OCEAN CITY – On a humid evening at Carey Stadium, the Ocean City Red Raiders battled Cedar Creek Pirates, but fell to the Pirates’ potent passing attack.
Explosive plays and critical errors riddled the Raider defense, which gave up more than 300 yards passing on the day in the 33-25 loss despite having a chance to tie the game as time ran out.
The loss brought Ocean City to 1-2 on the season, with the Raiders traveling to Delsea at 7 p.m. Friday for their next game.
Senior quarterback Billy Smith started the air raid early with a 58-yard completion to receiver Darius Benjamin on the Pirates’ second play. In the red zone, a sack by the entire Raider defensive line forced the Pirates to a 4th and goal. Senior linebacker Nick Layton made a touchdown-saving tackle in the open field, preventing the Pirates from scoring and getting the ball back for his offense.
The first quarter ended quickly as Ocean City’s offense fed senior running back Duke Guenther, who ran the ball throughout the game.
After another 4th down stop by the Raider defense, Guenther and senior tight end Roy Salugta marched the Raiders 71 yards down the field for their first touchdown drive of the game. The duo combined for three first downs on the drive. Junior quarterback Walker Bailey capped off the drive with a 25-yard touchdown pass to senior Jon Moyer.
The extra point by senior kicker Ryder Hay put the Raiders up 7-0 with 4:40 left in the half.
Cedar Creek answered quickly, with Benjamin hauling in a long pass to put his team in the red zone. Smith then found receiver Alim Parks in the corner of the end zone to put the Pirates within one point of Ocean City.
On the extra point play, the Pirates opted to go for two to try to take the lead. Smith tripped over his offensive lineman’s leg and fell, which allowed Ocean City to maintain a 7-6 lead into halftime.
Ocean City junior cornerback J.P Forster hauled in an interception at the start of the second half that gave his team the ball in the red zone. Bailey threw another touchdown pass on that drive, but it was called back due to a holding penalty.
The penalty forced the Raiders to settle for a field goal by Hay, which put them up 10-6 midway through the third quarter.
On Cedar Creek’s next possession, Smith moved the Pirates 78 yards on four plays to set up an easy touchdown run up the middle by Aamir Dunbar. The drive featured two long passes where the receivers fought for extra yards after breaking tackles.
After a missed extra point, Cedar Creek led 12-10 late in the third quarter.
The following Pirate drive featured Smith again. He broke out of a potential sack and scrambled into the end zone to extend the lead to 19-10.
Down two scores in the fourth quarter, Ocean City got a big return by Layton on a short kickoff to put the Raiders at midfield. Moyer then caught a short pass and ran 30 yards into the end zone, causing the Ocean City fans to erupt with cheers. He juked a defender out of his cleats and tumbled into the pylon to put his team within 2 points of the lead.
Cedar Creek now led 19-17 with 8:36 left in the game. The Raider defense, however, made a critical error on the next Pirate drive.
Parks caught a slant pass over the middle and had three Raiders come up to tackle him. The Raider players surrounded Parks and tried to strip the ball out of his hands, but Parks kept his legs moving and broke free, cruising for a 56-yard touchdown.
“There were times where we didn’t tackle well enough or block well enough. Some spots where we made a couple bad decisions,” Ocean City head coach Kevin Smith said after the game.
The back-breaking touchdown put Cedar Creek up 26-17 with 6:16 remaining.
After a Raider three and out, the Pirates started running the ball with Dunbar and Smith, which drained the clock and Ocean City’s timeouts. Smith ended the drive with an 8-yard run for his fourth touchdown of the game.
“They’re explosive, you know they’ve scored 40-plus points every game so far so you can’t make a lot of fundamental errors or they will make you pay for it,” Smith said.
The touchdown had Ocean City down 33-17 with only two minutes left in the game and no timeouts remaining. Being down 16 points meant Ocean City still had a chance in the two-score game.
With so little time left, Guenther started the drive with two first-down catches. To put the Raiders in the red zone, Forster caught a long pass over the middle and got hit in the helmet, adding 15 more yards to the end of the play on the penalty. Forster was fine after the hit. The Raiders were rewarded with a 12-yard touchdown run by Guenther.
Salugta caught the important 2-point conversion to make the score 33-25 and got Ocean City within one touchdown of tying the game. That drive left only 46 seconds on the clock and the Raiders needed an onside kick miracle to stay alive. Hay kicked the ball to his left and it was dropped by a Cedar Creek defender, allowing two Raiders to jump on it to give the team a chance to tie the game.
The comeback attempt ended on the Raiders’ final drive, as Bailey was sacked on first down, which forced some desperation throws down the field and eventually being intercepted on fourth down to finish the game.
By WILLIAM TRUITT/For the Sentinel
