October 30, 2002
No underdogs when Ocean City meets Mainland
By TOM WILLIAMS
Sports Columnist
Ocean City goes to Mainland Friday night in a game that will impact the NJSIAA Group 3 playoffs. Both
teams can qualify again in 2002. This will be an important game but not the showdown-type game to which
we’ve become accustomed.
The Raiders enter the game with a 4-2 record and Mainland is 5-1. Both teams beat Oakcrest and Atlantic
City but Mainland thumped Absegami, 41-6, two weeks after Gami defeated the Raiders, 19-6.
The Mustangs are definitely the favorite. Ranked No. 2 in South Jersey by the Online 25 and in the top
three by virtually every newspaper, Mainland has had an impressive season. The Mustangs are the only
team to beat Penn Charter. Their only loss was to undefeated Wayne Hills, ranked No. 10 in the state.
And, in its last two games, Mainland has scored a combined 83 points.
But history has proven there are no real underdogs when these two teams get together.
Back in 1995, Ocean City was ranked among the top five teams in the state and Mainland was coming off
a 3-6 season. The teams met at Carey Stadium in the OCHS opener and the Raiders scored two quick
touchdowns, having a third called back. But John Stone made two big plays in the second quarter, the
Mustangs regrouped and came from behind to win that game.
In fact, that might have been the key win of the decade for Mainland. A loss in that game and the
Mustangs might not have qualified for the playoffs that year and started building the confidence that has
transformed its program, which had more than five wins in a season only once in the previous 12 seasons,
into a program that has failed to get six wins only once in the last seven seasons.
Ocean City continued to roll over opponents throughout 1995 and met Mainland again in the playoffs. It
was at Carey Stadium again and the Raiders were probably consensus favorites again, despite the earlier
loss. Once again, Mainland was the winner.
In 1999, Mainland was ranked either No. 1 or No. 2 in South Jersey, depending on which newspaper you
bought, and took an 11-0 record into the South Jersey final at Rutgers. Ocean City was 7-4, including a
loss to the Mustangs, and was playing without its finest football player, Matt Chila, who got injured in a
Thanksgiving Day loss to Pleasantville. The Raiders won that game, the opener of a championship
doubleheader that also saw Atlantic City upset Eastern in the second game for the Group 4 title.
Then, the following year, Mainland defeated the Raiders during the regular season in Ocean City and the
two teams matched up again in the playoffs, this time in Linwood. The Raiders won that one, 20-0, and
allowed the Mustangs just one first down. It was the most dominant performance by either team in the
history of the series.
What does all this mean? After all, there are very few players on either of the teams that will meet Friday
night who were involved in any of these games. In fact, there are very few coaches at Ocean City who were
involved in those games.
But this pattern of upsets and surprises, which has happened in games that determined champions over
the past seven or eight years, also was happening for decades before in games that had a great deal less
impact on the South Jersey football picture.
From the time, in 1961, when Mainland opened its doors and took the students from Somers Point and
Linwood away from OCHS, this game has been important to the students of both schools. Recently,
Ocean City and Mainland have become two of the most successful and consistent programs in South
Jersey. In nine of the last 10 years, one of these two schools has won a CAL football championship. One
of the two has played in the South Jersey Group 3 championship game six of the last seven years. During
those seven years, the schools have combined for five South Jersey championships, three by Ocean City
and two by Mainland.
The first six games of this season have indicated that the Mustangs are the favorite on Friday night. They
have played a tougher schedule and compiled a better record. But, if those of us who have watched these
two schools play through the years, especially Bob Coffey and Gary Degenhardt, have learned anything,
it’s that it doesn’t really matter much what has happened before.
It's true. When Ocean City and Mainland get together, there is no underdog.
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