LIVINGSTON-Abel Paul was already enjoying a superb season running the football for Livingston as he prepared for a late-regular season SFC-Freedom Red Division contest vs. visiting Montclair.
Then he broke free on his team’s first play from scrimmage for an 80-yard touchdown run just 15 seconds into what was about to be a historic evening at Allen ‘Jake’ Jacobson Memorial Field.
The prize junior running back would go on to an Essex County record performance finishing with 27 carries for 522 yards and 7 touchdowns in a 49-39 Livingston victory.
The incredible rushing performance would go down as the third-highest single-game yardage record in state history, just behind Netcong’s John Giannantoni’s 754 yards and 9 TDs in a 1950 game vs. Mountain Lakes, and St. Mary’s of Rutherford’s Derious Stone who amassed 577 yards in a 2015 contest.
For all the hoopla that followed with websites such as nj.com and Internet video services such as Jersey Sports Now highlighting the memorable evening for one of Essex County’s top offensive players, Paul himself did not make any big deal about what he had achieved in that game, and still doesn’t today.
Instead, the Lafayette College commit continues to just let the game he has grown to love continue to come to him bringing whatever circumstances each new challenge can provide as he prepares to be one of the senior leaders for the 2026 Lancers who open the new season hosting Bayonne, 7 p.m., Thursday, Aug. 27, at The Jake.
“The way I continue to go about each game is not to think too much about how it’s all going to unfold for me and the team, just make sure that we’re prepared to perform at a high level and let the game come naturally, on its own, and let things play out,” said the thoughtful standout athlete who was also a state sectional champion in the 100-meter dash and in the long jump last spring. “The biggest thing for me is to try and help Livingston win the game, and that’s what counts the most no matter how the game may go for me.”
Paul’s eventual total rushing output of a 2025 season-best 2,372 yards to go along with 25 TDs was quite the prolific output for the 5-foot-9, 180-pound now-rising senior who last fall was in just his first season as a varsity running back after being a standout wide receiver his sophomore year.
Now, one of the biggest challenges for Paul and company is to try and repeat the success of last fall’s solid 7-4 Lancers squad which also finished a respectable 3-2 in the SFC’s Freedom-Red.
Following the season opener vs. Bayonne will be a very challenging division road contest at West Orange, which with another big talent load could very well emerge as the No. 1 public high school football team in Essex County this fall.
The task ahead is also made more difficult in that Livingston graduated 29 seniors off last year’s team, including standout running back and linebacker Christian Giordano and a host of others.
Still, the Lancers have some strong returning talented led by its senior quad captains in Paul, quarterback Troy Naylor, WR-DB Anthony Sosa, OL-LB Nico Tarabocchia and OL-DL Kodi Gbanite.
“Sure, we have to adjust to losing 29 seniors who really helped build something here, but we have the confidence that we can produce another strong team with some really talented players here this year,” said Paul. “We believe in each other; we have a great coaching staff, and we’re all ready to go out every day and work hard in order to make this a special season!”
The Abel Paul story has been a unique one. Unlike most of his teammates he did not begin playing football until his freshman year in high school as his parents, from a strong Haitian-American background that stresses academics over almost everything else were not too keen on their son playing the physical and possibly dangerous sport of football.
But, mom Lydia and dad Jean finally agreed that their sons, also including the since-graduated starting DB Asa Paul, could join the Lancers gridiron squad and the rest has been a continuing evolving journey of very eventful performances for the township high school.
Now Abel Paul is headed to play at Lafayette College in Easton, Pa., where the solid Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) team is a member of the academically-strong Patriot League, while older brother Asa will be a freshman DB at nearby Montclair State University this fall.
The younger Paul selected Lafayette after receiving numerous offers including from an FBS school in UConn along with FCS schools Lehigh, Fordham, Monmouth, Maine and Bryant.
Mom and dad have also become quite accustomed to watching the Livingston Lancer football games as Abel Paul’s fantastic journey in the sport continues this fall.
“My family gets to every game and enjoy all the excitement each game brings,” said the future Lafayette Leopard. “I’m excited to play for Lafayette where everything – including the coaching staff and the campus – made me feel at home.
“Also, it's great that my cousin (sophomore LB) Ernest Jeune, who played at East Orange, is also on the team.
“For now it’s all about Livingston football and looking to help my team have the type of success that I know we are capable of!”
NOTES- Lafayette finished a solid 8-4 last fall in head coach John Troxell’s third season at the helm and the 2026 season starts Aug. 27 at Georgetown…The Leopards offense was second in the Patriot League in both passing and rushing…Among the other North Jersey products on the Lafayette roster is former Seton Hall Prep standout Justin Cook, who is a sophomore linebacker..Paul finished first in the 100-meter dash (10.84) and long jump (22-5) in the N1G4 state sectional championships this past May…Abel’s name refers back to the Old Testament and about Cain & Abel, who was the younger son of Adam & Eve…Paul’s electrifying 522-yard, 7 TD performance vs. Montclair last fall was listed as the second-best individual performance of the 2025 season in the state on si.com (Sports Illustrated), just behind the 9-TD output of Holmdel QB Jack Cannon who passed for 6 TDs and ran for 3 more in a 65-42 Central Jersey, Group 3 playoff victory over Neptune.
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