East Orange Campus HS football team dismantles Clifton on Homecoming and will host Montclarir playoffs

EAST ORANGE, NJ — It was Homecoming weekend for the East Orange Campus High School community this past Saturday afternoon, Oct. 26. The Senior Class of 2025 was on full display as they named their Homecoming Court for all three high schools – East Orange Campus, East Orange STEM Academy, and Cicely Tyson Performing Arts Middle and High School. From cheerleaders and players to the band members, dancers and flag twirlers, it was an action-packed day from start to finish.

It also served as the last football game of the regular season to qualify for this season’s playoffs. which will start Nov. The Clifton Mustangs were seeking a third consecutive year in which they were able to hold the Jaguars in the lost column. But the Jaguars had other ideas as they were coming off a rock’em sock’em battle with rival West Orange that took a late touchdown to decide who was the toughest of all the Oranges. East Orange was still feeling the sting from the 7-0 loss while the Mustangs are coming into the contest losing two straight to Bayonne and Passaic Tech by a combined score of 67-7.

The fireworks didn’t take long to go off when Clifton won the opening coin toss and kickoff. Two plays into the game, East Orange’s LB Alex Hanks would snag the team’s ninth interception on the season from Clifton QB Elijah Valentin, setting up shop for the Jaguars at the Mustangs 19-yard line with 10:12 left in the opening quarter. It took all of two plays for East Orange to get on the board. RB Tyshawn Sewell sprinted 12 yards setting up QB Sa’eed Cole’s 7-yard touchdown the next play, giving the Jags the opening 6-0 lead after the missed point-after kick. Clifton was forced to punt on their next possession, giving East Orange full control of the ball midway through the first quarter. Cole would slide through traffic for 12 yards but it was called back for a holding penalty. He decided to load up his cannon, finding Shakur Taylor for a 10-yard strike after the Jags were hit with a 5-yard false start penalty. Cole would immediately find Samaj Toney-El on the next play with a 40-yard drop in the scoring bucket to put East Orange in a 13-0 early command of the game. 

With 5:45 left on first quarter clock, Clifton would start a nine-play, 61-yard march, led by the running back-by-committee of Euriel Watt, Jassin Gaviria, Randy Phipp, and Jeremy Toyos, along with QB Elijah Valentin, who dove into the end zone from 2 yards out to cap off the drive and start the second quarter, cutting East Orange’s lead to 13-6. East Orange QB Sa’eed Cole and company would answer right back with an eight-play, 51-yard drive with Cole again trotting for a 9-yard touchdown to extend the Jaguars lead to 20-6. But Cole was just getting warmed up when he capped off a six-play, 45-yard drive with a 13-yard scamper for his third rushing touchdown of the day, putting East Orange squarely in the lead, 26-6, at halftime. 

Clifton tried to return the favor by intercepting Cole’s intended pass for WR Shakur Taylor three plays after the opening kickoff of the second half. But East Orange’s defense, led DL Alvins Collin, was not too thrilled with Clifton’s takeaway, so they dumped Valentin for a safety, pushing the lead to 28-6. But Cole, with the help from Sewell and Taylor, would make quick work of their next possession. From the Clifton 36-yard line, Sewell carried the ball 6 yards, then Cole fired a 30-yard dart to Taylor for a 35-6 lead with 7:59 left in the third quarter. Clifton would go on a 12-play march from their own 33-yard line after the ensuing kickoff. The Mustangs,led by Valentin, Watt, FB Thomas Bauman and WR Jassin Gaviria, would find paydirt when Valentin snuck in from 3 yards out 25 seconds left in the third quarter, cutting East Orange’s lead to 35-12.

