November 17, 2004
Another special fall at OCHS
By TOM WILLIAMS
Sports Columnist
Ocean City High School’s fall sports championship run ended Monday night with a devastating overtime
loss by the boys soccer team to Wall. Two days earlier, the field hockey team lost by a 1-0 score to
Kingsway in the South Jersey final. And, a few days before that, the girls soccer team suffered a 1-0 loss
to Moorestown in the South Jersey final.
Earlier, Ocean City’s cross country teams swept the South Jersey Group 3 championships, a first for the
boys and a second straight for the girls.
That’s five teams, five appearances in the South Jersey final. For most schools, it would be time to
schedule a parade. For OCHS, it is just par for the course in fall sports.
Consider these numbers for the past six years.
The boys soccer team has won three state championships, five South Jersey titles, won or shared four
overall Cape-Atlantic League titles, four conference championships and five division titles.
Field hockey has won four state titles, four South Jersey titles, five overall CAL wins, six conference
crowns and six division championships.
Girls cross country has two South Jersey titles, five CAL championships and five conference crowns during
the half-dozen years.
Girls soccer won one South Jersey, one CAL, three conference and six division titles.
Boys cross country won this year’s South Jersey title and, like the girls, has dominated the Cape May
County championships for six years and beyond.
Girls tennis and football have struggled a bit the last few years but the tennis team won a South Jersey
crown in 2000, Phil Birnbaum’s final year, and reached the South Jersey final again the next year when
Wendy Nickles returned as head coach.
The football team won two conference championships and a South Jersey title during those six years.
Those seven fall sports at Ocean City, during the last six years, have produced a combined seven state
championships, 15 South Jersey titles, 15 overall Cape-Atlantic League winners, 20 conference
championships and 22 division titles.
There are a couple of reasons for this success. Cory Picketts, Chad Severs, Brittany Sedberry, Al Genz,
Jenee Doto, Rich Baker, Gwen Hunter, John Richardson – those are just a few names that come to mind.
But this success comes from more than one or two great players.
The coaching plays a major part. Trish LeFever, Gary Degenhardt, Phil Birnbaum, Bill Moreland and Mike
Pellegrino are the winningest coaches at OCHS in their respective sports. Tom Miller and Wendy Nickles
brought successful coaching resumes to the job. The combo of Trish Hopson and Bruce Welch took over
for Leo Chase and kept alive the unbeaten streak that started in Mike Naples final season.
All of these coaches will tell you that success breeds success. And there are so many young players
contributing to this fall’s teams that the success will probably not end anytime soon.
On second thought, maybe there should be a parade.
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Another of the athletes who was part of Ocean City’s recent fall success has continued to impress at the
next level.
Erik Geisinger, a sophomore at Rowan University, was named to the first team, New Jersey Athletic
Conference all stars in cross country. He was one of only two sophomores on the first team, which
otherwise featured three seniors and a junior.
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