The Ocean City Junior Raiders were in action over the weekend against the Ventnor Pirates at Carey Stadium at Ocean City High School.
The Taxi team (K-2nd grade) opened up the action. While no official score is kept at this level, Coach Frank Rubba commented that he was pleased with his team's performance. Eddie Wisham and Jordan Gonzalez scored touchdowns for the Junior Raiders. Coach Rubba noted that Jacob Diaz made some great open field tackles and Evan Taylor played tough on the offensive line and had a huge run that led to the second score.
The Pee-Wee (3rd and 4th grade) team sealed a playoff berth
on Saturday, as they beat the Ventnor Pirates 26-7. The team played extremely well on both sides of the ball through four quarters. The offense got stellar efforts from the offensive line and running backs Derek Berardis, Kori Segich, and Drew Young. Segich and Young both had long touchdown runs during the game. The defense came up big, with lots of great stops and multiple tackles from Stephen Ordille, Julian Rivera, and Junior Hans-Hill. Not to be outdone by his defensive teammates, linebacker Ayden Sweitzer had three interceptions, returning two of them for touchdowns. Ayden received the game ball from his coaches. Earlier in the week, the younger, less experienced players scrimmaged Egg Harbor Township in preparation for the Ventnor game. Bradley Smith and Aiden Fasy anchored the offensive line providing lots of running room for running back Patrick Cupit, who ran wild scoring a touchdown on a 18 yard scamper. The defense also played tough with tons of pressure up the middle from Dylan Dwyer and hard tackles from safety Frank Rubba and cornerback J.R. Gilchrist.
The JV (5th and 6th grade) squad capped off its perfect regular season with a dominating 38-7 victory. The offense broke out in the game and was paced by three touchdowns from Jake Schneider. Jacob Wilson and Kareem Lovest each added long touchdown runs and Nasir Kelly had a spectacular interception near the end of the first half which he returned 50 yards for a touchdown, putting the team up 19-0 at the half. A couple of extra points were added on catches by Will Drain. After playing over 30 remarkable consecutive quarters of shutout ball, the stellar defense gave up its first touchdown of the year that turned out meaningless in the Raiders' convincing victory.
Rounding up the action was the Varsity squad (7th and 8th grade). The team found itself on the short end of a 40-0 loss at its homecoming game. The coaches commented that the players bonded together as a true team and grew closer as the season wore on. The players demonstrated character and determination throughout the season. The Varsity team includes: Martin Cattie, Ryley Burns, Arturo Savabia, Andrew Kolea, Brady Rauner, George Spackman, Louie Williams, Brooklyn Bicksler, Isaac Wilson, Donovan Graham, Andrew Redmond, Tyreek Crawford, Tommy Oves, Christain Palzer, Brian Calderon, Aidan Nelson, Bryan Gonzalez, Dominick Cancelosi, Danny Auberzinsky, Jonathan Steelman,
Attendance at the games this weekend was terrific. The organization thanks the community for coming out and supporting the Junior Raiders. In addition, many of the players on all teams wore one pink and one green shoelace in their cleats in support of breast and liver cancer.
The season is over for the Varsity team. The Taxi level plays in the Atlantic City Taxi Bowl next weekend on
November 1 and 2, 2014 in Atlantic City (game times will be announced later this week). The Peewee team opens up the first round of the playoffs against the Mays Landing Lakers in Mays Landing on
November 1, 2014 at 4 p.m. The JV team received a bye in the first round of the League Playoffs, but plays for the American Conference championship in the Atlantic County Youth Football League against the Absecon Blue Devils at
5:30 p.m. at a neutral field in Somers Point.
If you have any pictures from the games, please forward them to
[email protected].
— By Raymond Patella for the Ocean City Junior Raiders