As the game entered the final quarter, the Jags found a way to stifle Clifton’s rally by hitting them with a two-touchdown combination. The first hit came with 9:16 left in the game. Starting at their 48-yard line, Cole would find Toney-El for a 22-yard strike, then called three consecutive run plays, which two were for no gain and a 1-yard loss by RB JaQuay Chambers and Cole. Cole would make back that lost yard with a 10-yard gasser, setting up Chambers for a 17-yard galloping 41-12 score. The Mustangs were looking to right the ship on their next possession, running the ball twice for short yards when Valentin connected with Watt for the fourth time on eight attempts for 3 yards. On the very next play of the short drive, Valentin would toss a quick pass to  TE Jayden Mouzone. But East Orange LB Alex Hanks stepped in front of Mouzone’s pass, snagging his second interception of the game. Hanks would flash the stiff arm to Clifton’s Eurial Watt as he sprinted 23 yards for East Orange’s fifth pick-6 on the season, giving the Jags an extremely comfortable 47-12 lead with just under seven minutes to go in the game. Clifton would play keep away for their final possession, taking the ball at their 35-yard line. Sticking to their ground attack, the Mustangs gave a healthy dose of Watt, Randy Phipp, Bauman and Valentin as they chipped away 65 yards on inside runs, sweeps, and counters in eight plays, with Valentin scoring his third sneak into the house to close the game 47-18.

“We are a relatively young team with a senior group that aren’t all really starting this season,” Clifton head coach Ralph Cinque who acknowledged that his squad will miss the playoffs for the second consecutive year. “We’ll play our consolation game on November 1 against Bloomfield and then head into our offseason to continue rebuilding. 

“We are now 6-2 and we will have a home playoff game,” said East Orange head coach John Jacob to his team after the game. “I don’t care where we play or who we play, just know we’ll play anyone, anytime, anywhere, even if it’s on the street, but what is most important is that we clean up the mistakes and not worry about the other things.” He went on to say that the intensity in practice is double and there won’t be any excuses as they prepare for whomever comes through the gates.

Jaguars will host Montclair in state sectional playoffs

The fourth-seeded Jaguars will host No. 5 seed Montclair in the quarterfinals of the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association’s North Jersey, Section 1, Group 5 state playoffs on Saturday, Nov. 2, at 1 p.m. at Paul Robeson Stadium in East Orange.

The Jaguars are looking to avenge a 19-12 home loss to Montclair in Week 3 of this season in a Super Football Conference-Freedom Red Division.

The winner of EOCHS and Montclair will face the winner of top-seeded Ridgewood and No. 8 seed Passaic.

EOCHS improved to 6-2 on the season after defeating Clifton 47-18 on Saturday, Oct. 25, at Robeson Stadium. 

The Jaguars are in the playoffs for the first time since 2022. In 2021, they finished 13-0, winning the North Jersey, Section 1, Group 5 state playoff championship by beating Passaic County Tech in the final at Robeson Stadium. The Jaguars then won the North Jersey, Group 5 regional title with a 30-24 triple-overtime win over Clifton at Rutgers University’s SHI Stadium on a game-ending 100-yard fumble return for a touchdown by then-senior Ahmad Nalls. Jacob was the Jaguars’ offensive coordinator on that 2021 team and was promoted to head coach the next season.

NJSIAA’s North Jersey, Section 1, Group 5 state playoffs

Quarterfinals

• No. 8 seed Passaic (4-4) at No. 1 seed Ridgewood (5-3)
• No. 5 seed Montclair (4-5) at No. 4 seed East Orange Campus (6-2)
• No. 6 seed Bayonne (6-2) at No. 3 seed Piscataway (6-3)
• No. 7 seed Linden (4-5) at No. 2 seed West Orange (7-2)

2024 EOCHS results

• Sept. 7: win, vs. Livingston, 33-26
• Sept. 13: win, at Newark East Side, 20-0
• Sept. 21: loss, vs. Montclair, 19-12
• Sept. 28: win, at Orange, 27-0
• Oct. 4: win, at Bloomfield, 38-0
• Oct. 11: win, at Paterson Eastside, 41-3
• Oct. 19: loss, vs. West Orange, 7-0
• Oct. 26: win, vs. Clifton, 47-18
• Nov. 28: vs. Barringer, 10 a.m.

  East Orange Campus High School football