Defense was king in the finale of the 2025 NJSIAA Football State Championships at SHI Stadium on Wednesday night. The defenses of the Camden Panthers and Malcolm X. Shabazz Bulldogs threw their weight around from the jump, but ultimately at a pace that only Camden could sustain throughout the full game. Spurred by a pick-six from Talib Shakir late in the first half, the Panther defense, who averaged about ten points per game throughout the season, imposed their will with five takeaways. When the dust settled, Camden were convincing 28-7 winners.
The tenor of this game was apparent off the jump as both teams turned the ball over in a scoreless first quarter. Zykir Best recovered a lost Camden fumble, then just as Shabazz’s offense got going, Panther senior Scott Freeman intercepted a deep pass from junior quarterback Kariem Coston. The defenses continued to lead the way to begin the second quarter, as both teams exchanged stops on fourth down past midfield.
With all that precedent set, would it at all surprise you to know that the first points of the evening came on defense? Not at all. The tug-of-war battle looked as if it would favor MXS when they recovered a second fumble. Adekunbi Adetayo jarred the ball loose and Jaden Hill pounced on top in plus territory. Shabazz was in business. Things looked good.
For about a few plays. A Camden blitz squeezed Coston in the pocket, forcing him to flip an off-balance screen pass. That gave senior ball-hawk Talib Shakir plenty of time to swoop in and grab the interception. He burst into the open field with one man to beat, slipped the tackle, and raced in for six to break the seal and stake the Panthers to a 7-0 lead. It was Shakir’s fourth interception of the season; all of them he returned for touchdowns.
That pick-six would prove to be the first of two big blows Camden dealt to Shabazz before the half. The Bulldogs’ offense went three-and-out on the ensuing drive, which gave about two minutes to Coach Hinson’s squad to add to their advantage. They drove into the red zone in the final minute, but a false start disrupted their momentum. That could have caused the whole drive to fall apart, but Ahmad Jones wouldn’t let it happen. On the next play, he fired a bullet up the seam to Syracuse signee Ibn Muhammad, who easily snagged it and took it into the zone for a critical late touchdown.
Camden’s defense would grab a third first-half interception from Jaiden Steele on a Hail Mary pass as the clock hit zeroes. The Panthers received to begin the third quarter, making that late score sting just that much more. Shabazz’s defense dealt with the adversity well, forcing a three-and-out, but the offense once again couldn’t link up. Their drive stalled out at the 34-yard line, with Coston’s fourth down pass just a smidge ahead of his intended receiver, Rayquan Clark.
From there, Camden kept cooking. A huge personal foul penalty against Shabazz on third down only tilted the momentum further in their favor, at which point Roman Duckett revitalized the run game. A couple chunk plays brought them inside the 10, then Duckett plunged forward for a three-yard score to give the purple-and-gold a 20-0 lead.
For Malcolm X. Shabazz, it must have felt like Groundhog Day. Their offense once again made it past the 30-yard line, before Camden again buckled down and forced a fourth down. On the make-or-break play, Coston was well-protected and spotted a wide open Clark. Clark prepared to make the catch, but lost his footing, and as the turf monster hauled him down, the ball bounced out of his grasp. That excruciating near-miss was the coronation for Camden as the score remained 20-0 after three.
Camden’s defense got a bit fortunate on that play, but they took luck out of the equation with their overall body of work. They shut down Shabazz’s run game to the tune of just 52 yards on 21 carries and intercepted Coston four times thanks to relentless pressure and sticky coverage.
In the fourth quarter, Camden forced two more turnovers and added a late score to stretch their lead to four scores, before a late Shabazz score got them off the schneid in the final five minutes. The final score: Camden 27, Shabazz 8.
A legendary Panther senior class will ride off into the sunset with rings on their fingers. Quarterback Ahmad Jones, who took the reins of the offense after transferring from Pleasantville, eclipsed 2,000 pass yards in the finale. Ibn Muhammad, a two-way phenom who led the team in receiving yards and picked up nine sacks as a defensive back, joins offensive tackle JoJo White in heading to Syracuse. Defensive lineman Jerome Foster picked up 19.5 sacks, and running back Christian Braxton finished with nearly 1,000 rushing yards. Decades from now, people will still be talking about this class.
As a postscript, Camden’s victory completed a 5-0 clean sweep for South Jersey representatives in the public championships; the first time in the four seasons of unified state title play that one region claimed every crown.
