ESSEX COUNTY, NJ — The Paul Robeson High School Football All-Star Classic will take place Tuesday, June 11, at Belleville High School’s Doc Ellis Field/Municipal Stadium.
This will be the 30th game of the classic, which began in 1993. The game was not played in 2020 and 2021 due to COVID–19 pandemic.
It will also be the second year in a row that the game will be played at Belleville High School’s Doc Ellis Field/Municipal Stadium. The game was played every year at Paul Robeson Stadium in East Orange since its inception. Robeson Stadium has been unavailable and is scheduled to undergo renovations.
The East–West game includes graduating seniors. The East All-Star team comprises Essex, Union and Hudson counties, while the West All-Star team comprises Passaic, Morris and Sussex counties.
Dr. Stephen Cowan, Mike Carter and Ken Trimmer have been the driving forces behind the game, in addition to the late Larry Schumacher.
Carter has been the Bloomfield High School head football coach since 1991. Dozens of his former players have gone on to play collegiately. Trimmer was the head coach at Caldwell High School from 1993-2016, leading the program to 20 state sectional playoff appearances and three state sectional championships.
Schumacher, who died in 2010, was the head coach at three high school schools in East Orange (Clifford Scott and Bishop Francis Essex Catholic, which are both defunct, and East Orange Campus), in addition to being a coach at Summit HS and Newark Central HS. He also was the director of the East Orange Recreation and Cultural Affairs department.
During halftime of the Robeson game, the newest members of the Essex County Football Coaches Hall of Fame will be inducted. They include East Orange Campus HS head coach John Jacob, Montclair HS head coach Jermain Johnson, Glen Ridge HS first-year head coach Chris Strumolo, former Montclair head coach Sandy Hunter and Irvington HS alum and new Atlanta Falcons head coach Raheem Morris. Jacob was the head coach at West Orange High School from 2002 to 2012 and was then an assistant coach at Wayne Hills HS.
Interestingly, Johnson and Strumolo will be honored at Belleville HS, where they were both former head coaches. Strumolo, a Nutley HS graduate, coached Belleville from 2008-10 and Johnson was the head coach from 2018-21.
Johnson is a 1991 Bloomfield HS graduate.
Morris, a 1994 Irvington HS graduate, has been a part of three Super Bowls for three different teams, winning it twice. He was recently the defensive coordinator for the Los Angeles Rams, helping the Rams win the Super Bowl following the 2021 season.
Morris was the defensive quality control coach for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers when they won the Super Bowl following the 2002 season. Morris was on the Atlanta Falcons coaching staff from 2015-20. The Falcons played in the Super Bowl following the 2016 season, losing to Tom Brady and the New England Patriots.
Morris also was the head coach of the Buccaneers for three seasons from 2009-11.
Robeson High School Football All-Star Classic is June 11 added by Joe Ragozzino on
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