Ocean City hasn’t given up a point in 3 games
By KYLE McCRANE/Sentinel Sports
OCEAN CITY – In the three games so far this season, the Red Raiders football team has yet to yield a point. They beat the visiting Absegami Braves 35-0 Friday, Sept. 10.
Ocean City overcame 13 penalties with a well-rounded offense. A week after attempting just a pair of passes, quarterback Riley Gunnels threw for more than 200 yards and four touchdowns.
“It felt really good,” Gunnels said. “The O-line did some great blocking today and that’s always a good thing.”
The Red Raiders struck first on their second series of the game, taking the field with great position thanks to their defense.
“Our defense looks great,” Gunnels said. “Our D-line is doing a great job; secondary looks good too. Then we have Sam Williams, Taylor Eget and Sean Mazzitelli all playing great at linebacker. They’re almost all juniors and seniors, they all know what they’re doing. They just keep their cool and do their job.”
From 31 yards out Gunnels hit tight end Eget, who fought off a tackle at the 15-yard line and took it the rest of the way for the score.
After pushing the Braves backward Ocean City was able to double the lead despite three penalties on the drive.
“Sean Mazzitelli had a really good run to get us out of a hole after a penalty,” offensive coordinator Paul Callahan said. “We always had somebody make a play when we were in a long situation. Jack (Hoag) had some runs to get us out of some bad situations. So that’s a credit to those guys. We have good backs and good linemen; we just haven’t put it all together yet because there’s some new pieces. We have seven new starters on offense, and they’re good players, they just need some time. We’re getting there.”
Hoag ran them into the red zone and Gunnels found tight end Mike Gray, who bulled his way through Absegami tacklers for the touchdown.
The Red Raiders partially blocked a punt to set their offense up on the plus side of midfield.
Two plays later Gunnels unleashed a perfectly placed deep ball for Kyle Hendricks, who outran everyone for the 51-yard score.
“The receivers were great today,” Gunnels said. “I always love throwing to those guys.”
“He’s a good player and you saw what he can do on the field,” Callahan said. “He can really throw the ball. They play a lot of cover-zero, a lot of man-to-man, and gave us a lot of good looks to throw the ball. Riley can really throw it and we have a lot of good receivers and tight ends. Gray and Taylor both scored touchdowns. We have guys who can make plays with the ball.”
Following another stop Ocean City put together a 97-yard scoring drive that would put the game on ice for them.
A pair of penalties temporarily set them back, but Eget and Mazzitelli jump-started the drive with first downs.
“There were some weird flags,” Gunnels said. “We stayed within ourselves and did well coming back from all those penalties. No one lost their cool or anything.”
Hoag then grabbed a pass up the seam and broke free for 56 yards deep into Braves territory.
Gray capped the drive with his second score of the day and sent the teams into halftime with Ocean City up 28-0.
In the second half the Red Raiders leaned on their run game to close it out.
“It’s great to be able to mix it up,” Gunnels said, “because the defense never knows what’s coming.”
The offensive line took care of business whether Ocean City was throwing or passing.
“We gave up a sack on the first play of the game and that was a communication issue on the line,” Callahan explained. “Then we ran the same protection scheme later in the game and we threw it for a touchdown. They do a good job in pass protection and they work really hard. C.J. Conti, our center; Zach Mazzitelli, our left tackle; Eddie Pearce, our right tackle; and Micco Dawkins – we have four seniors starting on our line who really take a lot of pride in what they do. Then we have Justin Gooden, who’s a sophomore on the line and is going to be a really good player for us, and they take him under their wing. But we have really good players and leaders in the offensive line group.”
It was an explosive performance by an offense that had yet to display its passing attack.
“Last week we only threw the ball twice and that’s an anomaly,” Callahan said. “But I told Riley that’s not going to be every week. I think we’re versatile enough where if we get the match-ups to throw the ball we’ll throw it, if we get the looks to run the ball we’ll run it.”
The only blemish was the 143 penalty yards.
“I think the way the game was officiated changed the flow of the game,” head coach Kevin Smith said. “We made a lot of mistakes that we have to clean up. But I thought some things went on on the field that interrupted the way we wanted to play. We weren’t playing dirty, we were playing physical. I think that we were being penalized for being physical, and I’ll never tell the kids to pull that back. We’re going to play whistle-to-whistle.”
The Red Raiders will look to keep it rolling Friday at Mainland Regional.
Kickoff is scheduled for 6 p.m. at the Mustang Corral.
“The rivalry is always fun,” Gunnels said. “We’re just going to keep doing what we’ve been doing every day.”
“That’ll be a big one because obviously it’s a big rivalry game and means a lot to the kids and to the town,” Callahan said. “But I think we have a team that will be even keeled and let their play do the talking. Our guys know how to practice and do the right things.”