Running Backs Lead Ocean City to First Victory

Led by two of their running backs, the Ocean City Raiders won their first game of the 2011 season against Middle Township on Monday afternoon, 34-6. The game started on Friday and was played into the third quarter but was .

On Monday, the game restarted with seven minutes left in the third quarter, and the momentum hadn’t changed over the weekend: Going into Monday’s action, the Raiders were up 27-6, and they picked up right where they left off, with junior running back Nick Zauck scoring the final touchdown of the game near the end of the third.

“It was the last nail in the coffin,” said Zauck, who has started since his freshman year, but switched to running back from wide receiver this season. This was the first game where he rushed for more than 100 yards as a high school running back.

Also rushing for more than 100 yards was Ben Bethea, who scored three touchdowns on Friday night before the postponement.

“It feels amazing,” he said. “We worked all week for it … starting the game we had so much momentum, then the reschedule decreased our momentum, but we came back and sparked it back up.”

Bethea was largely responsible for the momentum at the beginning of the game on Friday. On the first play of the game, he ran for 20 yards. On the second play, 15 yards. On the third, 10 more yards, for three straight first downs. Just one play after his third first down run, he brought the ball in for the first touchdown of the game.

Ocean City’s defense established their dominance early as well, stopping Middle on its first two drives before giving up what would be the only touchdown of the game for Middle, an 11-yard run from Nigel Case.

Case saw some success running during Monday’s continuation of the game, but the Raiders defense held strong. On a few plays, they gave up big gains, but they also repeatedly pushed Middle back and forced punts.

“This was our most complete game,” said Kevin Smith, who is in his first season as head coach in Ocean City. This was his first win at the top coaching spot. Smith worked as an assistant coach in Ocean City for 15 years before this season.

With the win, Ocean City improves to 1-3 on the season and will host Millville on Saturday at 1 p.m. The game was originally scheduled for Friday night, but because Ocean City is on short rest for the second straight week, it has been rescheduled.