a week that started with great promise and much anticipation. It ended with the solemn reminder that life remains extremely precious.
Week 4 of the high school football season had a host of massive matchups on the slate. Friday included No. 11 Hillsborough and No. 18 Phillipsburg as well as No. 16 Ridgewood taking on No 17 Passaic Tech, with seven other Top 20 teams in action.
Saturday was going to be even more exciting with No. 8 Irvington battling No. 15 Seton Hall Prep along with a pair of Top 5 clashes - No. 4 St. Peter’s Prep at No. 5 St. Joseph (Mont.) and No. 3 Don Bosco Prep traveling to Oradell for a monumental showdown against top-ranked Bergen Catholic.
But when the news hit late Wednesday and became wide spread by Thursday morning, that anticipation took an immediate blow to the gut. For the second time this season, death hovered over New Jersey’s high school football community.
Xavier McClain, a sophomore at Linden, had died from an apparent head injury suffered Sept. 9 in a Big Central Conference game against Woodbridge. This on the heels of the death of Rahway senior Ali Muhammad, who died in his sleep just two weeks earlier and was discovered by his father as he attempted to awaken his son for school.
“I trust that God knows better. He needed an angel and decided to call Xavier home to be with Him,” Linden mayor Derek Armstead wrote on several of his social media platforms
As Muhammad’s teammates did for him, deciding to play their game that week in his memory, Linden did the same for McClain on Saturday. The Tigers played with heavy hearts, defeating Perth Amboy
While no one will forget the sadness of the week, games continued throughout the state and a host of significant storylines developed. Scroll down to see the Top 10 New Jersey high school football stories for Week 4.