OCEAN CITY – At the halfway point of the regular season, the Ocean City Red Raiders improved to 3-2 after a gutsy win over the Hammonton Blue Devils Friday night, Sept. 26.
Ocean City High School defeated Hammonton High School 14-7 on senior night but had to hold on until the very end to secure the win.
A fast start by the Raiders gave them a 14-0 lead at halftime but had all the momentum snatched away in the fourth quarter by a lengthy Hammonton drive. The Blue Devils took up the first eight minutes of the quarter and cut the Raiders’ lead to one possession. After the Raiders burned only a minute of clock on offense on their ensuing drive, the defense had to make a stop to avoid overtime.
Hammonton got the ball back with around three minutes in the game and started to move down the field again. Junior defensive lineman Aron Desch stopped the Blue Devils on third down and long after he picked off a pass and returned it 15 yards before going down.
Desch dropped back into coverage and made a great read to intercept the ball and seal the victory. Blue Devil quarterback Cole Landicini never seemed to spot that Desch was in coverage, which made for the easy turnover.
Asked after the game about the final play, Desch said, “I saw the line not really moving and said to myself that I would just sit right here and see if it was a screen because that is what I believed. Sure enough, it came to me, and I started running.”
Desch has been a rock in the middle of the Raiders’ defensive line all season but has shown out in the team’s two home games this season with key turnovers. Before his game-sealing interception, his first turnover was a fumble recovery returned for a touchdown in the season opener against Oakcrest.
“That was a really heads-up play by Aron on the final play,” Ocean City head coach Sean Matthews said. “It was something we talked about on the sideline, and he applied what was asked of him out there. Aron did a great job and made a big play when we needed it most.”
Mike Marczyk made the game’s first big play for the Raiders as he intercepted a pass to give great field position to running back Triston Schmidt and the Ocean City offense.
After fumbling on the first drive, Schmidt made up for it with a 10-yard touchdown run. The senior finished the game with over 100 yards rushing and eclipsed 1,000 yards in his Raider career on the touchdown run. The Raiders are 3-0 this season when he rushes for more than 100 yards.
Ocean City came back in the second quarter, which saw the Raiders only possess the ball a single time. The offense marched down the field in 15 plays during which they imposed their will and ran the ball 13 times. The drive took up nine minutes of clock and was topped off by a touchdown catch by senior Michael Ragazzi from quarterback Jackson Becker.
“I love the win the most,” Matthews said about his favorite part of the game. “Winning football games is hard and we are going to look at the film and learn a lot. There are going to be a lot of things we can improve upon but also a lot we did well. There was adversity tonight with Hammonton doing some good things along with us. We will learn from the mistakes and build upon our positives.”
The Raiders will have a week full of preparation as they get ready for their annual meeting with cross-bay rival Mainland Regional High School. The heated rivalry game will take place at Carey Stadium in Ocean City this year, with kickoff set for a special time at 3 p.m. Oct 3.
“We have to work the hardest we can this week,” Desch said. “Up front on the D-line we must come back better because the first half looked good, and the second half was a bit rough. I know we can clean it up and come back next week and have a great game.”
Mainland has won two straight games against Ocean City, but wild endings against the Mustangs have put their season record at 2-3. (See related story.)The Raiders will look to take back the bragging rights from Mainland and win back-to-back games.
Asked about his team’s huge matchup against Mainland, Matthews said, “It’s going to be a great game in front of a great atmosphere here. It’s all going to come down to execution and just playing with fundamentals. It’s going to be a 48-minute game where it will be decided by who can battle it out in the fourth quarter to get a win.”
– STORY by WILLIAM TRUITT/For the Sentinel
– PHOTOS by DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff
