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Raiders honor football players after bounce-back season By TOM WILLIAMS (12/7/16) The Ocean City High School football team, following a good season in which it bounced back with a 6-4 record, honored some of the players who led the way on Monday night.
This was quite a season for the Raiders. Three of their four losses were to NJSIAA playoff teams and the fourth was to a team that narrowly missed the playoffs. Ocean City also narrowly missed the playoffs. Had they been able to hold on against St. Joseph on the deadline weekend the Raiders would have qualified in Group 3. But, in reality, the game that really hurt Ocean City's playoff chances was a 27-14 loss to Absegami when the Braves' Ifreke Andy went crazy, rushing for 268 yards. A win in that game and OCHS would have been the No. 5 seed in Group 3 and Absegami still would have qualified in Group 4. Donoghue's statistical accomplishments were undoubtedly the highlight of the season. He passed for 1,504 yards, the fourth highest in a season by an OCHS quarterback. He finished his career with 3,258 passing yards, breaking the school record set in 1999 by Al Genz. Donoghue completed 274 of 541 passes in his career, both also school records. In addition, his punting average this season (37.3) was the second best by an OCHS kicker, trailing the 37.5 by Mike Linahan in 1974. Donoghue's 126 career punts traveled 4,016 yards, both school records. Walsh also had some impressive numbers. He made 63 tackles this season, including a team-high 33 solos. Ten of his tackles were for losses totaling 47.5 yards, he led the team with three sacks and three forced fumbles and had two fumble recoveries. During his career, Walsh made 261 tackles including 98 solos. He had 22 tackles for losses (107 yards), made seven sacks, forced 10 fumbles, recovered six and intercepted a pass. The Raiders had some successful receivers at the end of Donoghue's throws. Matt Lashley and Bob Shallcross were both among the CAL top 15 in receiving yards. Lashley, who will graduate, carried so many opposing players after the catch that he qualified for an Uber driver's license. Shallcross had a mixture of good hands and speed that led to him tying the school record with three TD receptions at St. Joe. Benvenuti, Robertson, Walsh, Anthony Kenny and Luciano Lubrano all added their receiving skills to the passing attack. Donoghue and Walsh will graduate and they will leave gaps to fill. Also graduating are Benvenuti, Lashley, Kenny, Lubrano, Williams, Kolmer, Eric Levai, Will Johnson, Ed Mejia and kicker Kevin Catanoso. In his only year kicking for the Raiders, Catanoso was 25 for 27 on extra points, the fourth most at OCHS in a season and the second best percetage in one season. Ocean City will play the same schedule next year, with Oakcrest, West Windsor-Plainsboro South, Mainland, St. Joseph and Pleasantville coming to Carey Stadium. And the team has an abundance of talent returning. Donoghue will be tough to replace on offense but Robertson and Liam Bergman are back and they combined for nearly 750 yards and 10 rushing touchdowns this season. Shallcross will be a primary target and a number of guys on the line - including Holmes, Spackman, Jon Talese and Chad DiDonna - will return. On defense, seven of the 10 players who made the most tackles this season will be back, including Lin, DiDonna, Robertson, Tom Meehan, Alex Morales, Brandon Lashley and Austin Green. And remember, Harry Pfeifle, expected to be one of the CAL's top all-around players in 2016, will return next season after missing this year following knee surgery. Also back next year after missing most of this season with injuries will be Greye Dunn and Nick Canizzaro. The Raiders bounced back this season to produce a winning record. The season was filled with highlights and don't be surprised if it is just a first step foward. EXTRA POINTS: Kevin Smith fnished the season with 23 career wins, tying Dick Guest (1929-31) for fifth place all-time among Ocean City coaches....Issac Robertson will enter his senior year with 482 yards, Liam Bergman with 372....complete 2016 season stats, updated school records and boxscores of every game are available at OceanCitySports.com.... |
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