East Orange Campus senior quarterback Sa’eed Cole delivers a pass during the 7-0 loss against West Orange at Paul Robeson Stadium in East Orange this season.
EAST ORANGE, NJ — The East Orange Campus High School football team got its payback.
Behind three touchdown runs by senior quarterback Sa’eed Cole, the fourth-seeded Jaguars defeated fifth-seeded Montclair 28-14 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. 2.
The Jaguars, under head coach John Jacob, improved to 7-2 on the season. Montclair fell to 4-6.
The Jaguars will visit top-seeded Ridgewood in the semifinals on Friday, Nov. 8, at 6:30 p.m. Ridgewood defeated No. 8 seed Passaic 33-14 to improve to 6-3. The other semifinal pits No. 3 seed Piscataway at No. 2 seed West Orange on Friday, Nov. 8. The championship game is Friday, Nov. 15, at the higher-seeded school.
EOCHS avenged a 19-12 loss to Montclair on Saturday, Sept. 21, in Week 3 at Robeson Stadium in a Super Football Conference–Freedom Red Division game for its first loss of the season.
In the playoff game, Richard Williams scored on a 3-yard run on the opening drive of the game to give the Montclair Mounties a 7-0 lead. The Jaguars then took control for the rest of the game. Junior running back Tyshawn Sewell had a 1-yard TD run early in the second quarter to tie it 7-7. Cole scored on a 3-yard run to put the Jaguars up 14-7 with 1:52 remaining.
In the third quarter, Cole had a 1-yard run to make it 21-7 with 5:03 remaining.
Cole ran for a 32-yard TD in the fourth quarter for a 28-7 lead with 11:00 remaining. The Mounties cut it to 28-14 with 3:37 remaining when Williams recovered an EOCHS fumble in the end zone. But the Jaguars held on for the victory. Senior place-kicker Samuel Adekolu kicked all four extra points for the Jaguars.
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. 2: win, vs. (5) Montclair, 28-14, quarterfinals*
*North Jersey, Section 1, Group 5 playoffs (EOC is No. 4 seed)
Photo Courtesy of Kerry E. Porter
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