Point Boro Travels To Ocean for Week 6
Jim Rosa | October 11, 2018
Heading into week six, there are two things that we have been able to take away from the 2018 Panther Football season thus far. First, the new division has produced some great games in terms of competitiveness. At the same time, wins have not come easy for Point Boro. After a tough 21-20 defeat at home vs Raritan, the Panthers will look to get back to the .500 mark after falling to 2-3 on the season.
In order to do so, Point Boro will have to come away with a victory on the road at Ocean Township. Ocean currently stands at 2-4 on the season, however, they are an athletic team that can never be taken lightly. When asked about the challenge of facing Ocean, Ryan Visco mentioned a common theme this season, containing the opposing passing game.
“Containing their passing game will be the biggest challenge that we face this week,” said Ryan Visco.
“They like to pass the ball and their quarterback can throw the ball well.” Scott Franceschini also talked about the defensive effort that the team will need this week to come away with the win. “Defending Ocean this week will be different from defending Raritan’s Triple Option offense. Every player on our team will have to execute their assignment perfectly. We know that we cannot get beat as Ocean is another very athletic team,” Franceschini explained.
The Panthers have had leads of six and thirteen points slip away from them the last two weeks. With that said, Point Boro knows that they will need to continually put pressure on Ocean throughout the game to come away victorious. “To stay on top this week we need both sides of the ball to work smoothly,” Visco said. “We need to score more points and gain the confidence back in our offense. We need to communicate and work as a team through these last must-win games.”
With the triple option offense, it is very easy for the ball to end up on the ground. This has been a concern over the last couple of games in particular. One of the things that made the Panthers so prolific in 2017 was their turnover ratio. They will need to have better ball security going forward if they are going to come away with a win on the road this week. “Everyone needs to focus on having possession of the ball before getting up the field,” Visco said. Fumbles have really affected each of the last two games for Point Boro and they will be looking to limit the turnovers going further.
If the season ended today, Point Boro would be the final team to qualify for the playoffs out of the South Jersey Group II section. These next two games will certainly tell us a lot about the direction of this season. A win over Ocean would set up a very important homecoming game for the Panthers as they would be 3-3 with a playoff spot still up for grabs. A Point Boro loss this week would put them at 2-4 on the season with tough games against former B South rivals Barnegat and Donovan Catholic remaining. Those games will certainly not be easy as both teams are a combined 7-2 on the season so far.
Jim Rosa is a 2013 graduate of Point Pleasant Borough High School, and a 2017 graduate of Georgian Court College. He began photographing and covering local high school athletics while he was pursuing a business degree at Georgian Court. Point Pleasant Borough remains a large part of his life, and you can often find him at different sporting events throughout the year … especially the football field.