All The Right Moves - Ocean's Pena Finally Getting Recognized

OCEAN TOWNSHIP – The Spartans are off to their first 4-0 start since 2013 and are averaging 36.8 points per game on offense while the defense has allowed just 12 total points in those four victories, including shutouts in the last two games.

They’re ranked sixth in this week’s Jersey Sporting News Top 10 after breaking into the rankings for the first time in four years a week ago.

“It feels great, I know how it feels to have a bad season and lose,” said senior Trebor Pena, whose team went 2-8 his sophomore season and 4-6 a year ago. “A lot of us seniors do (know how it feels) and we really don’t want to get to that point again. We put in so much work in the offseason and we continue to work really hard every day trying to be the best that we can be.”

Although the Spartans have a ton of talent from top-to-bottom on both sides of the ball this season – their ultimate success falls squarely on the shoulders of Pena, a 5-foot-10, 180 pound running back/wide receiver/defensive back.

Pena is rated a three-star recruit by most national recruiting services with 247 Sports rating him as the 27th best player in New Jersey and 110th rated athlete in the country.

But even with those lofty rankings, Pena, who is a three-year starter and has already committed to Temple University where he’s projected as a slot receiver at the next level, he’s probably one of the best kept secrets in the New Jersey high school football – a direct result of the Spartans 6-14 record over the past two seasons.

“I’ve been saying that,” said Ocean head coach Don Klein of Pena’s lack of recognition. “As far as media coverage, he’s certainly fallen under the radar. But he’s starting to get what he deserves in regard to that type of appreciation. We’re winning football games and he’s obviously having a tremendous start to his senior year. He’s paid his dues as a player both during the season and in the offseason. He’s a great kid and some of the accolades and attention he’s starting to get is well deserved.”

As a sophomore starter, he had over 500 yards of total offense and was an important cog on the defensive side of the ball as well. He was a third-team All-Shore selection a year ago as a junior when he rushed for 488 yards and six touchdowns on 77 carries for a 6.3 yard per carry average and caught 29 passes for 428 yards and three touchdowns.

The versatile Pena also returned a kickoff 95 yards for a touchdown last year and was a force in the secondary where he recorded an interception as a lock-down free safety and ferocious tackler.

“Last year was when he kind of jumped on the scene,” said Klein. “Trebor, as a junior, started to really impact the game on offense, defense and special teams.”

Pena is an elusive runner with tremendous vision and breakaway speed. He has a crafty way of maneuvering through creases at the line of scrimmage before accelerating through holes and running away from people. He leaves would-be tacklers dead in their tracks with an assortment of jukes and jives once he breaks free.

“I try to go hard on every play,” said Pena. “If I see someone, I’m either going to go around him or go through him – I do whatever it takes to get as much yardages as I can on every play. I’m probably more of a finesse runner but if I need to I’ll lower my pads.”

Over the winter he added 23 pounds of muscle to his already athletic frame allowing him to be more physical and run through people with authority.

He’s also a well decorated spring track athlete and is the reigning Shore Conference long jump champion and has had a lot of success in the 100 meter dash as well.

In four games this season, Pena has rushed for 545 yards and eight touchdowns on 53 carries for a whopping 10.3 yards per carry average. He also has four catches for 29 yards averaging 7.3 yards per catch.

Defensively, he’s made 20 tackles, including 14 solo stops with two tackles of loss, three pass breakups and two interception, including a 52-yard pick six.

Ocean has tremendous depth at the running back position this season with Nasir Thompson and Ishyne Woodard behind Pena in the rotation. Thompson and Woodard are both powerful north-south runners and present a nice change of pace to throw at opponents.

So, with the depth in the backfield and the last three games essentially over by halftime when they won by an average of 42 points, Klein has been able to regulate Pena’s workload and limit the wear-and-tear on his body.

Pena has yet to carry the ball more than 13 times in any one game this season, but his impact on games goes way beyond his number of carries.

As an example, in Ocean’s 41-6 rout of Monmouth Regional in its second game of the season, Pena carried the ball just nine times but rushed for 163 yards, including scoring jaunts of 23, 4 and 52 yards - all in the first half which ended with the Spartan leading 34-0.

“We’ve been fortunate to have some success early on in games,” said Klein. “So we've been able to spread the ball out to a lot of our playmakers. Obviously, things start with Trebor, but we have a nice compliment to him in the run game with Thompson and Woodard and our quarterback, Robbie Nungesser, is a very talented kid. Then we have some talented receivers on the outside: Tye Brookins, Mike Gavakis, Tyrell Wigfall and Chris Carasia - so we have some other weapons.

“Trebor, however, is averaging almost 11 yards per carry and even though we’ve been able to get him out of some games earlier he’s still been able to be very productive for us.”

Klein feels the team feeds off of Pena not just on field but off the field as well.

“Trebor’s a kid that’s going to come out every day and give great effort and I think his teammates feed off his big-play ability,” said Klein. “He’s a tremendous kid and a lot of fun to be around. He’s smart and very mature and does very well in the classroom with a 1230 SAT score. He’s a hard worker, focused and intelligent, but at the same time very humble - so he’s really just a pleasure to be around.”

Pena is the quiet kind who leads by example, but Klein would like to see him be a little bit more vocal this season.

“It’s something we’re trying to work with him on as far as being more vocal,” said Klein. “He’s a guy who likes to lead by example - like I said he’s one of the hardest workers in the room. He’s always practicing at a high level and encourages his teammates to do the same. He is a leader within our group, but before he goes on to college football, one of the things we want to continue to try and cultivate in him is being more verbal and being a little more vocal with his teammates.

“That’s just him by nature,” added Klein. “He’s a quiet kid and reserved and like I mentioned before, a humble kid. But when the lights go on he’s ready to compete at the highest level.”

Pena would like nothing more than to go out on top this season and the urgency is not lost on this senior-heavy team.

“We talk about that to not only Trebor but our entire team,” said Klein. “Our senior class is a strong class and they’re a bunch of kids that have taken their lumps. We’re doing a really good job of having quality practices day-in-and-day-out and doing a good job of taking one game at a time and one week at a time. But ultimately, Trebor knows and the team knows, the expectations for this team is to play this game at a high level throughout the course of the rest of the season.”

“To bring one (championship) back would be crazy, one of the best things ever,” Pena added. “That’s been our long-time goal, but we know it won’t come easy. We know we have to work for it, and that’s all we’ve been doing – working really, really hard.”

Follow @getmready