East Orange Campus football team boasts strong versatility

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EAST ORANGE, NJ — Two seasons removed from a perfect 13-0 state sectional championship season, the East Orange Campus High School football team features a young roster.

But don’t be fooled by that relative youth. The Jaguars have a ton of promising talent that can help them on another state title run.

“I’m excited about this year’s group,” said second-year head coach John Jacob. “It’s a fun group of kids to coach. They are enthusiastic about getting to work. We have a lot of youth; we’re very young. I feel like we have a group of versatile players on offense and on defense.”

Going into last season, the Jaguars lost several key players to graduation from the 2021 team that captured the North 1, Group 5 state sectional title and the North, Group 5 state regional title en route to that perfect season. Jacob, who was the team’s offensive coordinator, was promoted to head coach after the end of that season. East Orange Campus managed to finish just 4-6 last season, though the Jaguars qualified for the North 1, Group 5 state sectional playoffs, losing to Clifton in the first round, the same opponent that they defeated in the thrilling 30-24 triple-overtime North, Group 5 regional final at Rutgers University’s SHI Stadium.

Senior quarterback Kyree Fisher is back as the starter. Fisher, a transfer from Parsippany, made strides last season for his new team, and Jacob expects more improvement from him.

“I think he is ready to take his next step,” Jacob said. “We’re certainly expecting a great year out of him. He brings a broad range of skill sets to the position. He can not only operate the offense as a quarterback, but he is an excellent runner. He is certainly a dual-threat quarterback.”

The Jaguars have several quality running backs and wide receivers. The key running backs are juniors Davion Thomas and Isaac Mathurin, and sophomore Shaler Jackson, while the top wide receivers are junior Shakur Taylor and sophomore Alex Hanks. Taylor also is a standout track athlete, having won the 400-meter dash at the state sectionals for the EOCHS track team this past spring.

“For younger players, they show a lot of maturity. I can see some of those kids situationally playing receiver and playing running back,” Jacob said.

The offensive line will be anchored by junior guard Alvin Collins. Other linemen are junior Christian Russell, sophomore 6-foot-4, 320-pound Shaheem Dezonie, junior 6-3, 330-pound Stanley Petidor, sophomore 6-2, 310-pound Michael Wicker, junior 6-3, 250-pound Wazyn King and senior 6-2, 230-pound Jontae Walters.

The Jaguars’ defense boasts athletic players, led by senior middle linebacker Corey Woolridge. The outside linebackers are junior Darrell James and

sophomore Abdoul Kafando.

Collin, Walters and junior 390-pound nose guard Frank Norzil are the key defensive linemen.

Taylor, Hanks and senior Jaron Richards will lead the secondary.

This season, the Jaguars’ home games will be played at Schools Stadium in Newark. Paul Robeson Stadium, the Jaguars’ home site, is scheduled to undergo renovations. Despite not being able to play at Robeson, the Jaguars are taking it in stride, looking to go about their business and getting the job done this season. “We got a football season to play and we got to get the best out of it,” Jacob said.

The Jaguars are in the Super Football Conference–Freedom Red Division, along with Barringer, Bloomfield, Dickinson and West Orange.