Atlantic City football explodes late for key Group 5 win on the road for naming rights

A group of Atlantic City Vikings celebrate after scoring a touchdown in the football game played against Eastern at Eastern Regional High School in Voorhees, New Jersey on Friday, October 10th, 2025. Kiersten Cowgill/D2 Sports Network

VOORHEES - Riding a three-game winning streak, the Atlantic City High School football team hit the road for a "Battle of the Vikings" at Eastern Regional High School.

The Atlantic City Vikings bested the Eastern Vikings for bragging rights of the "Top Vikings" in South Jersey. The ball club from "The Las Vegas of the East" ran away late, securing a 26-7 victory.

Eastern jumped out to an early 7-0 lead, storming downfield and commanding a 12-play, 75-yard scoring drive.

The Atlantic City defense buckled down and defused the Eastern offense following the score, never allowing the hosts into the red zone for the remainder of the game.

"Our defense won us this game," Omar Kelly said. Kelly racked up a pair of sacks and a few tackles for a loss off the edge.

"We're a second-half team, so we gotta hold it down while the offense figures things out. Our problem is that we have to try and get the run game going earlier so we can set up the pass. We have so many guys who can score on offense, we just have to open it up for them, then we'll play a complete game."

The Vikings spread the field out in the second half, allowing the run game to find traction to open up the secondary for the speedsters on the outside.

Tamir Rex took over in the third and fourth quarters, catching a pair of important touchdowns. Rex hauled in the go-ahead touchdown with four minutes and 30 seconds left in the third quarter. The final nail in the coffin came on a 76-yard tunnel screen taken to the house with two minutes and 50 seconds left in regulation.

"I kind of use my height to my advantage," Rex noted. "I'm a smaller guy, so sometimes it's easy for me to get lost in a crowd of players. Those quick screens and broken plays make it easier for me to get open and break a few tackles and just run free to the endzone."

Rex finished the game with five catches for 136 yards and two touchdowns. The senior is already close to eclipsing his total amount of receiving yards from a season ago, currently sitting at 461 yards and already matching his scoring total with five touchdowns.

With the winning streak extended to four games and key Group 5 wins under its belt, Atlantic City is trying to set itself up with a home playoff game for at least the first two rounds. Hitting the home stretch of the regular season, many teams are scraping together as many power points as possible.

"We knew that this game wasn't going to be easy," Coach Keenan Wright said. "We still have to clean up our offense to get them rolling sooner because the games aren't going to get easier heading into the playoffs. We want to have as many home games in the postseason as possible, and winning tonight was on our list. We think our home field advantage is one of the best around, so we want to keep putting ourselves in a favorable spot."