OCEAN CITY – A week after putting up 39 points in the football season opener, the Ocean City Red Raiders let its defense do the talking and took down defending state champion Cedar Creek High School.
Ocean City High School forced three turnovers and shut out Cedar Creek’s offense to squeeze out a 6-2 victory Thursday evening, Sept. 3. The Raiders improved their record to 2-0 with their second straight win over Cedar Creek. Ocean City was one of only two teams to take a game off the Pirates last year.
Ocean City head coach Sean Matthews said to the team in the postgame huddle that he was “unbelievably proud” of their performance and effort on the field.
“We obviously left a lot of meat on the bone offensively and defensively, but our kids emptied their gas tank tonight,” Matthews said. “I cannot be prouder of that performance and as long as we give that great effort and the kids battle, the scoreboard takes care of itself.”
The turning point of the game happened right before halftime when Cedar Creek had two consecutive goal-line possessions come up empty.
Cedar Creek drove the ball down the field up until the five-yard line. Ocean City dug in its heels and stood tall. Four straight run plays were turned away from the end zone with Pirate quarterback Cole Landicini’s knee being brought down when the ball was mere inches away from scoring on fourth down.
The Raiders were backed up at the half-inch line and were forced to punt back to the Pirates. After a safe punt by Raider Jake Chapman, the Pirates got right back to where they were.
Out of timeouts, Landicini threw three passes in the drive to get within a yard of tying the game up but was tackled by Joe Pancoast at the one. Landicini managed to get one more play off before time expired, but his run was stuffed again inches from the end zone, forcing Cedar Creek to walk away with zero points.
“We do a phenomenal job of coaching fundamentals for the defense led by Coach H (Jim Harritopulos) and that shows up in the tough games,” Matthews said. “That’s a tough situation before the end of the half, and you look back at it, it’s probably the difference or one of the many differences in the game.”
Still down only by a touchdown the Pirates put together one more threatening drive, but it was just another opportunity for the Raiders to make a big play.
Already with two interceptions on the day – the first by Michael Marczyk and the second by Chase Dessicino – the Raider secondary was hunting for a third and final one to seal the game. Cedar Creek primarily ran the ball on its final drive, but once Landicini went for a deep shot down the sideline it was defensive back Colin Doyle who came down with the ball in the end zone to end that threat.
“So, to put it in perspective, he gets beat on a move where he’s in great position and their kid makes a fantastic throw,” Matthews said. “But he comes all the way back against the same kid, boxes him out and picks it off. I couldn’t be happier for that kid.”
“I didn’t want anything on me, I just had to do my job and make sure they didn’t get a catch,” Doyle said. “I am speechless on the way it happened.”
Doyle is a starter on defense for the first time in his career and has made the most of it in two games so far this season.
“He’s a four-year program kid and now he’s getting his shot,” Matthews said. “That’s what we’re about at Ocean City football. Kids work for four years, busting their butt for hours upon hours, and they have great moments as seniors.”
Ocean City ran down the rest of the time remaining and took an intentional safety to burn more time and avoid any shenanigans on a punt.
The Raiders gained the lead after a sack and the interception by Marczyk in the second quarter. That set up quarterback Jackson Becker, putting the offense in prime field position. Becker kept the ball on the ground with his running back Cole Garreffi blocking and later kept it himself for a three-yard touchdown run.
With their 2-0 record secure, the Raiders will hit the road for the first time this season with a trip to Absegami High School on the docket. Absegami (0-2) will have its hands full with a Raider team that in two weeks has put up stellar performances on both sides of the ball. Kickoff is set for 6 p.m. Sept 11.
– STORY by WILLIAM TRUITT/For the Sentinel
– PHOTOS by DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff
