Ocean City Hosts Explosive Millville in Football Tonight

Bob DeLuce and the Red Raiders don't need much motivation when they take the football field.

However, there will be plenty of it tonight at 7 p.m. when Ocean City High School hosts Millville at Carey Stadium, even if the Red Raiders had only three days to rest and prepare.

The Thunderbolts are one of the top teams in the Cape-Atlantic League, and a win tonight would be a signature one for the Red Raiders, who are coming off their first win of the season.

It's also Senior Night, and the Red Raiders (1-3) will be wearing some pink tonight for Breast Cancer Awareness.

"It's also special because it's a Breast Cancer Awareness game and that is very important to me," DeLuce said. "I'm playing for my aunt (Sharon Chadwick). She has breast cancer, and I will be playing for her Friday night."

DeLuce, a linebacker, and the rest of the Red Raiders defense have quite a challenge in front of them.

Millville is 3-0 and scores an average of 37 points a game, led by quarterback Shaq Lee and running back Alquann Jones.

The Red Raiders had just three days to figure out how to stop the explosive Millville offense. For the second straight week, Ocean City had to complete a game on Monday because of lightning during a regularly schedule Friday night game.

"It's hard to recover, too," DeLuce said. "Hopefully that was the last one."

"I'm absolutely sick and tired of it," Ocean City coach Kevin Smith said with a laugh. "I told the AD that if we have a delay this week, we will wait it out to the wee hours of the morning."

Fortunately for the Red Raiders there is no precipitation in tonight's forecast. Unfortunately, the Millville offense is known to strike like lightning.

Jones has more than 500 yards rushing and has found the end zone five times in three games. Lee is as dangerous with his legs as his arm.

"They just have a lot of speed," DeLuce said. "We have to shut down the outside and force them back in the middle."

Other than the Ocean City defense tackling well, the Red Raiders will count on the offense to be a defensive weapon tonight.

Ocean City will definitely look to control the tempo of the game with running backs Nick Zauck and Ben Bethea, and extend drives with quarterback Chris Gabor connecting with Chris Turner, Matt Schuler and Matt Locotos.

"We have to control the ball and keep it away from their offense," Smith said. "They can score and are explosive. Their defense is pretty good, too. We can't give up a lot of points. We have to run the football and beat the clock."