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October 26, 2005

OCHS the focus of CAL boys soccer

By TOM WILLIAMS
Sports Columnist


Ever since Bill Hamilton kicked the first soccer balls onto the field in 1980, Ocean City High School has been winning at boys soccer. In 26 seasons, the Raiders have a 389-112 record, including 16-0 this year.

They have won under five different coaches and never had a losing season – just a 9-9 record back in 1986. But somewhere along the way, OCHS went from a good soccer program to the best.

Hamilton, Leo Chase, Bob Martin and Keith Decollewaert all had to concern themselves with Vineland as the team to beat in the Cape-Atlantic League. That was the way it was when Mike Pellegrino took over in 1997.

Now the team you have to beat if you’re planning on winning in the CAL is Ocean City. Certainly, Pellegrino has played a significant role in this transformation. But what does the former Nittany Lion think are the reasons?

“First and foremost,” he said, “are the great feeder clubs we have in Ocean City and Upper Township. They have great coaches who teach these kids to love the sport. When they get to the middle schools, they join the travel teams and continue to develop. All we really have to do in high school is put the right people in the right spots.”

Well, it’s a little more challenging than that. But Pellegrino feels that soccer programs can grow quickly because it is a sport you can play year ‘round. “I played just about every day from the time I was seven years old,” he said. “You don’t often hear about soccer players going down with injuries from wear and tear. Most of the injuries come from collisions or field conditions.”

Ocean City has won with the great scorers like Chad Severs, Adam Sternberger and Brandon Gallagher. And they’ve won with teams that didn’t have a scorer in the CAL’s top 10.

“That’s because you start at the back of the field,” Pellegrino said, “with the defense. For example, we’ve got three guys on defense this year who came to us as forwards – Randy Kohr, Jason Dugan and Nick Canderan. They are good because they know how forwards play so they can defend them better. And we have enough talent at forward that we can afford to use them on defense.”

There is another reason why the OCHS program has grown into such a consistent success. “Our kids know all the guys who’ve come before them,” Pellegrino said. “They read about what they do in college and they get to talk with them and play against them over the summer. We’ve even got Aaron Bogushefsky back working with us as a volunteer and he can tell them about the teams that came before.”

And then there is the depth. “We’ve got five or six freshmen that could start for many teams,” Pellegrino said, “and might have started for some of our teams. But we don’t have room for them this year. There are people who tell us that they can’t wait for their kids to become part of the varsity program. They know we want them to have fun. It’s not about winning, it’s about playing good soccer.”

The Raiders, ranked No. 1 in South Jersey this year and No. 2 in the state, will play Rancocas Valley, last year’s No. 1 team in South Jersey, on Sunday afternoon at Eastern in the championship game of the South Jersey Coaches Tournament.

Ocean City boys soccer has won 13 Cape-Atlantic division championships, 10 conference titles, four overall CAL crowns, six South Jersey championships and four state titles.

With all of that success, there is still one goal not achieved. The Raiders have never won the Coaches Tournament.



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