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When your football team is 4-1 and you have a bye week following the “one,” in this case a 35-3 loss to perennial powerhouse St. Augustine, it’s best to take the positives out of the experience and to move on and to look ahead. That seems to be the case with the Ocean City Red Raiders, who return to Carey Stadium 6 p.m. Friday for their West Jersey Football League inter-divisional date with Triton, which is also O.C.’s Homecoming game.

Grace Kelly still has a hold on Ocean City, the town where she spent her summers. And now it seems, more than ever, Ocean City has a hold on Grace Kelly. “People have a fascination with her,” said Al Crescenzo, who admits he is one of those people. “There are six biographies of her that I’m aware of and I’ve read them all,” added Crescenzo, a 10-year volunteer of the Ocean City Historical Museum. Crescenzo, an expert on Grace Kelly's glamorous life and movie career, will give a presentation on her to Ocean City’s Colony Club on Monday, October 21 at the club’s regular meeting, 6:30 p.m. at the Free Public Library’s meeting room 111. Also, the Historical Museum’s annual Grace Kelly Exhibit and High Tea fundraiser has been set for June 3, 2020, with details to follow in coming weeks.

No one can be sure what the Ocean City High School softball team will accomplish next spring. Coming off a 16-6 record and a state tournament game win in 2018 and with some good players returning, there’s reason for optimism. One thing for certain is that Abigail Craige – a big reason the Red Raiders were so successful – will enjoy her senior season now that she has committed to her college of choice, Virginia Wesleyan. The decision allowed the hard-hitting catcher and all-star scholar to take the college selection process off her plate.

It was the Carnell Davis Show. The wide receiver transfer from Absegami made a spectacular debut for St. Augustine Prep on Friday night as the Hermits rolled to a 35-3 defeat of Ocean City in a West Jersey Football League inter-division game. Davis, eligible for his first game following his transfer, caught three Austin Lehman touchdown passes of 60, 31 and 35 yards to spark the Hermits before a raucous, near-capacity crowd at St. Augustine’s Richland campus.

The Republican Women of Cape May County served up a double-dip of local political activity Wednesday at their September meeting at Sea Isle City’s La Fontana Coast restaurant. The group played host to the awarding of the coveted 2019 Gerard A. Desiderio Sr. Republican of the Year Award, bestowed upon Diane Wieland; and the group made a significant donation to the Cape GOP war chest to be used in the upcoming elections. Wieland is the longtime director of the Cape May County Department of Tourism, for which she has worked for more than 44 years. She was honored for her service to the Cape May County Republican Organization.

The beat goes on. As do the beatings. Ocean City’s swarming defense and fast-paced offense featuring three rushing touchdowns from Isaac Wilson helped the Red Raiders swamp Absegami 44-6 Friday in a West Jersey Football League Independence Division clash. It was the fourth straight dominating performance for Ocean City (4-0 overall, 3-0 division), which yielded its first points of the season but was never seriously threatened by the Braves (0-3) at Carey Stadium.

The 11th annual Run for the Fallen once again originated near the tip of Cape May on Wednesday and proceeded North through the county, including a dozen stops in Ocean City on Thursday. Run for the Fallen is one of the more unique and interactive events to honor and recognize members of the United States military who have made the ultimate sacrifice. The event is designed to honor servicemen and women from New Jersey who gave their lives in war or in the line of duty.

Ocean City turned in its third straight dominating football performance Friday night, drubbing Bridgeton 42-0 in a West Jersey Football League Independence Division game at Bridgeton. The Red Raiders raised their record to 3-0 with the win, while the Bulldogs slipped to 0-2. Ocean City is not only unbeaten but also unscored upon, racking up 126 points on the season. The Raiders rolled to their third straight shutout, thought to be the first time in program history that has happened to start a season.

Call it the Riley Gunnels effect. Longtime Ocean City resident Gunnels was a starting defensive tackle on the 1960 Philadelphia Eagles NFL championship team. As any formerly long-suffering Birds fan will tell you, that was the last time a Philadelphia squad laid claim to pro football’s ultimate prize – until backup quarterback Nick Foles and company snapped the drought by winning Super Bowl LII some 58 years later. In the intervening years, Gunnels, now 82, and his wife of 55 years, Kay, produced a championship pipeline to the Red Raiders that is now in its second generation. Their son, John Riley Gunnels III, who goes by John, was the starting quarterback on Ocean City’s 1984 South Jersey Group III titlist team. John engineered a thrilling 22-21 defeat of Willingboro to take the crown on the Chimeras home field. And now John Riley IV Gunnels is a promising freshman QB for the Raiders, the only freshman on the varsity, which attempts to improve its record to 3-0 Friday night at Bridgeton.

An optimistic old proverb maintains that when life hands someone lemons, then someone should make lemonade. Three local girls have taken the saying to heart. They are taking lemonade and turning it into gold for the Humane Society of Ocean City. The girls, Michaela Werber, Kate Michel and Sage Geubtner, all 12-year-old Northfield residents and students at Northfield Community School, have been setting up lemonade stands over the last two years and donating the proceeds to the Humane Society. The results, which are still ongoing, recently eclipsed the $1,000 mark. In the process, they are also raising awareness for the Humane Society and its good work.