OCEAN CITY – If John Franchini and Lucas DeBiaso had anything to say about it, the Mainland Mustangs were not leaving Ocean City Friday night without the Battle for the Bridge Trophy.
In their highly anticipated matchup against the cross-bay rival Ocean City Red Raiders, the quarterback/running back duo combined for 259 yards rushing and three touchdowns.
Along with the defense getting five turnovers, the Mustangs took down the Raiders 20-7 Oct. 3 behind a dominant performance on both sides of the ball.
It is the third straight year Mainland has claimed the trophy and the right to have green lights on the Route 52 causeway that connects the two school districts.
With the win the Mustangs improved to 3-3 so far this year and helped give Ocean City an identical record.
In his fourth year as the Mainland starting quarterback, Franchini helped set the pace of the game from the very first drive. He completed three passes including a 12-yard touchdown to AJ Goukler for a seemingly easy 6-0 lead.
Later in the quarter, the Raiders forced a punt and looked to get good field position before a disastrous mistake put them further behind. The Raider offense did not come back onto the field after the punt was mishandled and recovered by the Mustangs at the Ocean City 30-yard line.
Franchini took full advantage of the turnover and ran into the end zone untouched from 30 yards away on the second play of the drive. He finished the game with a large workload of 20 carries for 130 yards and those two early touchdowns as he leans into being more of a dual threat quarterback than he has in previous years.
“John has been a big part of the run game this year as a part of an adjustment with our offense,” Mainland head coach Chuck Smith said. “He’s been keeping our offense balanced because we do not have as much depth as we’ve had in the past, so he’s got to be a part of our run game. We already know he is a very good high school passer but now he does even more for us.”
DeBiaso took over the rushing duties after another turnover by Ocean City. He ran for three first downs on the drive and topped it off with a 28-yard touchdown run. The junior averaged a first down a carry with his 129 yards on 12 attempts and hauled in an interception on defense late in the game.
“Me and Lucas are a great duo together but it is not just us but the whole line came through today and I am so proud of them,” Franchini said. “We knew we had the game in our hands and we had to keep battling, keep fighting and do everything we could to win the game.”
Mainland could not ask for much more early with a 20-0 lead and 14 points scored off turnovers.
After the game, Smith talked about how the early rush of points in the game helped the Mustangs hold on to win.
“We were fortunate to get off to a really good start offensively,” Smith said. “We were moving the ball up and down the field and got some scores right away, which was big. They made some nice adjustments defensively and really hustled to the football. Thankfully we were able to get off to the good start because it became the game we expected it to be, a fist fight.”
Despite the sizable Mustang lead, the Raiders refused to lie down and quit and played with everything they had.
Down 20-0 before halftime, Ocean City had to score a touchdown before the break to leave the door open to a comeback. With 4 minutes left, the Raiders marched 80 yards down the field almost effortlessly and injected the energy back into the home crowd. Jackson Becker found his favorite target so far this season, Michael Ragazzi, over the middle for a walk-in touchdown.
Mainland’s lead was cut to 20-7 with the momentum starting to shift toward the home team.
Ragazzi came out of the locker room looking to do more damage and on Ocean City’s second play of the half, he broke free for a 60-yard catch and run. He finished with his best game of the season as he caught five passes for 112 yards and a touchdown.
The Raiders got down to the 4-yard line but were unable to power through the Mustang line on the first three downs. Becker’s pass was batted away on fourth-down and the Raiders came up empty with a chance to make it a one-score game.
All season long Ocean City’s defense has gotten clutch turnovers when the game was on the line and Joe Pancoast came through again. Mainland ran it three straight times after the turnover on downs but fumbled the ball deep in their own territory for Pancoast to pick up and keep the Raiders alive.
Mainland’s defense stood tall once again however and quickly stopped Ocean City on four straight downs to maintain the two-possession lead.
“The defense played well today and got us off the field in some tough situations,” Smith said. “Even when they scored before halftime our defense kept coming out and getting us the ball again, so we had the opportunity to run some more time off the clock.”
The Raider defense kept Mainland scoreless the entire second half but unfortunately for Ocean City, Mainland’s defense found similar success. After the Raiders were turned away on fourth down, their last three drives of the game all ended in interceptions by DeBiaso, Jack Dougherty and Brady Kallen.
Ocean City had its chances to get back in the game, but did not make as many big plays as Mainland down the stretch.
After Mainland regained possession to start the fourth quarter the prolonged rushing attack drained nearly seven minutes of the clock and left no real path for Ocean City to come back.
“I think the second half was just about keeping control of the ball,” Franchini said. “It doesn’t matter if you win ugly as long as you win.”
Franchini and the Mustangs will look to win back-to-back games for the first time this season on Oct. 10 as they host Egg Harbor Township High School. Kickoff is set for 6 p.m.
Ocean City will host Middle Township High School at 6 p.m. Friday, Oct. 10. The two teams combined for 35 points in the fourth quarter last year in one of the wildest games in recent memory.
– STORY by WILLIAM TRUITT/For the Sentinel
– PHOTOS by DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff
