EAST ORANGE — The East Orange Campus High School football team defeated Union City 33-29 on Friday, Sept. 11.
Two years ago in the Group 5 state semifinals, the EOCHS Jaguars lost to Union City 42-0. “For you seniors that are graduating, I apologize for not doing my job,” EOCHS head coach John Jacob said that year. “For you underclassmen, I promise you when the time comes, we will come back here and finish what we started.”
Fast forward two years and many of the same underclassmen on that team are now upperclassmen, led by senior quarterback Zach Concepcion and senior standout defensive end and Wake Forest commit Esa Wittingburg. Concepcion is on pace to overtake East Orange alumni Raeden Oliver (2,325 yards), Justin Laroda (2,843 yards) and catch Kyree Fisher (3,808 yards) in career passing yardage before the season’s end. But there is a new crop of East Orange underclassmen that are just as hungry and making an impact on both sides of the ball.
East Orange returned to the scene of the football crime at Union City’s Roosevelt Stadium, also known as the Rooftop Stadium or The Eagles Nest, for the first time since that late November evening. The Jaguars took the trip up the New Jersey Turnpike as part of their three-game road trip, after stopping next door to defeat Bloomfield 36-12 after losing their home opener to Piscataway 26-20. Union City opened its season with a three-game homestand, defeating the Teaneck Highwaymen 40-27 in Week 0, then dropped its game last week against Irvington 27-12. East Orange was Union City’s last home game for the next two weeks as they faced Ramapo and Paterson Eastside to close out the month.
East Orange elected to take the ball first to open the game on an evening of remembrance. As the sun set over the combined New York City and New Jersey skyline, the Jaguars and Soaring Eagles would trade their first possessions before both would jump on the scoreboard relatively quickly. Concepcion would take the Jaguars 39 yards in five plays, finding his wide receiving corps of senior Kamari Anderson, senior Eric Wilkens and junior Musa Wittingburg for a combined 36 yards, while senior running back Jaleel Halsey would start the drive with a quick 2-yard run and would dive into paydirt from a yard out with 4:05 left in the opening quarter to take a 7-0 lead.
Union City said they can match that with their vaunted Delaware Wing T offense. Junior QB Elemaniel Gerena would run their running attack with senior RB Naythan Pena and sophomore Brandon Diaz leading the way. Starting at their own 35-yard line, the Soaring Eagles’ fluid rushing attack marched 65 yards in six plays with the help of a 15-yard personal foul against East Orange. Gerena would find a wide open senior WR David Fernantes for a 28-yard missile and John F. Kennedy Boulevard special to answer East Orange with 0:49 left in the opening quarter, knotting up the score 7-7.
East Orange would blast off again, taking the ball from their 26-yard line. Halsey was stonewalled twice for no gain to end the first quarter, but Concepcion had a big idea to start the second quarter. On a third-and-10 play, Concepcion had time in the pocket and uncorked a 74- yard bomb to Musa Wittingburg for the immediate three-play response with 11:49 left in the first half to go up 13-7 after a blocked extra point kick.
The Soaring Eagles were forced to punt their next possession away, but were able to redeem themselves a little. Concepcion and his Jaguars were starting at their 11-yard line after a timeout with 7:24 remaining. Looking to build on their momentum, Concepcion threw an interception, but it was called for defensive holding. But on the very next play, Concepcion threw another pass intended for Anderson when Union City senior DB William “Duke” Irwin pounced. He swooped in for a 35-yard pick-6 giving his Soaring Eagles a slim 14-13 lead for the first time in the game. But East Orange erupted for two quick scores. The first was on the ensuing kickoff, where East Orange junior kickoff return specialist Donovan Ottey-Campbell found wiggle room to roam for a house call 85 yards later to reclaim the lead 19-14 with 5:07 remaining in the half. But East Orange’s special teams came up big again on the ensuing kickoff, forcing Union City to fumble on the Soaring Eagles 30-yard line. Concepcion would take full advantage, finding Wilkins for a 22-yard strike to put the ball at the Soaring Eagles’ 12-yard line after a subsequent 5-yard false start penalty to start the series. He would find Musa Wittingburg, with two Union City defenders draped all over him, and still threw a bullet that threaded the needle for the 25-14 lead after the failed two-point conversion with 2:28 remaining in the first half. Union City would start in good field position at the East Orange 46 yard line but would not be able to score after a 29-yard pass from Gerena to Irwin as the clock ran out just short of the goal line. But that was enough to set the table for the third quarter where the Soaring Eagles came out with their trademark attack. Starting from the East Orange 40-yard line, senior RB Naythan Pena and senior TE Henry Hansen led the charge to help the Soaring Eagles pull within a field goal in six plays with 9:04 remaining, and Pena capped the 40-yard ground attack from a yard out.
Still trailing the Jaguars, their next opportunity came when the Jaguars could get things going. The Soaring Eagles’ defense, led by senior LB Jordan Peterson, came up with a couple big stops that ultimately gave their offense the ball on the East Orange 15-yard line after a muffed snap for a punt with 4:05 remaining in the quarter. Pena would find a way to the end zone in three plays, capping the short drive from 3 yards out to reclaim the lead 29-25. But Concepcion decided to counter the Soaring Eagles by dropping dots and bombs, big ones, too. Starting from the Jaguars’ 8-yard line with 2:35 remaining in the third quarter, Concepcion mishandled a snap and was ruled down when his knee hit the turf. He would then find Musa Wittingburg for a 58-yard connection. Halsey would skirt the defense for 3 yards, before Concepcion delivered a 6-yard dot to Wilkens to close out the third quarter. Concepcion would find Je’zi Lewis for a 30-yard air delivery and a 32-29 score with 11:51 remaining in the game.
The Jaguars are idle this weekend. They will return to action on Friday, Sept. 25, when they visit West Orange at 7 p.m.
All game long, it would be the younger Wittingburg shining brightly, snagging 4 receptions for 148 yards and 2 touchdowns. But his big brother, Esa, would come up big on the defensive side, with the help of fellow senior DL Sadiq Dues and senior linebackers Abdur-Rahman Ali and Joel Martinez. Esa forced 3 tackles for a loss and 2 key sacks, one at the start of the game and one at the end, forcing a strip fumble to preserve the Jaguars’ win. The elder Wittingburg caused all kinds of havoc, shutting down any possible runs or passes to his side of the field.
“I am so proud of my little brother to be able to shine like he did today,” said Esa Wittingburg. He said that he was a sophomore when they lost to Union City, so he dedicated the game to his former teammates who are now in college.
“I fulfilled my promise and did my job,” Jacob said to his team after the game. He said that there were some things that were left on the table that could be cleaned up, but he was satisfied with the win going into the bye week this week. East Orange will finish the road trip in West Orange on Friday, Sept. 25, at 7 p.m. “They came prepared,” said Union City head coach Wil Valdez. , “We weren’t able to get our passing game the way we wanted. They have a couple good players over there and they were able to keep us off our game.”
Concepcion is close to the 1,000-yard mark on the season so far, with 41 completions on 68 attempts for 986 yards, 11 TDs and 2 interceptions. He finished the game with 276 yards on 12 completions out of 16 attempts, 3 touchdowns and 1 interception.
Photos Courtesy of Kerry E. Porter
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