Turnovers, Big Plays Cost Ocean City in Season Opener

Kevin Smith called this football season a learning process for his Ocean City High School squad.

The Red Raiders learned a valuable lesson on Friday night: Turnovers and poor tackling is a direct route to a loss.

Any time Ocean City gained a little momentum it gave it away against host Vineland, which won the season opener 44-27 at Gittone Field.

"We went out and played our best. There’s nothing else to say,” said Ocean City junior Nick Zauck, who finished with 53 yards rushing. “They are a fast team and they have an explosive offense. They are way better than we thought.”

The Red Raiders (0-1) were up to the task of answering every big Vineland play early, but the Fighting Clan put the game away with a string of long touchdowns.

Vineland (1-0) opened the scoring with Isaiah Spencer's 60-yard touchdown run in the opening minute of the contest. And tt wasn't the last 60-yard touchdown run by Spencer.

Ocean City answered Spencer's first score with a five-play, 57-yard drive that was capped by Chris Turner's fourth down, 25-yard touchdown catch from sophomore quarterback Chris Gabor. Nick Zauck did the most damage on the drive, as the halfback registered a 38-yard run on the play.

Gabor and Turner already seem to have good chemistry together. The Red Raiders' duo connected four times on the night, once setting up a score. Turner ended the game with 109 yards. He also added a long kickoff return that set up a touchdown.

"(Gabor) did a nice job getting Chris the ball,” Ocean City coach Kevin Smith said. “We need to find other ways to get Chris the ball.”

Ocean City's first touchdown, made it an 8-6 game, but its celebration was short lived, as Vineland scored on the ensuing kickoff. R.J. Morgan scored on a 91-yard return, and added the extra point to put the Fighting Clan ahead, 15-6.

The Red Raiders didn't go away just yet. Ocean City scored on a 7-play, 54-yard drive early in the second quarter. A 32-yard pass play from Gabor to Turner gave the Red Raiders the ball inside Vineland's 5. Two plays later Ben Bethea scored on a 4-yard carry on his debut carry of the season with 10:56 remaining in the first half.

The touchdown put the Red Raiders behind by three, but that's closest they would get the rest of the night.

“In the first half we came out fired up and I think we beat them up and down the field, not on the scoreboard, but physically. We came out after halftime, and mentally we broke down.”

Vineland made it look easy all night.

The shortest of Vineland's six touchdowns was from 23 yards. The rest were 60-yards or longer. Other than Spencer's two 60-yard runs, and Morgan's 91-yard kickoff return, Vineland also added an 81-yard run by Morgan, and a 64-yard touchdown catch by Marcus Nelson from quarterback Tory Clark.

Clark also connected with Toure Douglas for a 23-yard toss and catch on what may be the best play of the night. Douglas was double-teamed but still managed to make a diving catch in the back of the end zone.

“We were out of position a lot,” Smith said. “They had big plays, and that’s the big thing we talked about. They have a lot more speed than we do, and we always need to be in position. We can’t live with all those big plays. If we break down every play I think happy 85-percent. It’s that other 15-percent that decided the ball game.”

Gabor found Turner for a 15-yard score early in the fourth quarter to make it a 36-20 game. After another Vineland touchdown, Gabor found Matt Schuler for an 18-yard touchdown with five seconds remaining in the game.

UP NEXT: Ocean City plays at Atlantic City on Sept. 16 for a 7 p.m. kickoff.