Alex Staten’s TD Run Jumpstarts Ocean in Season-Opening Win
LITTLE SILVER – Ocean had 18 total yards and was sputtering in its new flexbone offense in the season opener on Thursday night against Red Bank when the Spartans handed the ball to sophomore slotback Alex Staten on a simple counter play.
That’s when the season officially began for the Big Red.
Staten raced 82 yards for a touchdown with only 32 seconds left in the half, freshman kicker Joey Bercovicz hit the PAT for a one-point lead and the defense did the rest as Ocean grinded out a 10-6 road victory over the Bucs (0-1, 0-1) in Class B North. Staten, who saw varsity carries as a freshman last season, had 92 yards on 5 carries along with a 19-yard catch in the win.
Ocean only had one first down all game until …. Alex Staten takes it 82 yards to the house to stun RBR late in the half. Ocean leads 7-6 with 32 secs left in the 2nd Q pic.twitter.com/Ke8JQtICaN
— Scott Stump (@Scott_Stump) August 29, 2024
“I feel like that play set the momentum for our team going into the half,” Staten said. “It kind of silenced their crowd and brought us up, and we took over in the second half.”
“Alex is a game-changer,” head coach Chad King said.
The victory gave King his first win back at his alma mater following two seasons as Long Branch’s head coach. The players presented the 2000 Ocean graduate with the game ball in the postgame celebration.
Ocean gave head coach Chad King the game ball after his first victory as the new head man at his alma mater. (Photo by Scott Stump)
“It’s great to get the first win period, but the first win back at Ocean feels good, especially that first game of the season getting that monkey off your back,” King said. “It was an ugly win, but a win is a win.”
Ocean’s defense registered a second-half shutout and held Red Bank to 176 total yards, 50 of which came on the final play of the game. Red Bank senior quarterback Quinn Niesz hit wideout Ari Fraser on a deep sideline shot, but senior defensive back James Sobieski knocked him off balance to bring him down at Ocean’s 8-yard line as time expired to seal the win.
Ocean tackles Ari Fraser at the 8-yd line on the last play of the game to seal a 10-6 win over Red Bank to give new coach Chad King his first win at his alma mater pic.twitter.com/htkHgLWbu3
— Scott Stump (@Scott_Stump) August 30, 2024
“(That) scared me,” Ocean senior defensive lineman Danny Farina said. “I saw him go down, I looked at the clock, and I thought there was one second left and I’m like ‘Oh my God.’ But luckily he went down.”
Farina finished with five tackles for a loss or no gain and two sacks while seemingly pressuring Niesz on every dropback.
“We believe we can beat any line out here,” Farina said. “First step, and get to the QB, that’s all we do.”
“Danny was doing a phenomenal job on the run taking away the inside zone,” King said. “We missed a bunch of tackles, but at the end of the day we kept everything inside and we limited the big plays. He was in the backfield all day. Danny was huge for us.”
The two teams only had 11 total yards in a scoreless first quarter before Red Bank broke through to take its only lead of the game. Sophomore Chris Doody recovered a muffed punt at Ocean’s 29-yard line, and on the first play after the turnover, Niesz found 6-foot-5 junior wideout Jah’Mir Lane-Bailey over the middle for a 29-yard touchdown strike. Ocean blocked the extra point, keeping the lead at 6-0 with 10:30 left in the half.
The Spartans looked like they might just run the clock out deep in their own end and get to halftime when Staten exploded for his 82-yard run.
“That was a game-changing play,” Farina said. “We were definitely really quiet. That broke the game open and silenced them and we came back for the second half and we were on fire.”
“My mindset was I need to make a play here, do something for my team, get us going into half,” Staten said.
Ocean’s defense dominated the second half, holding Red Bank to only three yards rushing and containing the Bucs’ big-play receivers while bracketing Niesz.
“We have a young DB corps out there and they really stepped up,” Farina said. “We couldn’t let (Niesz) get outside of us. We watched him pick apart Raritan (in a scrimmage) doing that.”
The Spartans also started moving the ball better with their grinding running game to chew up the clock. A 10-play, 44-yard drive took more than six minutes in the third quarter and culminated with Bercovicz hitting a 30-yard field goal to chants of “Joe the Toe!” from the Ocean student section.
Ocean (1-0, 1-0) also ate up an important four minutes on the clock with two first downs inside the final six minutes of the game to put the Bucs in desperation mode with no timeouts remaining on their final possession.
“It started working in the fourth quarter and breaking off some runs, and we started to do what we needed to do, when we needed to do it,” King said about the offense.
The victory gives Ocean an early leg up the division race and starts the season off on a strong note after the Spartans missed out on a state playoff berth last year. They will take on Holmdel in a nondivisional game at home next week, while Red Bank will try to rebound on the road against Jackson Liberty (1-0) after dropping its season opener for the fifth straight year.
Box score
Ocean 10, Red Bank 6
. 0 R
First downs 8 9
Rushes-yards 38-167 26-50
Passing 1-4-0 6-20-0
Passing yards 19 126
Fumbles-lost 3-1 2-0
Penalties 6-69 2-21
Ocean (1-0, 1-0) 0 7 3 0 – 10
Red Bank (0-1, 0-1) 0 6 0 0 – 6
Scoring summary
R: Lane-Bailey 29-yard pass from Niesz (kick blocked).
0: Staten 82-yard run (Bercovicz kick).
0: Bercovicz 30-yard field goal.
Individual statistics
Rushing – R: Ally 9-20, Niesz 8-(-4), Goldberg 1-14, Bonus 2-(-14), M. Huss 4-27, Fraser 2-4. 0: Sobieski 12-1, B. Volek 12-33, Staten 5-92, McGovern 3-8, Calixte 5-46, Prempeh 1-(-13).
Passing – R: Niesz 6-20-0 125. 0: Sobieski 1-3-0 19, Gaudious 0-1-0 0.
Receiving – R: Lane-Bailey 1-29, Lopez 3-30, Fraser 2-67. 0: Staten 1-19.
Interceptions – None.
