Down 13-0 to Eastern, Ocean City forces overtime with late push
VOORHEES – After a slow start on both sides of the ball, the Ocean City Red Raiders fought their way back from a 13-0 deficit in the fourth quarter to force overtime against Eastern High School.
Raiders quarterback Jackson Becker, running and throwing, accounted for both scores to tie the game, but the Raiders could not finish the job in overtime and fell to Eastern 19-13 on Thursday night, Sep. 4.
On the first possession of overtime, wide receiver Joseph Guity scored from 13 yards out to give the lead to Eastern and put all the pressure onto the Raiders, who blocked the extra point, for one final drive.
In need of a touchdown to stay alive, the Raider offense got great field position on the 12-yard line after a penalty on Eastern. After an incomplete pass on first down, the game came to a swift end after Becker fumbled the snap on the wet field and lost possession.
“Our kids are tough and they are going to fight for each other,” Ocean City head coach Sean Matthews said. “It is super early in the season and like I just said to the guys, failure is an event, it is not who you are. So we are going to learn from this and get better.”
It started raining in the fourth quarter, which signaled the beginning of the comeback. After two interceptions in the game, Becker kept firing from the pocket and eventually found senior wide receiver Michael Ragazzi in the end zone for their first points of the day. Ragazzi made the catch with a defender all over him and while falling backwards for a 39-yard touchdown.
Triston Schmidt made the extra point. The Raiders’ primary running back serves as the team’s place-kicker after an offseason injury sidelined Ocean City’s primary kicker.
Eastern got the ball back but just like a week ago, the Raider defense made a play when it needed it most. After Eastern got into the Raiders’ side of the field, a routine handoff turned into a slippery fumble which was recovered by Ocean City’s Ayden Majors. It was Majors’ second forced turnover of the season after he had a pick-six last week in the season opener against Oakcrest.
Ragazzi and Ryan Hendricks each caught passes to keep the offense moving with newfound momentum as the Raiders were suddenly only 11 yards from taking the lead. Becker ran it in for the game-tying touchdown with the extra point on deck. Schmidt at first looked to have made the kick, but it was no good and the game remained tied.
Ocean City bounced back and overcame some early mistakes that let Eastern score off big plays. Terry Cook scored the first points of the game for Eastern after he returned an interception 77 yards for a pick-six. Then his teammate Kenan Clymer scored from 67 yards on a trick play’s deep pass into busted coverage for the first points the Ocean City defense has allowed in the young season.
The Raiders fell into the hole after the offense struggled to finish drives in the first half. Ocean City got within the 30-yard line three separate times in the half and were stopped on fourth down each time. A crazy toe-tap catch on the sideline by running back Clay Compton brought the offense to the red zone for their best scoring opportunity of the half. Becker was a couple of inches short of the marker on fourth down.
“It was absolutely a mirror image of the game last week against Oakcrest,” Matthews said. “We were super slow to start. Hats off to Eastern. They put together a fourth quarter and more football game. We have got to be better for 48 minutes.”
Last week in the season opener, the Raiders defeated Oakcrest 32-0 after a late surge of scoring in the fourth quarter. Ocean City only led 6-0 through the first three quarters but rattled off 26 points in the fourth to overcome the sluggish start.
The Raiders are on the road, starting with a trip to Lenape High School on Sept. 12. Ocean City held on to beat Lenape 21-14 last year and will look to improve to 2-1 this season. Kickoff is set for 6 p.m.
– STORY by WILLIAM TRUITT/For the Sentinel
– PHOTOS by DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff
