East Orange Campus junior Jaleel Halsey eludes a Bloomfield defender. Halsey made made Second Team Offense on the All–Super Football Conference--Freedom Red Division.
EAST ORANGE, NJ — It’s official, the 2025 regular high school football season is over and the race for the State Football Championships are on! Win or go home, right? Well that sentiment was very well received by two neighboring schools who met not even a month ago at the other’s homecoming.
The result of that game was the breaking of a four-game shutout streak and the only team to score on the other up until that point. Both teams were playoff ready, but the fact remains East Orange Campus has been on a tear for more than two years. Meanwhile, Bloomfield is making its turn for the better after not being in the conversation since 2017-2018, when they lost to a loaded Montclair team. In their last meeting at Robeson Stadium in East Orange, the Jaguars sent the Bengals packing 34-6 during East Orange’s homecoming weekend.
Since that game, East Orange bookended a loss to West Orange with wins over Paterson Eastside and Clifton. Bloomfield, on the other hand, was able to secure their playoff bid with a win over Paterson Kennedy while dropping two consecutive games to West Orange and a surging Livingston squad.
The No. 3 seed and defending champion Jaguars defeated the No. 6 Bengals 49-7 in the quarterfinals of the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association’s North Jersey, Section 1, Group 5 state playoffs at Paul Robeson Stadium in East Orange on Saturday afternoon, Nov. 1, to improve to 8-1 on the season.
The Jaguars will visit No. 2 seed Passaic County Tech in Wayne in the semifinals on Friday, Nov. 7. The other semifinal pitted No. 1 seed West Orange hosting No. 4 seed Livingston. EOCHS defeated West Orange last year in the sectional final. West Orange handed East Orange’s only loss this season at West Orange by a score of 14-13 on Oct. 17.
In Saturday’s win over Bloomfield, East Orange deferred the opening kickoff on a sunny, but windy day. Bloomfield senior quarterback Jeremy Tejada wanted to set the pace of the game early by covering 76 yards in two plays. Taking the ball from the Bengals’ 24-yard line, he headed into the teeth of the Jaguars’ defense, led by senior linebacker Abdoul Kafando, taking a quick 5-yard gander before bootlegging out to his right side, and up the Jaguars’ sideline for a 71-yard first strike of the game with 11:07 in the first quarter.
But Tejada’s 7-0 score would only wake up the “Shark Tank,” as that only antagonized the Jaguars, who would use it as fuel for their response in all facets of the game. The first response was quick and explosive in the form of senior kickoff return specialist JaQuay Chambers, who hit the gas for a speedy 73-yard kickoff return with 10:54 left in the first quarter. But that only proved that it was going to be a very long afternoon for the Bengals.
For the next course of the Jaguars’ playoff delight, East Orange junior quarterback Zachary Concepcion opted for the ground-and-pound portion of the menu after his defense forced the first of many punts and turnovers. Starting from the East Orange 46-yard line, he first sent fellow classmate, running back Jaleel Halsey, on three consecutive run plays of 13, 8 and 5 yards, before loading up the second chamber with senior RB Shaler Jackson III, who ran twice for a combined 8 yards. But it would be Halsey’s fourth run for a yard that would open the door for Concepcion, who called his own number during the nearly three-minute drive for a yard, to go to the air with a 14-yard strike to senior WR Nymir Johnson for the second touchdown of the day. That gave East Orange a 14-7 edge with six minutes remaining in the opening quarter.
Bloomfield could not answer again, as the Jaguars’ stingy defense made it impossible to get past the Bengals’ 25-yard line with a couple penalties that made things difficult. For the Jaguars, who were enjoying their first bites, they decided to dig in again. This time, Kafando would bust through for the ensuing blocked punt in the attempt for the Jaguars’ seventh scoop-and-score on the season. But that would only set up Concepcion, Halsey and company on the Bloomfield 5-yard line, where Halsey skipped in untouched from 3 yards out two plays later with 2:36 remaining in the first quarter. A big part of East Orange’s scary defense is senior lineman Sadiq Dues, who made it his mission to keep Tejada looking over his shoulder or just plain run the other way. But that didn’t work with under a minute left in the first quarter. Tejada attempted to rush out of danger with Dues hot on his heels on a designed quarterback run play. In an attempt to break back against the grain, Tejada had nowhere to go or hide when Dues dropped him for a 5-yard loss. forcing another punt with just 30 ticks in the first quarter. On the very next play, Dues and Kafando jailbreaked the line for the Jaguars’ second blocked punt of the day and the 10th on the season, with Jackson completing the team’s seventh scoop-and-score from 47 yards out and 0:13 left in the first quarter for the 28-7 stretch after senior kicker Jayden Jean nailed his fourth straight point-after-try kick. Jean would end the day perfect hitting all of his PAT kicks.
East Orange left the table for a little break when Tejada would make a valiant attempt to keep the Jaguars’ defense guessing. Starting from the Bloomfield 9-yard line, heading into the start of the second quarter, the Bengals marched nearly the length of the field, with the help of a big defensive pass interference call on East Orange. They drove to the East Orange 18-yard line in 18 plays, before stalling out on the East Orange 18-yard line on a forced turnover on downs with 3:17 remaining in the half. The one bright side was the Bengals were able to get the Jags to punt for the first in the game with just over a minute remaining in the first half.
