ORANGE, NJ — The East Orange Campus High School football team defeated Orange High School, 27-0, to improve to 3-1 on the season. Orange’s two-game winning streak ended, as it moved to 2-3.
The “War Of the Oranges” came to a head when the East Orange Campus Jaguars took the short drive through the neighborhood up Park Avenue and Main Street to Bell Stadium for a much overdue visit to the Orange Tornadoes. When this football game was announced eight months ago, it was met with exuberance from both sides. It has been 24 years since the two sides had played each other. At the time, East Orange had two high schools: East Orange High and Clifford J. Scott High School. East Orange High, being the elder of the two schools, had one of the nation’s longest ongoing rivalries with Barringer High School. Orange High School has always played in the Old Big 10 conference where they would play the EOHS Panthers in football and basketball.
When the state went through realignment in the early 1980s, it pitted Orange against Clifford J. Scott, along with West Orange and Caldwell in the Northern Hills Conference. It was always a big event when both the Tornadoes and Scotties got to playing on Thanksgiving Day. By the end of the 2000-01 season, both East Orange High School and Clifford J. Scott had closed their doors and merged to create what we now know as East Orange Campus High School. With that, all the rivalries with Scott were mostly lost with the exception of West Orange.
“This is good for the neighborhood,” said East Orange Campus head coach John Jacob in an interview prior to the start of the season. “Most of the kids on both teams know each other and have family members living in each town.
“I remember playing against East Orange (Scott) as a player back then,” said Orange head coach Khalfani Alleyne.
Alleyne was excited for the matchup since it was something of a possibility that he wanted to see happen. “We always felt that we should have kept that rivalry game with East Orange, even after they merged.” Alleyne, at the time, played on a playoff-bound squad under former head coach Randy Daniel. With the help of the football powers that be, Orange was able to play West Orange, which beat them handily 48-0, Columbia (South Orange/Maplewood) in which they won that game 22-14 and East Orange this past Saturday, Sept. 28, for their Homecoming weekend.
For all of the first quarter and most of the second quarter, the game turned out to be a slugfest where both teams traded punts, which included a game-opening interception of a OHS’ Daniel Lewis pass that was intended for Sameir Ward. It would be East Orange QB Sa’eed Cole getting the scoring going for the game that was wet and rainy. Orange was backed up on its 12-yard line after Cole drove the Jaguars from their 22-yard line in 11 plays before turning the ball over on downs. Orange would go three-and-out on the next series when the Jaguars busted through on fourth down, blocking a Tornado punt and creating a scramble for the loose ball at the Orange two-yard line. Cole would punch it in on the next play with 2:21 left in the first half taking a 7-0 defensive struggle into the half.
After the half, East Orange would start its drive from its six-yard line, going to the Orange 38-yard line, before punting again. Lewis would fumble a snap midway through the third quarter as East Orange DL Esa Wittenberg hopped on the loose ball at the Tornado 19-yard line. The Jags would yet turn the ball over again on downs before muffing a punt, then going 32 yards in six plays, with Cole slipping in from a yard out with :18 seconds left in the third quarter for a 13-0 lead heading into the fourth quarter.
The Jaguars defense was on all cylinders, forcing the ball over at the Orange four-yard line where Cole struck again, sneaking in the Orange front door for a one-yard touchdown with 10:06 left in the game for the 20-0 lead. The Jaguars took the wind out of the Tornadoes when LB Davion Thomas stepped into a Daniel Lewis pass and returned it 52 yards to the Orange 18-yard line, where Cole would gallop the rest of the way for a final 18 yards and the final 27-0 score with 21 ticks remaining in the game.
“We had them where we wanted them,” said Alleyne, “but we had too many mistakes that clearly turned the game in their favor.”
Jacob told his team, “Everything we practiced came easier and we were able to accomplish our goals. Enjoy this one because Bloomfield is on the clock.” He would later say that he wants his team to stay consistent with everything they are doing.
Orange will make the trip down to the Ironbound section of Newark to visit the Red Raiders of Newark East Side on Friday evening, Oct. 4, at 7 p.m.
East Orange will remain on the road for its second of three road games to Foley Field in Bloomfield to face the Bloomfield Bengals, who beat Lincoln, 35-20, for their second straight win to improve to 2-3.
Photos Courtesy of Kerry Porter
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