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March 12, 2008

NJSIAA Tournament goes by very quickly

By TOM WILLIAMS
Sports Columnist


The thing about the NJSIAA Basketball Tournament is that it goes by so fast.

In the NCAA Tournament, you win on a Saturday or Sunday, then don't play again until the following Thursday or Friday. There is some time to celebrate. But in New Jersey basketball, and many other states, you win on Tuesday, practice on Wednesday and play again on Thursday.

The Ocean City High School girls started their march to the state finals with a rousing win over Woodrow Wilson about 13 days ago. It seems like it was two months ago.

Since then came the win over Seneca, the third straight win over Lower Cape May for the South Jersey championship, the battle with the very young Neptune team and, on Sunday, a shot at New Jersey's best in the state final with Malcolm X. Shabazz of Newark.

And through it all - the two home games that started the march, followed by trips to Manahawkin, Deptford and Toms River - the Ocean City fans were there. They were the parents of this year's players, parents of graduated players, coaches and athletes from other sports and even some "experienced" OCHS fans who have memories of other strong teams through the years.

And it isn't cheap. The price of admission isn't so bad but, when you add the gasoline at $3.00 a gallon and the tolls, these road trips can put a strain on the budget. Of course, what better way to spend the money than to support a group of determined, talented girls.

Almost wherever Ocean City went, Wildwood was there, too. Until Sunday's loss to Shabazz, Wildwood had been the last team to defeat the Raiders, upsetting them in overtime in the Ventnor City Shootout. Both Paul Baruffi and Dave Troiano have expressed their feelings about that game - that both teams actually benefited from it and went into the NJSIAA field better prepared because of it.

The battle with Wildwood wasn't the only thing at the end of the season that helped get Ocean City ready for the Group 3 Tournament. Because of a scheduling error, Absegami could not play in the Cape-Atlantic League championship game and the Raiders, who shared the conference title, got the chance to play. Without that game, OCHS would have been idle for nine days before opening in the tournament.

And, the night before the CAL Game, these girls played a role in the dedication of the Dixie Howell Memorial Gymnasium, meeting some of the finest Ocean City basketball players of the 20th Century.

The fans who couldn't get to the Group 3 games had a chance to listen to the action. All five of Ocean City's tournament games were broadcast live on 98.7-The Coast. And, once again, the community came out in support. The broadcasts were made possible by the support of Steve Brady; Dennis Egan; Bob, Craig and David French; Jay Gillian; Jim Ginn; Scott Halliday; Drs. Al Harris and Robert Kimball; Gregg and Linda Heininger; Tom Heist; Jim Henry; Paul Landi; Michael McMahon; Ray Norton; Harry Klause; Al Sacco; Brad Simon; John Stauffer; Harry Vanderslice; and Don and Glenn Wiesenthal.

Some of them also played a role in providing coverage of the OCHS boys basketball team during the regular season.

Another person who made this entire drive to the state final even more special was Matt Ulmer. An OCHS graduate, Ulmer used his talents and invested lots of his time to video tape four of the five Ocean City tournament games. He edited together highlight packages that you can still see online through our sports blog. And, in addition to the hours he spent editing highlights, Ulmer also burned DVDs of some of the games and gave them to friends and families of the Raiders.

This was a special time for many, many people. Ocean City has fielded a girls basketball team for 37 years but this was only the second time the school has won a South Jersey championship or reached the state final. It is a time they will never forget and can replay through Ulmer's videos and the thousands of photos that were taken during and after the five tournament games.

Quite frankly, with the talent they have returning, Ocean City should be one of the favorites to defend its South Jersey title in 2009 and move toward another state final. And you can be sure that the community will get behind them again, following the team all over the state and making the experience even more memorable.

This is the fourth straight year that an Ocean City basketball team has reached the South Jersey final. The girls have done it the last three years and the boys faced Camden in the 2005 final. No other CAL school currently has both of its basketball teams involved in a four-year run like that. The NJSIAA Tournament has become something that is part of OCHS basketball again.

And the 2007-08 Raider girls spent the last two weeks creating memories and special moments that very few will ever forget.



Read more of Tom Williams' columns