It was a night of snapped streaks at Williams Field in Elizabeth on Friday night.
No. 7 Elizabeth ran all over the stadium, defeating No. 2 St. Joseph (Met.) 62-35 in one of the wilder games of the season.
For one, the Minutemen (4-0) notched their first 4-0 start since 2015. They also handed the Falcons (2-1) their first Big Central American Gold Division loss in three years, since a loss to Union on September 16th, 2023, as well as their first conference loss in ten tries. It was also the first win in the head-to-head series since 2023, before any players on either side suited up in their respective uniforms.
And it was a wild, back-and-forth affair all night.
The gaudy yardage totals came from both ends.
Elizabeth senior quarterback A’rique Fleming notched a whopping 366 yards and five touchdowns through the air, plus 98 yards and a touchdown on the ground, in which he ran through multiple Falcons defenders on the way to a 20-yard scamper.
Senior Qua’Yon Williams might have had the crazier evening. He caught seven passes for 146 yards and three scores, while also scampering for a 55-yard punt return touchdown in the first quarter to give Elizabeth an early double-digit lead.
The Minutemen forced a three-and-out on the game’s opening drive, and got to work right away on offense.
On a fourth-and-long, Fleming lofted a pass into the corner of the end zone to senior wideout Erick Cespedes to open the scoring late in the first quarter.
Then, after forcing another punt, Williams weaved through the coverage to add another quick-strike score.
The Falcons got on the board on the ensuing possession, as quarterback Cole Seyler laced a 71-yard score up the middle to tight end Edgar Cruz, cutting the deficit in half.
But Elizabeth once again came back to score, marching down the field before a two-yard touchdown by running back Jah’Ki Williams.
St. Joseph’s offense stayed hot, as tight end Maddox Mingucci tiptoed the sideline for another quick score.
Williams scored on a jet sweep for his third touchdown of the evening, putting the Minutemen back up by two possessions with six minutes left in the first half, and Elizabeth got the ball back minutes later, working the clock perfectly to score another touchdown – Cespedes’s second score of the night – with just ten seconds on the game clock.
St. Joseph stole some of the momentum back to start the third quarter, forcing a three-and-out and marching down the field.
But Elizabeth defensive back Nahjae Smith stole it right back, boxing out receiver Nick Brust for an interception to get the ball back.
Backed up near their own goal line, the Minutement still marched down the field, aided by a 39-yard run from Fleming, setting up another strike to Williams from 30 yards out.
Down 42-14, the Falcons worked their way back into the game, with an efficient drive capped by a ten-yard throw to Brust for a score. They then recovered the onside kick, and struck again for another as Seyler found Mingucci again.
But Williams sprang free for a 39-yard score, taking a hard turn multiple times over the middle in between would-be tacklers, to put Elizabeth back up 49-28 in the final minute of the third quarter.
In the fourth, the Minutemen notched two more scores, a rumbling 25-yard run by Fleming and a strike to Williams for his fourth score on offense in the final seconds.
St. Joseph continued to fight back into the game with a long score from Seyler to Brust. Seyler finished with 377 yards passing, the most by a Falcon since Justin Scaramuzzo threw for 394 against Ridge in 2024.
In the end, Elizabeth controlled the game from the start and sent a message to the rest of the Big Central: They aren’t afraid to throw and run the ball all over the yard, and run straight past you.
The Minutemen did much of that all night, to start 4-0 for the first time in over a decade.
Click below to hear CJSR’s Dylan Allen talk with Elizabeth head coach Eugene Kline following the Minutemen’s victory over St. Joseph (Met.), sponsored by the Sportsplex at Metuchen:
