HAMMONTON — In its first road game of the season, the Ocean City High School football team traveled to Hammonton, where it was knocked out of the playoffs a year ago.
The Red Raiders ran all over the Blue Devils on Sept. 27, winning 28-14. The Raiders started off strong and scored on each of their first three possessions. Junior running back Clay Compton led the Raiders in rushing with 111 yards and a touchdown.
Ocean City’s offense had to lean on some new players as three starters missed the game. Four different Raiders, including Compton, who took on a bigger role than normal, reached the end zone.
He took most of the snaps at running back for Ocean City after leading rusher Triston Schmidt could not play due to injury. The duo had evenly shared the workload all year, but Compton took the added responsibility in stride.
“I really thought the young guys stepped up for us today with three starters on offense being out,” Ocean City head coach Kevin Smith said. “We asked our freshman quarterback Jackson Becker to play some running back this week because we were so thin. He’s a competitor and did a great job for us.”
Becker ran for more than 50 yards and scored his second career touchdown. He had previously played quarterback in place of starter Walker Bailey this season as an additional rushing threat. Against Hammonton, Bailey handed the ball off to Becker, which can open new opportunities for the offense later in the season.
With the win, Ocean City improved its record to 4-1 and has already eclipsed last season’s win total. The Raiders are past the halfway point in the season and have only four more games left before the playoffs begin.
Despite the great start on offense by the Raiders, Hammonton delivered the first strike before they could blink.
On the opening kickoff of the game, Hammonton running back DeAndre Clemons fielded the ball at the 10-yard line. He then broke free down the right sideline and took the kickoff back for a 90-yard touchdown on the first play of the game. After only 13 seconds of game clock expired, Bailey and the offense took the field down 7-0.
But Ocean City marched down the field in an instant, never facing a third down. Bailey and Compton combined for four first downs before tight end T.J. Santarpio caught a 27-yard touchdown pass — Santarpio’s first touchdown.
The Raider defense all season has been one of the best units in generating turnovers. Ocean City has forced at least one turnover in all five games this year.
On the third play from scrimmage, linebacker Joe Pancoast stripped the ball away from the Blue Devils in the open field. After a scramble for the loose ball, senior Colin Thompson came up with it.
The week prior against Atlantic City High School, Ocean City scored zero points off three turnovers, and it looked to happen again.
Bailey and the offense returned to the field and quickly faced a fourth down with 5 yards to go. Bailey broke a tackle and ran the ball himself for a first down but not before he took a big hit.
After the conversion, Becker ran the ball twice and scored for Ocean City. Thompson knocked his second PAT through the uprights to give the Raiders a 14-7 lead.
Thompson took over as Ocean City’s kicker against Hammonton in place of starter J.P. Forster, who was sidelined for a targeting penalty the week prior against Atlantic City.
Coach Smith called Thompson a “gamer” after he filled in for Forster and made all four of his PATs on top of the fumble recovery.
The Ocean City defense stepped up and stopped Hammonton on fourth down at the start of the second quarter.
The Blue Devil offense would not see the ball for the remainder of the quarter as the Ocean City ground game ate up most of the clock. The 11-play drive took up 8 minutes and featured first downs from Compton, Bailey and Becker. Compton capped off the drive with a 10-yard touchdown run for a 21-7 lead.
After going down by 14 points at halftime, the Blue Devils settled in and started to push against Ocean City. Again, on the first play of the half Clemons torched the Raiders with a 61-yard touchdown run.
Hammonton continued to claw back in the game and picked off Bailey on Ocean City’s first play. The Blue Devils had the same opportunity the Raiders did in the first half when they quickly scored twice thanks to a turnover.
The Raider defense came off Clemons’ run strong, however, and did not allow another first down until late in the fourth quarter. They forced three straight punts from the offense to close the door on Hammonton.
Bailey and junior wide receiver Michael Ragazzi added another touchdown as insurance in the fourth quarter to seal the game. Ragazzi used his 6’5” frame to leap over two defenders and hauled in an 8-yard touchdown pass from Bailey to complete the scoring.
Ocean City’s next game has been circled on the calendar since the schedule came out. On Oct. 4, the Raiders will cross the bay and take on Mainland Regional High School. The Mustangs dominated Ocean City last season in a 35-0 contest en route to the state championship title.
Mainland will be Ocean City’s toughest opponent yet as a defending state champion. The 3-2 Mustangs have had a slower start this year but are always dangerous when it comes to rivalry games.
Asked about the big matchup against Mainland, Smith said that the whole team’s focus is on themselves and how they can improve.
“They are a great program over there and I have a lot of respect for them, but all of our focus is on us,” Smith said. “We have goals and places that we want to get to at the end of the season and we are not there yet. Our focus is on getting better so we can get over there.”
Kickoff is scheduled for 6 p.m. at the Mustang Corral.
– STORY by WILLIAM TRUITT/For the Sentinel