OCEAN CITY – Midway through the regular season, the Ocean City High School boys lacrosse team is hitting its stride on offense.
Junior Otter Donohue finished the week off with a performance of the season as he scored five goals in the Red Raiders’ 12-2 win over Clearview High School April 18. Donohue and the Red Raiders were all over Clearview from the first whistle and rode the great start to the wire-to-wire victory.
Ocean City dominated the time of possession and shots on goal but only got two shots into the net by the end of the first quarter. Donohue was involved on both scores with a quick strike for the team’s first goal and assisted Charlie Beseris later.
After talking things over in between quarters, the Raiders came out of the huddle looking to put the game out of reach immediately. Ocean City blitzed Clearview with a four-goal swing in the first four minutes of the second quarter that provided a commanding lead.
Donohue kicked off the run with back-to-back goals that gave him his second hat trick of the season. The leading points scorer for the Raiders this season, Jack Scherbin got his name onto the scoreboard right after Donohue’s run. The streak was capped off with the first career goal by Dean Lappin, whose shot was assisted by a great pass in front of the net by Scherbin.
The offense for Ocean City has turned up a notch the past week with four different Raiders leading the team in points over the last four games. Donohue’s five-goal and three-assist explosion was his best game of the season and really helped the Raiders handle Clearview.
At halftime with a 6-1 lead the Raiders were dominating the shots on goal with a 15-4 shot differential. Both sides of the field contributed to the difference, but face-off specialist Michael Marczyk was at the center of it.
Marczyk finished the game with a win percentage of 84 and despite not recording an assist, helped keep the ball in the hands of the Raiders throughout the game.
Ocean City eventually led Clearview 33-7 on shots and added onto the scoreboard with Scherbin and Anthony DiLorenzo adding a pair of goals. The Raiders assisted on 11 of their 12 goals against Clearview, with four of them coming from the one player who helped the Raiders knock off their rival earlier in the week.
Liam Kazmarck had four assists against Clearview but made his mark against rival and Cape-Atlantic League contender Mainland Regional High School on April 13. In a game where points were at a premium, Kazmarck recorded a hat trick and lifted Ocean City over the Mustangs 6-4.
The game was tied 4-4 after the third quarter with both teams locked into another tight contest. Eventually the Raiders held Mainland scoreless in the fourth and scored the go-ahead goal to keep their win streak over the Mustangs intact.
Despite many close battles between the two teams recently, the Raiders have had their rival’s number in boys lacrosse, having not dropped a game to Mainland since 2018.
The two wins plus a loss to undefeated Kingsway High School brought the Raiders’ record to 5-3 with half of the regular season left to play and a potential rematch against Mainland in the conference tournament later in May as a possibility. Ocean City’s next game will be at home against Haddonfield High School (5-1) on Saturday, April 25. Game time is set for an early 10 a.m. start.
– STORY by WILLIAM TRUITT/For the Sentinel
– PHOTOS by DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff
