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The Ocean City High School football team put a complete effort together Friday night in a 49-0 destruction of Egg Harbor Township at Carey Stadium. It was the defense, though, that stood out in the home opener at Carey Stadium. It was Ocean City's second straight shutout to open the season. “I’ll have to check the records, but I can’t remember the last time we opened with back-to-back shutouts,” Head Coach Kevin Smith told his team.

The excitement of Ocean City High School football players and fans for Friday’s home opener at Carey Stadium was only enhanced by the events of the season’s Week 1. The Red Raiders scored touchdowns on their first five possessions of the game to take early control of last week’s season opener at Lower Cape May Regional, a 35-0 rout in a non-league game. The atmosphere at Carey Field should be electric when the Raiders host their first 2019 contest on the historic gridiron in a West Jersey League Independence Division game against Egg Harbor Township.

“It was one hell of a blow,” John Loeper said of what became known as the “Great Atlantic Hurricane” of 1944, which tore through Ocean City 75 years ago this Friday Loeper, president of the board of directors of the Ocean City Historical Museum, was less than two years old at the time. Though a bit young to actually remember the hurricane, Loeper could imagine what it must’ve been like. “Ocean City was awash,” he said, referring to the bay meeting the ocean and a miles-long path of destruction in between. “The entire town was underwater.” In the era before hurricanes were given human names, what the media would dub the “Great Atlantic Hurricane” carved out its own niche as Ocean City’s first “superstorm.”

You can’t start a football season much better than the Ocean City Red Raiders did Friday night, pasting Lower Cape May 35-0 in a West Jersey Football League inter-division game. You also can’t start a game much better. The Raiders (1-0) scored on their first four possessions, including a four-play, 58-yard drive that featured four consecutive first downs.

The start of the high school football season brings with it high hopes and high expectations. For the players, coaches and fans of the Ocean City Red Raiders, that is certainly the case leading into the 2019 campaign. The Raiders, coming off a sometimes exhilarating, sometimes exasperating and almost always exciting 4-6 season, kick things off Friday 6 p.m. at Lower Cape May.

Brilliant sunshine, temperatures in the 80s and smiling faces are typical of a summer day in Ocean City. Tuesday, though, was anything but typical. Instead of beaches packed blanket-to-blanket, there was plenty of room to spread out. Traffic issues were virtually nonexistent. Available parking, usually just a rumor in the summer months, could be found easily – even near restaurants, beaches and the Boardwalk. Welcome to what some people have taken to calling “Locals Summer.” It’s a time when area residents savor the nearly three more remaining weeks of summer, featuring smaller crowds and a slower pace.

Somehow it all comes together. This year’s Labor Day weekend in Ocean City appears to be no exception. The final weekend of the unofficial summer season seems to be the proverbial icing on a summer season home-baked cake. “It seems like July Fourth was yesterday. It has gone by so fast,” said Michele Gillian, executive director of the Ocean City Regional Chamber of Commerce. “Labor Day was a week early this year, so the season was cut down by a week. Still, it seemed to go by really quickly. It was a banner season for us.”

Things are looking up, Ocean City. Just because this weekend’s Labor Day festivities mark the unofficial end to the summer season doesn’t mean there’s still not some summer left and certainly some great weather and things to do still to come in America’s Greatest Family Resort. So keep looking up, visitors and residents, especially on Saturday, Sept. 14 and Sunday, Sept. 15 for the annual Ocean City Air Show weekend. The free events have become a staple of what city officials call “season extenders” to encourage folks to come out and enjoy a weekend centered around all things aerobatic, as well as the beach, Boardwalk, restaurants and cafes, and downtown shopping...

Maybe some of the home runs from Corey Clemens’ bat will rub off on the Phillies. Eight-year-old Corey, who will be a third-grader at Ocean City Primary School next month, won not one, but two Home Run Derby competitions sponsored by the Phils this summer to earn a spot in the team’s Tri-State Derby finals Sept. 15 at Citizens Bank Park. Perhaps the Phils, who seem to have difficulty rallying from behind this year, will pick up some pointers from the local shortstop/second baseman/pitcher when he goes for the age group championship of the annual youth baseball slugging competition.

A modern invention, artificial turf, has given a whole new life to one of South Jersey’s oldest and most unique high school football venues. Carey Stadium, the century-old playground of the Ocean City Red Raiders, is evolving into a kind of summer football wonderland that attracts professional, college and other high school teams, coaches and fans. This summer alone, Carey hosted a six-team, NFL-sanctioned 7-on-7 competition, Philadelphia Eagles star Vinny Curry’s Youth Football Camp, a Youth Gridiron Academy flag football event for kids as young as 5, and an open practice of the Villanova University Wildcats.