Ocean City's Defense Looking for Better Performance Tonight

Take two.

The Ocean City High School football team wants to put a season-opening loss to Vineland behind as it takes on Atlantic City tonight at 7 p.m.

The Red Raiders say their downfall against the Fighting Clan was first-game jitters for some of the underclassmen, and the fact that the defense was often out of position.

“We had a few sophomores starting, and I felt that way my sophomore year,” Ocean City senior linebacker Bob DeLuce said. “Some of the kids were overthinking. I hope for this game they got it out of their system and they are ready to go.”

“Atlantic City is always a fast team just like Vineland was," DeLuce said. "Vineland beat us to the outside. We changed up some things on defense to try to shut down their speed.”

Vineland used the speed to score a series of long touchdowns. All the Fighting Clan’s scores were 23 yards and longer, including two 60-yard runs and a kickoff return for a touchdown.

“It was more of an issue of defensive positioning," Ocean City coach Kevin Smith said. “We had some young kids playing that never played a varsity game before. At every level, the speed goes up. It gets faster and faster. Some of the kids never played the varsity game. It is a little faster for them. The more experience they get, the game will slow down, and they will get used to the way the game moves.”

Atlantic City struggled to move the ball last week against St. Augustine Prep, but still managed to come away with a 13-9 victory.

The Red Raiders will focus on stopping running back Radi Tolbert, who was held in check by the Hermits.

“We need to be more fundamentally sound,” Smith said. “We got ourselves out of position on defense. We over-pursued, and with a team like Vineland with its team speed, and athletes at speed positions, they made us pay for it. We have worked hard on fundamentals on defense, like positioning and open-field tackling.”

On offense, the Red Raiders had success moving the ball, but turnovers derailed their chances of keeping up with Vineland. Sophomore quarterback Chris Gabor had a mixed bag of a game, throwing for three touchdowns, but also turning the ball over three times.

Chris Turner and Matt Schuler were Gabor’s main targets and should be again this week against the Vikings.

The Red Raiders backfield, led by Nick Zauck, found some holes against Vineland, but look for the Red Raiders to use more backs this week against Atlantic City.