OCEAN CITY — The Ocean City High School Red Raiders fell victim to the long ball and nothing went their way during the team’s fifth loss of the season Oct. 13.
Wide receiver Lotzeir Brooks scored four touchdowns on the night as the Millville High School Thunderbolts scorched the Raiders 35-0.
Ocean City never got its offense going and was forced to punt to the red-hot Thunderbolt offense all game long.
The loss dropped the Raiders to 2-5. It was likely their last home game of the season as they are now ready to play their final scheduled contest next week in Hammonton. Millville moved to 6-1 as they jockey for playoff seeding.
Carey Stadium and the student section were excited as the Thunderbolts kicked off to the Raiders. Ocean City quarterback Walker Bailey immediately completed a long pass to Jon Moyer to set up the Raiders on the opposing 30-yard line, but a fourth-down pass intended for Moyer got broken up and the offense was turned away.
The defense played hard and forced a punt thanks to a pass breakup by Duke Guenther and a sack by defensive lineman Justin Gooden.
After a Raider three-and-out, the defense was introduced to Brooks and the nightmare that would be the rest of the first half.
On the second play of the drive, Brooks ran a wide receiver sweep up the left sideline that fooled the Raider defense as he outran them for the 32-yard touchdown and a 7-0 lead.
Offensively, the Raiders continued running the ball but the opposing defensive line seemed to meet Guenther in the backfield every play.
Another punt by the Raiders was met by another long touchdown to Brooks. A fourth-down conversion by the Thunderbolts set up a 56-yard touchdown pass to Brooks for his second score of the game. He outran his defender and ended up wide open in the end zone.
The Raiders felt a sense of urgency being down 14-0 and got two first downs on their next drive. However, they were not able to capitalize as the Millville defensive line continued to wreak havoc on their backfield.
Screen passes were effective for the Thunderbolts as they converted a second-and-16 thanks to missed tackles. On the next play, Millville went for another wide receiver screen to Brooks, who took it 59 yards to the house.
Desperation caused another mistake as Bailey threw an interception on the next drive to give Millville good field position with only 3 minutes left in the half.
Brooks caught another bomb from quarterback Jacob Zamot for 32-yards right before the break. That put him over 200 yards on the day and gave him his third touchdown of the quarter, his fourth score overall.
It was not the first time a player has scored three touchdowns in the second quarter against the Raiders as Dan Russo ran for three when Ocean City traveled to Delsea earlier in the season.
In both games, the Raiders were hopeless in the second quarter but played much better in the other 36 minutes of the game. There were just some back-breaking plays on defense that sunk the Raiders’ chances.
Millville opened the second half with a 72-yard touchdown pass to Ta’Ron Haile, which gave Zamot his fourth score of the game.
With the score being 35-0 in the second half, both teams started running the ball more to burn the clock. Even when Millville passed the ball, the Raider defense tightened up their tackling and held strong the rest of the game.
The Raiders offense is reliant on Guenther and their rushing attack, and the worst thing that can happen to that game plan is falling behind early. By running the ball so much, Ocean City eats up a lot of the game clock and does not have the time to make a comeback.
Millville dominated this game because not only did they jump out to a huge lead but they stopped the Raiders’ main offensive plan dead in its tracks.
Ocean City will play its next game on the road against the 4-4 Hammonton Blue Devils. Kickoff is 7 p.m. Friday.
By WILLIAM TRUITT/For the Sentinel