The Bengals’ defense, led by senior lineman Tyler Frantantoni, celebrated the small victory as they gave the ball back to their offense with 1:09 remaining in the half. But Tejada would not come back into the game, as backup junior QB Samaj Spence would take the reigns in their two quarterback system.
On his third play from scrimmage, Spence attempted a pass to fellow classmate WR Christian Cradle, but was intercepted by East Orange senior DB Robert Minter, who averages three pass breakups per game and had one interception before this game. East Orange would take a knee to end the first half.
The third quarter was not as pretty for the Bengals, as the Jaguars continued to morph into their shark-finned alter egos. Kicking things into an extra gear from their 38-yard line, East Halsey and fellow junior RB Tarike Bryan-Maloney would find running room with plenty to spare through the second level of the Bloomfield defense, combining for 30 yards on four plays, before Concepcion would air-mail the ball to Temple-bound senior WR Alex Hanks, who was relatively quiet in the first half of the game. Hanks only had one reception for 3 tough yards, taking almost the whole Bengals’ defense with him out of bounds. Hanks began the third quarter with a leaping-spin cycle catch over two Bloomfield defenders, draped on him like a cape for a 3-yard touchdown reception with 10:04 remaining in the third quarter, giving the Jaguars a commanding 35-7 lead after Jean’s fifth PAT kick on the day.
The two squads would trade punts, when East Orange struck again. With just 92 ticks left in the third quarter, Bryan-Maloney was looking to keep the game in firm control when he broke free of Bloomfield’s inside containment for a speedy 45-yard gain, which he would punch his lunch ticket for a 2-yard score on the very next play. East Orange extended its lead to 42-7 after the PAT kick heading into the final quarter of play.
Bloomfield, seeing the writing on the wall, attempted a late game push when Spence found senior WR Grant Gordon for a 20- yard connection. But that was all the East Orange defense was allowing. With Hanks, Minter and Johnson, along with sophomore DB Musa Wittingburg locking down the defensive backfield, there wasn’t much space to roam through the air or much on the ground, with Dues and Kafando creating havoc in the backfield, dropping Bloomfield’s Spence and sophomore RB Brandon Plummer for losses like it was a trick-or-treat special at the concession stand. East Orange decided to bring in their backup players, as the game was well in hand. But there was one last morsel left for dessert, before closing out Bloomfield’s season. With 7:23 remaining in the contest, the Jags would take the ball over on downs from their 41-yard line. Junior backup QB Mitchell Willis wiggled his way through traffic for an 8-yard gain, before handing it to sophomore WR Donavan Ottey-Campbell, who swept off the left side, galloping 51 yards for the final score 49-7.
“We have 12 seniors this year and they stuck it out through the tough years,” said Bloomfield head coach Mike Carter, as his seniors were all tearful, as this was their final high school football game. “They were the nucleus in keeping our team in the games this year and I am extremely proud of them. East Orange has a very good team this year, but I’m hoping that we will be able to build on what our seniors started, as most of the team is fairly young, made mostly of sophomores and juniors. So we’ll see.” Carter went on to explain a big part of their success was Tejada, who finished his senior year with 37 completions on 87 attempts for 558 yards passing and five interceptions, along with 1,058 yards rushing on 131 attempts with 20 touchdowns. Tejada would finish his high school career with 55 completions on 129 attempts for 832 total yards, three TDs and nine interceptions. He will also be among the conversation for this year’s top rushing quarterback, as he close out his career with 1,502 yards rushing on 170 attempts and 28 TDs. He almost tied his longest rush of 72 yards from his junior year with his early touchdown.
“You earned yourself another week,” said East Orange Campus head coach John Jacob to his team after the game. “You don’t need anyone to tell you when your season is over, so you earned this one. Because next week, we’re going up to Passaic Tech, but before we go, let me take you back a couple years, when you seniors were just sophomores. You had no business out there against the top-5 team in the state that year! But we put you out there, you didn’t give up, you didn’t complain, you played all the way to the end. They said you were ‘little boys,’ but look at you! You’re not little boys no more! I said this a couple weeks ago, I’ll say it again, beware the fury of a patient man. We’ve been patient, we’re not being patient anymore.” He would later state that it was all in their preparation that helped them put out a dominant 41-0 performance over Clifton the week prior to lock in the eighth seed overall in this year’s North Jersey, Group 5 playoffs.
Livingston defeated No. 5 seed Ridgewood 27-6 at home; while it was another day at the office for the West Orange Mountaineers, who took the No. 8 seed Passaic Indians to the woodshed for a blowout 45-6 win. Passaic Tech took on the No. 7 seed Morristown Colonials squad, which had two wins over rival Randolph and Clifton, while losing seven games, including a five-game skid this season. With their power points and overall Strength Index, they were able to slide into the backdoor for this year’s playoffs. But that was all they could muster, as the Passaic Tech Bulldogs took a big chomp out of them, ending the Colonials with a 41-8 final score.
Livingston will make the trip down the mountain to West Orange’s Suriano Stadium in a rematch of Week 3, when West Orange had complete control, winning with ease 34-12.
Passaic Tech hasn’t faced East Orange since that fateful game on Oct. 13, 2023, at Passaic Tech in Wayne.
Both games will kick off at 7 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 7.
Photo gallery, Courtesy of Kerry E. Porter
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