Junior Raiders in Action Against Brigantine Rams

The Ocean City Junior Raiders squared off against the Brigantine Rams on Saturday, October 12, 2013 in Brigantine, NJ.  The games were played in very difficult conditions, with a driving rain falling at times with a northeast wind blowing 30 miles per hour.

The Taxi squad (kindergarten through 2nd grade) opened up the action. While no official score is kept at this level, the team played hard and the game was competitive.  Coach Frank Rubba was pleased, noting that the team played well on both sides of the ball.  He commented that it was a pretty clean game considering conditions deteriorating in a messy second half.  A touchdown was scored on a long passing play from Cory Segitch to Evan Taylor.  Coach Rubba noted that on defense, Ed Wisham had a great game stuffing the middle.  Coach Rubba believed the kids had the most fun of the season yet. 

The Peewee team (grades 3-4) improved its record to 3-2 with a dominating 26-0 win during the worst part of the weather as a driving rainstorm fell for most of the game.  Coach Jim Cupit commented that the weather did not phase the players, coaches maybe, but not the players.  The game saw all players on both sides of the ball contributing.  Offensive touchdowns were scored by Liam Cupit, Jacob Wilson, Zach Mazzatelli, and Sean Mazzatelli.  In addition, Ken Berardis called an excellent defensive game as the Raiders posted their first shut-out.  Coach Cupit also noted that both Alex Herrera and Drew Young provided consistent blocking on the offensive line.  Young switched to fullback in the second half and added a game sealing 43 yard run.  Finally, Coach Cupit noted that Zach Tighe played flawlessly at defensive end recording 5 tackles.  Although the Brigantine offense was rumored to have a speedy outside threat at tailback, it was not evident from the sidelines as Tighe sealed off the left side forcing everything up the middle into the waiting arms of the linebackers.  

The JV team played a hard fought 6-6 tie.  After falling behind 6-0 in the first half, the JV squad bounced back, tying up the game before halftime with a touchdown run by Jake Schneider.  The second half saw the defense stiffen on a fourth down after Brigantine held the ball for all of the third quarter.  Turnovers, however, plagued the team as the game wore on as the team lost 3 fumbles in the second half.  After once again stopping the Rams on fourth down, the JV squad got the ball back with less than a minute left and drove down to the Brigantine 15 yard line for the potential winning score before time ran out.  That last drive saw a great catch by Kareem Lovest on a pass by Carl Wanek. 

The Varsity team lost 25-13.  After taking an early lead on a short touchdown run by Kyion Flanders, the Varsity team could not get its offense on track for the remainder of the game in the difficult conditions.  Later in the game, Flanders added a 40 yard touchdown run and Christian Tyson added the extra point on a quarterback scramble.

The Junior Raiders next play home against Absecon on Saturday, October 19, 2013.

If you have any pictures from the games, please forward them to info@ocjuniorraiders.com. You can also follow the Junior Raiders on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Vine and at its website, ocjuniorraiders.com