EOCHS quarterback Zachary Concepcion
EAST ORANGE — The East Orange Campus High School football team defeated Bloomfield 36-12 on Friday, Sept. 4, at Foley Field in Bloomfield to improve to 1-1.
From the moment of the opening coin toss, East Orange Campus had one thing on its mind – a win that will override the bad taste of a last-second goal line stand in the season-opening loss to Piscataway 26-20 in Week 0.
East Orange started its three-game road trip, as the Jaguars made the short trip up to Foley Field for their annual “Big Cat Fight” against the Bengals of Bloomfield High School. Bloomfield, on the other hand, was the only team in the Super Football Conference–Freedom Division to garner a 13-7 win in its season opener against a very tough Newark Central squad, while all the other teams in the division dropped their season openers to stiff competition, with the exception of Barringer, which opened its season this past Labor Day weekend against Montclair.
East Orange would defer the opening kickoff to the second half, but the Jaguars would put Bloomfield on their backs almost immediately on their first series from scrimmage. Bloomfield, led by junior quarterback Derek Kittner, couldn’t buy first-down yardage in the opening series, with a hungry East Orange defense, led by senior defensive end Esa Wittingburg, a Wake Forest commit, and senior linebacker Abdur-Rahman all wreaking havoc in the Bloomfield backfield to force an early three-and-out.
It took East Orange exactly three plays to draw first blood. Starting from their own 37-yard line after Bloomfield’s punt, senior quarterback Zachary Concepcion first flipped the field, finding junior wide receiver Je’zi Lewis through the air with a 38-yard drop in the bucket, before letting senior running back Jaleel Halsey go for a short 2-yard gain. Concepcion quickly opted for the air again, finding speedy senior WR Eric Wilkins for a 28-yard scoring strike with 8:03 remaining in the opening quarter and the early 7-0 lead.
East Orange would rattle off two consecutive touchdowns after forcing Bloomfield to punt and turn the ball over on downs. Concepcion would guide the Jaguars 69 yards in five plays, opting to pick apart the Bloomfield defensive backfield on three out of five plays for 54 yards and scoring a 17-yard touchdown pass to Musa Wittingburg with 3:44 left in the first quarter to go up 13-0.
Bloomfield was forced to punt again with 1:33 remaining in the opening quarter. Concepcion, starting from the East Orange 48-yard line, started the final series of the quarter by handing the ball off to Halsey for a short 2-yard gain, but found Lewis off a tip drill when Bloomfield junior LB Zhamir Scott jumped the pass for an interception. But the ball popped out of his hands and into the waiting hands of Lewis for a 75-yard connection. That connection gave East Orange a 20-0 lead to close out the first quarter.
Bloomfield would show some spark to start the second quarter when they marched almost the length of the field in eight plays with the help of a 15-yard personal foul penalty on East Orange. Kittner found a good recipe in using junior running backs Brandon Plummer and Scott to set up senior tight end Breakthrough Onyechere and sophomore WR Jacob Jean-Louis. They combined for an eight-play, 72-yard march that culminated with Kittner finding a wide open Onyechere along the Bloomfield sideline. Onyechere would then pitch it to an already galloping Plummer, who came out of nowhere to score Bloomfield’s first touchdown of the evening with 9:28 remaining in the first half. The hook-and-lateral play went 52 yards to pull the Bengals within two touchdowns, 20-6. That was enough to give the Bengals some hope when they forced the Jaguars to turn the ball over after junior defensive lineman Raymond Agosto sacked Concepcion for a 5-yard loss.
Taking over on the East Orange 38-yard line with 8:55 remaining in the first half, the Bengals decided to play ball control and made it inside the East Orange red zone in nine plays, but were held without scoring on that series. East Orange would start at its own 10-yard line, but was forced to punt for the first time in the game. The Jags would close out the first half with the 20-6 advantage.
The third quarter started off rocky for both teams, as they traded fumbles to get things going. Much like the start of the game, Concepcion made quick work of the next possession. Starting at their 32-yard line with 9:05 remaining in the third quarter, Concepcion fed Halsey for a 4-yard gain and then delivered a 64-yard blurring bomb to Lewis to stretch the lead to 27-6 with 8:48 left in the third quarter.
After a Bengals forced punt and a Jaguars turnover on downs, Bloomfield would finally put what they learned in the first half to good use. Starting from their 42-yard line with 4:52 remaining in the third quarter, Kittner decided that ball control and a strong ground game would help them out. He let his backfield, led by Scott and senior Taylor Guerrero, chew up the clock and valuable yardage. The sustained drive went 58 yards in 11 plays spanning the remaining third quarter and the start of the fourth quarter. Kittner would cap off the drive with a 7-yard touchdown pass to Jean-Louis to pull Bloomfield to a 27-12 deficit after a failed two-point conversion with 9:34 remaining in the game.
East Orange would take the ensuing kickoff at their 48-yard line after Bloomfield’s failed onside kick. The Jags would march 52 yards in eight plays, with Halsey breaking out for 22 yards and then scoring from 2 yards out, extending the lead to 34-12 after the extra-point kick with 7:03 remaining in the game.
The Bengals would respond with an 80-yard kickoff return for a score by senior Alexander Noevil. But wait, hold everything! There was a flag on the field for a holding call that brought the play back and negated the score with 6:46 remaining in the game. Bloomfield would start its drive from their 20-yard line, but was forced to punt five plays later when an errant snap sailed over junior punter Joseph Hatton’s head, creating a mad dash for the ball that both teams battled for. Hatton was able to recover the ball in the end zone, but ultimately was forced out of the field of play for a safety, giving East Orange a commanding 36-12 lead with 4:29 left in the contest.
East Orange would continue to find gaps in the Bloomfield passing defense, as the Jaguars made another attempt to score. But the Bengals were able to stop them as the clock wound down to zero.
“We still got work to do, but I am happy that we got the win,” said East Orange head coach John Jacob, who is in his fifth year at the helm. He went on to say he is expecting everyone to lock in as they start to prepare for Union City at Roosevelt Stadium, also known as the “Roof Top” stadium, on Friday, Sept. 11, at 7 p.m. The last time these two met was back on Nov. 22, 2024 in the semifinals of the Group 5 playoffs. Union City would win that game, 42-0. East Orange is looking to even the score. Union City lost their Week 1 game to Irvington, 27-12.
“We expected them to come out firing on all cylinders,” said Bloomfield head coach Mike Carter. “We did, however, make some good plays that gave them something to think about,” he added when asked about the trick play that helped his team to get on the board early in the second quarter. Bloomfield will travel next door to Montclair to take on the Mounties for a Thursday afternoon tilt at 3:30 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 10. Bloomfield and Montclair used to meet annually on Thanksgiving, but has since moved to an earlier slot in the schedule. The Bengals will then play host to the Mustangs of Clifton on the following Friday, Sept. 18, at 6 p.m., before reaching the midpoint of their schedule, when they take a ride down Bloomfield Avenue to meet up with Barringer at Newark Schools Stadium on Saturday, Sept. 26, at 1 p.m.
East Orange will close out its three-game road trip with West Orange on Friday, Sept. 25, at 7 p.m. after a rare bye week. They will come home to play Livingston on Friday, Oct. 2, at 7 p.m.
Photos Courtesy of Kerry E. Porter
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