EAST ORANGE, NJ — With just one game left on their regular-season schedule, the East Orange Campus High School Jaguars football team kicked off their playoff run in the NJSIAA, Rothman Orthopedic, North Jersey, Section 1, Group 5, playoffs as the top seed in the section and the No. 2 seed overall in Group 5.
The Union High School Farmers gained the top seed overall in the group and will look to take care of business in North Jersey, Section 2.
Also, for the first time in program history, the Jags are undefeated and battle-tested against tough opponents West Orange, Montclair and Pope John. Only twice in the season have they trailed in a game — against Montclair and Pope John. They have pitched three shutouts, against Bloomfield, Columbia and West Side; had one forfeit win against Newark East Side; and completely dismantled an undermanned Livingston squad that barely made the playoffs, only to face Union and get bounced out, 41-3.
But that’s not what you want to hear. What you want to hear is the result of Saturday’s game, Nov. 6, against a Elizabeth High School, which is 3-6 on the season and squeaked into the playoffs not by record alone. New Jersey uses a three-pronged United Power Rankings system, which consists of Power Points, UPR, and Opponents’ Strength Index, a mathematical algorithm, along with the snaking-seeding method. The Minutemen, naturally a North Jersey Section 2 school, landed squarely in the sights of the Jaguars and their proverbial shark-infested waters at Paul Robeson Stadium in East Orange. Elizabeth had one thing going for them at the moment. They defeated East Orange twice in the playoffs, back in 2016 and 2017.
Elizabeth head coach Jamil Jackson led his team in hopes of stealing another playoff game away from the heavily favored Jaguars. But not if Jags head coach Rae Oliver had something to say about it. He stated after the West Side game that they all will have to come through the gates on North Clinton Street, so it was business as usual.
East Orange Campus made it apparent that the game was important but approached it very conservatively as they took the game 21-7 over Elizabeth. On the agenda for the Jaguars was preserving their players for the bigger games coming down the line. But not before they checked a more important goal off their list — getting their elusive senior running back Damon Phillips his 1,000 yards on the season. That moment came with 6:57 left in the first quarter of the game. Phillips entered the day needing just 33 yards and ended the day with 234 yards on 17 carries and two touchdowns, as well as adding a 21-yard reception for a touchdown as well.
Phillips would get the scoring going early in the second quarter when the Jags methodically marched 91 yards on the ground, staying ahead of the chain gang with eight first downs and the 1-yard gut punch into the house by Phillips.
Phillips struck again midway through the second quarter with a dazzling 15-yard reception from Raeden Oliver, who finished five-of-seven passes for 123 yards and one touchdown in the game.
Phillips broke open in the fourth quarter with a showstopping, ankle-popping, bulldozing, spin- cycling disappearing act to score the third and final touchdown 50 yards later with 5:50 left in the game.
But the key of the game was East Orange’s defense, led by Mounge Nyame, who had four sacks, and Ahmad Nalls, who was a tackling machine with 15 tackles on the day. They held Elizabeth to 229 yards in total offense and a late single touchdown at the end of the game.
“We are deserving to be here,” said Elizabeth head coach Jamil Jackson. “We wanted to show that we are a lot better than our record projects. We beat them, East Orange, twice and we wanted to see if we can make it a third.” He went on to say that his squad faced some adversity early in the season, which included him not being on the field for the first two weeks of the season. Elizabeth, led by quarterback Edris Holiday and his wide-receiving corps of Wendell Cadet, Esthervin Almanzar and Javonte Bailey, combined for 170 yards passing and receiving with a single touchdown. Holiday found Cadet on a late 26-yard touchdown pass to foil the Jaguar shutout.
“We wanted to concentrate on a few things,” said East Orange Campus head coach Rae Oliver, who pointed out that Elizabeth’s defense was set up to take away the passing threat of Josh Richards, BJ Covington and Edward Thomas, “so we just got them to try and stop Damon (Phillips).” Phillips said he hasn’t processed the achievement of being a 1,000-yard rusher.
East Orange remain perfect as they will face a vaunted West Orange Mountaineer squad for the second time this season on Saturday, Nov. 13, at 1 p.m. “We are looking at one game at a time,” said Rae Oliver. “Right now, we are looking at West Orange coming down that hill looking for some retribution. That is what we are focusing on this week.”
Earlier this season, Mountaineers head coach Darnell Grant stated that he hoped to see East Orange again in the playoffs. West Orange defeated Westfield, 28-14, this past Friday, Nov. 6, in the playoffs. “This is turning into a good rivalry,” said Coach Oliver, something West Orange’s Coach Grant would agree upon.
Photos Courtesy of Kerry E. Porter
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