EAST ORANGE, NJ — The East Orange Campus High School football team defeated Bloomfield, 38-0, to improve to 4-1 overall on the season.
The EOCHS Jaguars continued their momentum at Foley Field in Bloomfield this past Friday evening, Oct. 4, as they battled the Bloomfield Bengals in their annual Big Cat Fight. Bloomfield was riding a two-game winning streak coming into the matchup. They beat Barringer in a defensive struggle, 6-0, two weeks ago, and followed that up with a big 35-20 win over Lincoln, both on the road.
It was homecoming weekend for the Bengals as they marched into Foley Field in full parade mode. Unfortunately for the Bengals, East Orange had other plans. The Jaguars were coming in having lost to vaunted rival Montclair, 19-12, two weeks ago at home, before starting their three-game road trip. The Jaguars were able to bounce back when they went up Park Avenue to Tornado Alley to visit their neighborhood rival, the Orange Tornadoes, on their homecoming day, which turned out to be a wet and rainy 27-0 victorious affair for the Jaguars. With neighborhood bragging rights firmly in hand, the Jaguars turned their attention toward Bloomfield, putting them on the clock.
East Orange Campus came up Broad Street in Bloomfield with one thing in mind, walking out with a win in its back pocket. The game started with small fireworks when both teams traded a punt and a forced turnover on downs that included a fumbled snap, creating a third-and-20 situation. Samaj Toney-El then played pick-pocket, intercepting a Bengal pass that would set up East Orange’s first score of the game from the Bloomfield 39-yard line with 6:49 left in the first quarter. Jaguars quarterback Sa’eed Cole took over from there. He fed the ball to running back TyShawn Sewell twice before firing a scrambling bullet that overshot his intended target wide receiver, Alex Hanks. But Cole hit Toney-El, who magically appeared in the back of the end zone, to go up 7-0 with 5:34 in the first quarter.
East Orange’s defensive backfield snagged two interceptions in the second quarter. The first was by defensive back Shakur Taylor, who set up the Jags on their 21-yard line. East Orange wasn’t able to convert on that series and was forced to punt. But Hanks wasn’t satisfied with that last series and decided to take matters in his own hands by snagging East Orange’s third interception of the game and taking it the distance 44 yards for a house call and the team’s fifth pick-6 on the season to go up 13-0 with 6:00 remaining in the half.
The Jaguars scored two more times at will. The first was Cole finding Taylor on a seven-yard pitch-and-catch, capping a six-play, 46-yard drive with 2:28 left. The second came relatively quickly, taking advantage of a Bloomfield fumble from the Bengals’ 35-yard line. East Orange scored four plays later, aided by a big 15-yard targeting call against Bloomfield. Sewell did the honors of gashing the Bengals’ defense for the 11-yard TD for a 25-0 halftime score.
With most of the damage done in the first half, the Jaguars felt they weren’t finished yet as they received the ball to start the second half. Hindered by a small fumble, Cole and company were able to correct the error with yet their fourth interception by Taylor, his second of the evening, at their own 26-yard line. On offense, Cole fed the ball to Shaler Jackson, who picked up 12 yards on two carries in the series, then fired a dart to Taylor on a quick screen play. Taylor hit the express button for a 60-yard gallop through Bengals traffic for a 31-0 lead.
With the clock not on Bloomfield’s side, they weren’t able to convert anything, because they were being stifled by a Jaguar defensive front line, led by lineman Alvins Collin, who was in on a fumble, giving his Jags the ball again in field position. Cole connected on two passes to Hanks and Taylor for 16 yards, while the running back tandem of Ernst Jeune and Jackson grinded out the rest on the ground, with Jackson delivering the final blow for a TD and the final 38-0 score to register the Jags’ second straight shutout and third overall on the season.
“You see what we can do when we set out to accomplish something,” said East Orange head coach John Jacob to his squad after the game. “We have to still stay consistent with everything, but enjoy this, because Paterson Eastside is on the clock.” He said that there were still some things that they will have to address during this week’s practice as they start to prepare for their final road game of the season.
East Orange will visit Paterson Eastside this Friday, Oct. 11, at 6:30 p.m. at Hinchliffe Stadium in Paterson.
Bloomfield head coach Mike Carter said his team was dealing with some injury bugs and had a tough time converting plays when it counted. “East Orange’s squad is all big and fast,” he said, “It’s remarkable how they are able to converge on the ball so quickly. We had the opportunity to score late in the second quarter when we recovered their fumble, but we couldn’t get it going.” The Bengals will host the Knights of Paterson Kennedy this Friday evening, Oct. 11, at Foley Field. Kickoff is set for 6:30 p.m.
Photos Courtesy of Jerry Simon
East Orange Campus vs. Bloomfield
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