By DAVE O’SULLIVAN Publisher Ah, to be king for a day. Or, more specifically, Aaron King. The Ocean City boys soccer team got a huge day from King, who scored a pair of goals as the top-seeded Red Raiders knocked off No. 3 Timber Creek 2-0 on Friday afternoon – and vanquished demons past in the process – to capture the South Jersey Group III championship. Two years ago, the Red Raiders lost in this same championship game to Timber Creek in a penalty-kick shootout. And earlier this year the Chargers blanked Ocean City 3-0. 
Ocean City’s Aaron King leaps over a Timber Creek defender to go after a header during Friday’s South Jersey Group III championship game. King scored both goals to help lead the Red Raiders to a 2-0 victory. (Glory Days Magazine photos/Dave O’Sullivan) This time, Ocean City (19-4-1) struck first as King blasted home a rebounded save that Zack Sakena had corralled and pushed over to him on the left side. The play was set up off a free kick from senior midfielder Brendan Macfarlane. That gave Ocean City a 1-0 lead late in the first half. “The ball came over to me and I knew I had to get it right back into the box,” Sakena said. “King was right there, I played it over to him as best I could and he tapped it in for the finish.” About midway through the second half King finished the Chargers off for good when he took a ball through on the right side and artfully curled a shot along the end line and into the left corner of the goal after Timber Creek keeper Justin Smith had come out to challenge the play. “He had the angle. He took a touch right by the keeper, focused, did it very calmly and just put it in,” Sakena said. “When I saw that ball go in I knew we were going to win.” “I couldn’t even gather my thoughts (after the game). Winning South Jersey has been our goal since I started coaching. I used to play here under Mike Pellegrino and they used to win this often. We were here two years ago against the same team and we came up on the short end of that one, losing in a penalty shootout,” said Ocean City coach Aaron Bogushefsky, who celebrated his birthday with the victory. “I wanted to strike first and we ended up doing that.” 
Zach Sakena hoists the championship trophy after the Red Raiders beat Timber Creek, the No. 5 team in the state. “That was by far the best game Evan has ever played. There’s just something about him today was point-on,” Sakena said. “One kid rifled a shot from about 30 yards out and he just jumped and punched it out. It was amazing.” McCardell gave credit to his defense, which is spearheaded by sweeper Steve Pashuck. “They are the strongest defense I’ve ever played with. The scoreboard wouldn’t read zero because of me, it reads zero because of the whole defense,” McCardell said. “Ever since we lost to them (two years ago) we’ve been working hard to win this game. I was pretty confident coming into this game that we were going to win. This was our last game on this field, so I figured we might as well give it all we got.” Sakena said it was important for this group of players to join the legacy of championship teams that have walked the halls at Ocean City High School. “Growing up we watched the great Ocean City teams play and we said we want to be like that one day,” Sakena said. “It feels great.” “It feels awesome,” Pashuck said. “It’s our first South Jersey championship, and to do it here on our home field in front of our fans is awesome. I couldn’t be any more proud of my teammates. All the hard work from the beginning of the season is paying off.” Ocean City will get a chance to keep the dream of winning an overall state championship alive on Tuesday when the Red Raiders take on Central Jersey champion Allentown at 7:30 p.m. at Toms River East High School. Contact Dave O’Sullivan: sully@acglorydays.com; on Twitter @GDsullysays.
Red Raiders are the ‘King’ of South Jersey Group III boys soccer
