Shawnee is ranked No. 5 in the state of New Jersey in girls lacrosse and, on Friday afternoon, Ocean City found out why. The Raiders, leaders of the Cape-Atlantic League, traveled to Medford and dropped a 19-5 decision to the Renegades in the second round of the NJSIAA Group 3 Tournament. Shawnee will now face either Colts Neck or Wall in the South Jersey semifinals.
Mike Wray, Justin Healey and Vince Terry each had three hits as Ocean City defeated Bridgeton, 21-5, on Friday in a game shortened to five innings by the mercy rule. The Raiders scored eight runs in each of the first two innings. Wray had a triple and two singles, Healey had a double and two singles with Terry getting three singles. Matt Locotos added two singles with Beau Hall smacking a triple. Sophomore Ricky Dillenberger was the winning pitcher. OCHS hosts Woodrow Wilson on Monday in the opening round of the NJSIAA Group 3 Tournament.
A pair of local high school baseball teams will face each other in a first-round state playoff game next week, according to seedings released today by the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association.
Wildwood, has earned the No. 6 seed in South Jersey Group I and will host No. 11 Cape May Tech at Maxwell Field on Monday. The Warriors and Hawks met last weekend in the Warrior Classic baseball tournament, with Wildwood earning a 7-0 victory.
Ocean City is the only other Cape May County team to earn a home game. The Raiders are seeded sixth in South Jersey Group II and will host No. 11 Woodrow Wilson on Monday. Also in the section, No. 10 Lower Cape May will travel to No. 7 Delsea on Monday.
Middle Township is the No. 13 seed in South Jersey Group II. The Panthers will play at No. 4 Haddonfield on Monday.
Wildwood Catholic chose not to participate in the state tournament this season.
His name was Jude Sangillo and he was Lower Cape May’s pole vaulter in 1997.
Why is he the answer to a trivia question? Because he was the last pole vaulter not from Ocean City High School to win the Cape May County championship.
A big reason for that success is John Oberg, the volunteer OCHS pole vaulting coach. Since Oberg began working with the Ocean City vaulters, the Raiders are 15-0 in the county meet, 24-0 if you count the girls pole vault.
“He has been a great part of our program,” said Ocean City coach Matt Purdue. “We think he might be the best pole vault coach in the state. He’s done a great job with our vaulters but he also helps out kids on other teams, too. Its remarkable the number of state finalists he’s coached.”
For Oberg, it all started with Jon Howell, who won the county title three times (1998-2000) and set an OCHS record (14 feet, 6 inches) that still stands. The next two years it was Dan Tamburini, then Tom Tyrrell. In 2004, his son, John, became the OCHS vaulter and he won the county title three times. After that came Steele Nugent, Mike Coletta and Ryan Mazzeo. Coletta set the county meet record that was broken last week by Ed Albright. In between Mazzeo and Albright was Mike Oberg, who was county champion twice.
Carling Mott scored just over a minute into overtime on Wednesday to give Ocean City a 15-14 win over Ocean Township in the first round of the NJSIAA South Jersey Group 3 Lacrosse Tournament. Casey Hanna had scored with just four seconds left in regulation to tie the game and send it into overtime. The win advanced the Raiders to a second round game on Friday at Shawnee.
Tess Solazzo paced OCHS with six goals and Megan Devlin scored four times. Hanna scored three times.
Kyle Andrews had a single and double and Justin Healey had two singles as the Raiders defeated Absegami, 5-2, in a Wednesday baseball game. Beau Hall added a double to the OCHS attack. Andrew Meyers was the winning pitcher, limiting the Braves to two hits.
WILDWOOD – A team that has had trouble playing small ball at times this season did it to perfection in a big spot Monday afternoon.
An infield single, a passed ball and a sacrifice bunt preceded the game-winning hit by Chris Dougherty in the bottom of the seventh inning as the Middle Township High School baseball team captured the Warrior Classic baseball tournament with a 6-5 win over Lower Cape May at Maxwell Field.
Dougherty, who went 4 for 8 in three tournament games and also played outstanding defense throughout, was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player.
The Middle Township High School golf team and the Hicks family have continued their dominance of the sectional tournament.
The Panthers won their third straight South-Central Jersey Group II championship by placing first at the tournament held Monday morning at Wildwood Golf and Country Club.
Freshman David Hicks shot 1-under-par 71 to win the individual title, after his older brother, Alex, who is now golfing at The College of William & Mary, had won two straight sectional titles in 2010-11.
Upper Township youth wrestler Charley Cossaboone captured the bantam 56-pound title at the Mid Atlantic Wrestling Association’s Eastern National Wrestling Championships held earlier this month in Salisbury, Md.
Cossaboone outpointed Branden Bower of Williamsport, Pa., by a score of 11-2 in the championship bout to win the title. All told, Cossaboone outscored his competition 38-6 during the tournament.
Cossaboone joins an exclusive list of Upper Township wrestlers who have won MAWA Eastern Nationals. Other past winners include Bobby Hanson (1990, 193), Mike Galante (1994, 1996), Vito Constantine (1997) and Greg Austin (1997).
Ocean City High School's girls lacrosse team, currently leading the Cape-Atlantic League, has been seeded seventh in the NJSIAA South Jersey Group 3 Tournament and will host Ocean Township on Tuesday at the Tennessee Avenue complex.
The winner of that first round game will likely face No. 2 seed Shawnee later in the week.
This marks the eighth straight year that the Raiders have qualified for the tournament.
WILDWOOD – Lower Cape May Regional has joined Middle Township in the championship of the Warrior Classic baseball tournament. The title game, or games, will be held Monday at Maxwell Field.
Middle Township will win the fifth annual tournament with a victory in the game scheduled for 4 p.m. Lower Cape May, which advanced out of the losers’ bracket with an easy win over Wildwood Sunday afternoon, must beat Middle twice to win the double-elimination tournament. Should the Caper Tigers win the 4 p.m., a second game will follow at approximately 7 p.m.
Tess Solazzo and Casey Hanna each scored four times on Friday as Ocean City defeated Millville, 13-8, to get a firmer hold on first place in the Cape-Atlantic League. The Raiders have just one CAL loss, Millville now has two, Egg Harbor Township has three and Mainland has four.
Megan Devlin added two goals and two assists for OCHS.
Zack Shutz, Nate Roberts and Luke Baker swept the singles as the Raiders defeated Absegami, 4-1, on Friday in boys tennis. The first doubles team of Tim DeRosa and Ben Weisberg also won.
Chris Mateer and Kevin Dougherty each scored twice on Friday and Ocean City defeated Vineland, 10-5, in boys lacrosse. The Raiders had a slim, 6-5, lead at the half but shut out the Clan in the second half.
The baseball team lost its second straight, 10-1, to Atlantic City. And the softball team lost to Wildwood Catholic, 9-2.
Watch for more on these teams and other sports in your next Gazette.
The complete OCHS spring sports schedule, plus results, is here.
