Cleveland Browns coach, as special guest, talks to players about mental toughness
OCEAN CITY – After a long summer break, Ocean City High School is ready to open the doors to another school year and another season of Red Raider football.
The Raiders will once again host multiple games at Carey Stadium to open the high school football season in the fourth installment of Battle at the Beach. The event brings together schools that would not normally face each other for an exciting three-day opening weekend of football.
Ocean City will play its season opener on Thursday, Aug. 29, versus Cinnaminson High School from Central Jersey. Kickoff for the Raiders game is set for 4 p.m. and the quadruple header of games at Carey Stadium starts at 10 a.m.
Last season in their Battle at the Beach matchup, the Raiders took down Pleasantville High School 14-6 to kick off their year. Ocean City set the tone for the whole season as it showed off the power run game led by senior Duke Guenther.
The workhorse running back led the Raiders in yards last year and averaged 19.2 carries a game. He also accounted for over 1,000 all-purpose yards.
The rest of the season was a hard-fought grind for the Raiders. Ocean City played some of the toughest teams in all of New Jersey, including road games against Group III state champion Delsea High School and Group IV state champion Mainland Regional High School.
Ocean City’s season came to an end in a nail biting 23-22 loss against Hammonton in the playoffs. The Raiders finished the year with a 3-7 record.
Entering the 2024 season, Ocean City head coach Kevin Smith expects his team to grow from last season’s challenges.
“If nothing else it really taught us how to handle adversity,” Smith said. “We are going to grow from that for sure and you just hope the lessons we learned last year will translate to success this year. That has been the offseason message for us, which has been handling adversity. Mentally I believe we are in a pretty good place.”
The Raiders’ first game is against the Cinnaminson Pirates who are coming off a 9-2 season. Cinnaminson will provide an early test for a new-look Raider offense. Guenther and receiver Jon Moyer both graduated last spring and combined for nearly 20 touchdowns in 2023.
Two running backs will look to pick up where Guenther left off this season, as Clay Compton and Triston Schmidt are set to be the new one-two punch of the Raiders.
“I like both of those guys to step into that role,” Smith said. “Clay is a lot like Guenther. He is a bit smaller and shiftier while Triston is more of a power back who runs between the tackles. It’s a nice combination and we hope for them to pick up the slack.”
The Raiders had a sizable senior class depart but retained quarterback Walker Bailey, who will return for his senior season this fall. In his first year as the starting quarterback, Bailey improved each week and had some of his best performances late into his junior campaign.
In the offseason, Smith brought in Cleveland Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski as a special guest. Stefanski is a former NFL Coach of the Year and previously worked with quarterbacks such as Brett Favre.
“He came around to a lot of our practices and we really talked with him a lot about the mental side of football,” Smith said. “He worked with our quarterbacks on processing defenses and all the different things before a snap occurs. He was wonderful and could not have been any humbler or any better to work with.”
The Raiders’ schedule keeps them at home through the first four weeks of the season. However, the downside of so many home games in a row is that the second half of the schedule is tough. Four of the Raiders’ last five games are on the road with the only home game coming on Oct. 18 against Holy Spirit.
Their first road game will be a rematch of last season’s playoff game as the Raiders travel to Hammonton High School on Sep 27.
The stakes get higher the following week as the Raiders travel across the bay to take on the rival Mainland Mustangs. Ocean City previously won five straight games against its heated rival before last season when the Mustangs broke the Raiders’ streak and finished the year undefeated.
Ocean City’s schedule has two distinct halves. The first half is a great opportunity at home to get newer players the experience necessary for a successful second-half push towards the playoffs.
2024 Schedule
4 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 29, home versus Cinnaminson
6 p.m. Friday, Sept. 6, home versus Eastern
6 p.m. Friday, Sept. 13, home versus Lenape
6 p.m. Friday, Sept. 20, home versus Atlantic City
7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 27, away at Hammonton
6 p.m. Friday, Oct. 4, away at Mainland
6 p.m. Friday, Oct. 11, away at Middle
6 p.m. Friday, Oct. 18, home versus Holy Spirit
6 p.m. Friday, Oct. 25, away at Cedar Creek
TBA Friday, Nov. 1, NJSIAA playoffs begin
– By WILLIAM TRUITT/For the Sentinel