Shabazz first-year head coach Nasir Gaines knew that his Bulldogs were going to face a strenuous start to the 2025 season by opening up against Group 5 West Orange followed by a clash with Non-Public A powerhouse St. Peter’s Prep, but he also knew there could be great dividends to be realized no matter how those two contests went.
The fact that the Bulldogs were 1-1 out of the gates with a 10-7 triumph at West Orange followed by a 50-0 loss was what it was in that the pulsating victory over the Mountaineers was followed by a one-sided defeat to the highly-ranked Marauders; however, as New Jersey’s 2025 high school season has reached the state semifinal stage, one of the four Group 2 schools still standing is the Brick City-based school which just captured its second straight state sectional crown, this time as the top seed in North 2, Group 2, as it now prepares to journey up to Bergen County this Friday night to take on a Westwood team (11-1) which has just won the N1G2 title.
In Friday evening’s other group state semifinal involving an Essex County team, another now 2-time state sectional champion in Cedar Grove (9-3), which just captured the N2G1 crown, will head up Route 23 to take on N1G1 champion and undefeated Butler (11-0) on the Bulldogs’ blue surface at Memorial Field.
“That’s why we did it,” said Gaines, referring to his team’s strenuous start to the season. “We wanted to be prepared for this point as we now get ready to face a strong Westwood team on Friday night.
“We like to test our players in different situations, whether it means facing top-level teams like St. Peter’s or getting through strong challenges like we had Friday night with Madison.”
The persistent, seventh-seeded Dodgers (7-4), looking to try and keep their season going for retiring coach Chris Kubik, gave Shabazz all it could handle before the top-seeded Bulldogs finally took off in the fourth quarter to earn a 26-16 victory in the N2G1 final in Newark.
“Madison had some strong senior linemen and I told our kids we would have a dogfight on our hands,” said Gaines. “It felt for a while like perhaps we needed to turn to that experience we had gained from our tough schedule. Whatever the case, we knew we were in something where we had to keep battling.
“We refer to ourselves as ‘the Marines’ which are the ‘Baddest’ branch of the military, and our kids took that mentality to heart against Madison and just never quit on their way to earning a championship victory.
“Now there is more work to do because we want to get back to the Group 2 final!”
Shabazz, which as a No. 5 seed in 2024, knocked off top-seeded Westwood, 14-6 and second-seeded Bernards, 28-14 in big road playoff victories before edging N2G1 champ Hanover Park, 8-7, on a rainy night in East Hanover, were edged by Rumson-Fair Haven, 26-24, in the overall Group 2 state final at Rutgers SHI Stadium.
The coach of that Shabazz team, Naz Oliver, left after the season to accept a job as a recruiter at Penn State, and Gaines, who had filled a number of roles the previous three seasons, including as the Bulldogs’ freshmen coach, stepped into the top seat in directing the successful gridiron program.
“I coached the Brick City Lions, which starts with kids from age 5 all the way up with teams traveling all over the country, and before that I was with the North Ward Scorpions in the Newark Pop Warner League from 2004 to 2012, so I’ve always been working with young players in the city,” said the Bulldogs’ rookie head mentor. “We’re fortunate to have a very young team this season at Shabazz with six seniors, and only three who play, so we are in good shape for the future, but the biggest thing is that 100 % of our players go to a college at some level.
