GALLOWAY – Three games into the football season and the defensive unit of Ocean City High School still has not given up a single point.
The wagon that is the Ocean City Red Raiders rode into Absegami High School on Sept. 11 with a clear goal of a 3-0 start to the season. Ocean City’s defense once again came up big for its third straight victory and helped beat Absegami 31-0.
“That’s a pretty crazy stat we have going on right now and it’s an even better team effort,” Ocean City head coach Sean Matthews said. “Guys are just fitting things correctly across the board and playing really sound football. We are happy about our effort and the number speaks for itself.”
It was a much smoother game for the Raiders after a thrilling win over Cedar Creek High School last week that required two goal-line stands to win and get the shutout.
One of the key places the Raiders have been excellent has been third down. Absegami was forced to punt on each of its first three drives that all eventually turned into Ocean City points. It was not until it was 17-0 right before halftime when the Raiders gave up a first down.
“We just have dudes all over the field on defense and you can’t account for everybody,” quarterback Jackson Becker said. “I mean Joe Pancoast, Jake Chapman, Mike Marczyk, and Andrew Defeo are just a couple of seniors we got flying around.”
While the defense was doing its thing, Becker’s offense built a big lead with a balanced attack. Becker and running back Cole Garreffi combined for 143 yards on the ground.
“On offense we found success in the run game in certain areas that maybe we didn’t think we were going to be too successful in which helped us be balanced,” Matthews said.
Garreffi handled the bulk of the rushing attempts for the Raiders and was effective going up the middle and cutting to the outside. On his 16 rushes, he picked up 84 yards and scored the team’s first touchdown of the game. Columb Higgins kicked the point-after and opened Ocean City’s scoring with a 37-yard field goal.
The Red Raiders’ offense truly broke the game wide open after a 53-yard touchdown pass by Becker to star defensive lineman Chapman. Chapman usually makes his presence felt by sacking the opposing quarterback but managed to haul in a long pass and sprint down the sideline for his first touchdown catch of the season as a tight end. The touchdown adds to his full stat sheet of 3.5 sacks and a fumble recovery.
After halftime, the Raiders went straight down the field in a slow, methodical drive in which it seemed there was no stopping them. The drive spanned 12 plays which featured five first downs and each play went for positive yards. Becker capped it off with his legs from five yards out to increase the lead to 24-0.
“It means everything to get off on the right foot this season and we’ve been doing well, but we still have a lot to clean up and work on,” Becker said.
Last week, Matthews said how Ocean City left “a lot of meat on the bone” after putting up only six points. Becker and his wide receivers looked more in sync with each other after a week of practice and the QB finished the game with 194 yards through the air and two touchdowns. He threw the final one to Chase Dessicino to close out the game and found Higgins often enough to give him a game-high six receptions.
Becker stressed after the game he was happy about his performance and he will enjoy the win for a little but he “always has to get back to work.”
The Raiders will be looking for their first 4-0 start since 2021 when Camden High School comes to visit Ocean City on Sept. 18. Kickoff is 6 p.m. as the Raiders take on the defending Group II state champions. It will be the second defending champion Ocean City will play this season after the close win against Cedar Creek.
Mustangs lose
The Mainland Regional High School football team lost to Seneca 41-6 Sept. 10.
The Mustangs, now 1-2 on the season, head to Holy Spirit at 6 p.m. Friday. The Spartans are 0-3 so far.
– By WILLIAM TRUITT/For the Sentinel
