ABSECON – The three-game win streak for the Ocean City Red Raiders came to an abrupt halt after a trip to Holy Spirit High School Friday evening, Oct. 16.
Led by a dominant performance by freshman Abdul-Azeem Carrington, the Spartans led wire-to-wire and took down Ocean City 35-7. Carrington picked up his second 200-yard rushing game in as many weeks.
The Spartans have given Ocean City a tough time recently with the Raiders dropping the last three matchups. Holy Spirit came into the game needing a win to vastly increase its chances to make the postseason.
Ocean City’s record fell to 6-2 on the season with one more game until the playoffs. Head coach Sean Matthews had a simple message to the team afterwards, which was an emphasis on sticking together.
A big key to the Raiders’ success this season had been their run defense, but it was clear from Carrington’s first carry that he was going to be a problem.
Carrington handled the bulk of the touches and racked up over 100 yards in the first half alone. He scored the game’s first touchdown and broke free for 64 yards later in the half to set up another score.
After the early offensive pressure from Holy Spirit, the Raiders got their feet back under themselves. The defense responded with two consecutive stops on fourth down and kept Carrington bottled up as much as possible.
Right before halftime, the Raiders held Holy Spirit to a field goal attempt and sent out the special teams unit to try to make anything happen. Needing a big play, they loaded the left side of the formation looking to get a hand on the ball.
Ocean City’s Michael Marczyk got both of his hands on the kick after he sprinted off the corner unblocked. He knocked down the kick and got to watch as teammate Joe Pancoast picked it up and returned it 76 yards for an Ocean City touchdown. It was the first non-offensive touchdown scored by the Raiders all season and came at the perfect time.
A rough first half looked much more manageable for Ocean City only down 14-7 and they were due to receive the ball.
The momentum was short lived. Quarterback Jackson Becker’s first pass of the third quarter was intercepted. Carrington quickly scored with the short field for his second of three touchdowns on the day.
Holy Spirit’s offense outside of the turnover did not have many short and quick possessions. The Spartans ate up the time of possession and by the time the Raiders got the ball back they needed to pass the ball downfield to try to catch up quickly.
Becker and the offense were thrown off balance by a strong defensive front that was also led by Carrington. The running back kept his unbelievable game going on defense with three sacks and a couple of tackles in the backfield.
Neither the passing game with Becker nor the running game found solid footing against the Spartans. Defenders including Carrington were disruptive the whole game and led to the first Ocean City loss in three games.
The final game of the regular season will not be any easier for the Raiders. They head to Glassboro High School on Oct. 22. Glassboro will enter as one of the top ranked teams in New Jersey with a 7-1 record and a devastating wide receiver in Xavier Sabb. The University of Oregon commit has so far lived up to the hype of being a five-star recruit.
It will be the third game this season Ocean City has played against a defending state champion, going 1-1 in those games.
After Ocean City gets a shot against a top team, the post season will begin. The Raiders can almost assuredly earn one playoff home game this season with a win over Glassboro, but can still get a home game if other scores go Ocean City’s way.
Mustangs win
The Mainland Mustangs beat Cedar Creek (1-7) Friday evening to earn their second win of the season.
The Mustangs, now 2-6, broke open a game tied at 20-20 with the only score in the fourth quarter for the 27-20 final score.
Running back Lucas DiBiaso scored three of the touchdowns for Mainland Regional High School, on a 64-yard run in the first quarter, a 4-yard run in the second quarter and the short 3-yard run in the fourth to clinch the game. Quarterback Crew Russo scored the other touchdown on a 4-yard run in the third quarter. Landon Mead provided three extra points.
The Mustangs have one game left in the regular season. They travel to Camden (4-3) at 6 p.m. Friday, Oct. 23. So far this season, Camden has beaten Holy Spirit 24-15, Ocean City 32-8, Cedar Creek 27-7 and Kingsway 50-14. They lost to Imhotep (Pa.) Charter 29-8, Permian (TX) 28-13 and Glassboro 15-6.
Mainland’s only other win this season, after a slew of seniors graduated from the 2025 team, came against Pleasantville, 7-6, in the first week of the season.’
– By WILLIAM TRUITT/For the Sentinel
