Lower comes from behind to beat the Oakcrest Falcons 29-23
ERMA — On a crisp, sunny Saturday in front of its homecoming crowd, the Caper Tiger football team struggled to score its first touchdown until a minute and 40 seconds left in the half.
Down 14-7, the team was suddenly gifted the ball back on Oakcrest’s 31-yard line courtesy of a Falcon fumble on the ensuing kick return.
Just as suddenly, on Lower Cape May Regional’s first play from scrimmage, quarterback David Douglass’s pass was intercepted by Falcon Devon Fortson, who ran it back 69 yards for a touchdown.
Instead of a possible 14-14 tie at halftime, the Caper Tigers went into the locker room down 20-7.
For some teams, that would have been a demoralizing momentum killer. Not for the Caper Tigers.
Sophomore Shane Lawler, who scored Lower’s first touchdown on a run up the middle from 6 yards out and then hauled in a huge pass from Douglass to set up another touchdown, said the team wasn’t fazed by the turn of events.
“Honestly, there are no surprises with us,” he said. “We expected to win this the whole game. There were some bumps to it, definitely some bumps, but we’re trained for that. We’re trained to experience hard stuff like that. That’s where we’re from.”
Lower captured the lead for good, 29-23, with a minute and a half left in the fourth quarter on a short Ryan Mallon touchdown run.
The Falcons still had a chance, but the Caper Tiger defense forced a fourth-down desperation pass. Lower’s Connor Milligan intercepted it to seal the win and send the LCMR sideline and fans into a cheering frenzy.
After a quick first down, the Caper Tigers ran out the clock to become the 2026 Memorial Division champions in the West Jersey Football League. They share the title with Egg Harbor Township, sporting identical records at 7-2, 4-1 division. (Lower beat the Eagles 28-13 at the beginning of September.)
This is the second year in a row for a division title, demonstrating the 2025 season was no fluke.
Last year, the Caper Tigers were the Liberty Division champions in the WJFL, going 5-0 in the division. They finished that season 8-3 with a loss to eventual Group II South Jersey champion Haddonfield in the sectional semifinals.
Referencing last year’s playoff game against Gloucester City in which the team came back from a 13-7 first-half deficit to win, head coach Billy Damiani said the team preaches resiliency and high character.
“We train for a 15-round fight, old school, not 12 rounds,” he said. “We preach hard to kill. … If you’re going to take us to deep waters, you better keep us there.”
He talked about that resiliency.
“We train, we prepare in hard situations all week, all year. We’ve been at this since June. It’s just constant repetition. Credit to Oakcrest; they put us in a lot of bad positions. They’re a really, really good football team. Their head coach does a great job up there, but I’m very, very proud of the kids today,” Damiana said.
The coach made a point last year that it was not going to be a one-off winning season.
“We treat this like it’s a college football program. … We always talk about ‘you don’t deserve anything. The only thing you deserve is what you earn.’
“So if you’re going to win, you’ve got to earn it. And we had to earn it big time today,” he said.
Damiana added that his offensive line dictated the pace of the game in the second half and that Douglass and Mallon took the game over “like they have so many times in their careers from Pee Wees through high school and hopefully at the next level. I’m so very proud of them.”
The game
The first quarter ended scoreless with the Falcons knocking on the door. After switching ends, Oakcrest scored the first touchdown of the game on a 1-yard run by Jayden Graves with 5 seconds gone in the second quarter.
LCMR’s first drive of the second quarter gained decent ground, but fizzled. The Falcons got the ball back on their own 33-yard line and after a short pass, run and offsides penalty, made their way to the Tigers’ 24-yard line. From there, quarterback Zane Forest passed to Maison Webster, who broke a tackle and took the ball in for Oakcrest’s second touchdown and a 14-0 lead with 6:10 left in the half.
After a short kickoff return by senior Jose Ramos, the Caper Tigers started at their own 34. After Douglass got sacked and facing a 3rd and 14, he threw long and the Caper Tigers picked up an interference call. From about the 45, Mallon ran the ball but took a late hit out of bounds. That penalty moved them to the 31.
On a keeper, Douglass raced up the middle to give his team a first-and-goal. On third down with 6 yards to go, Lawler bruised his way up the middle for the touchdown to make it 14-7 with Britton Walls’ PAT.
That’s when Oakcrest fumbled the kickoff return but got the interception touchdown. The Caper Tigers were able to move the ball with a minute left, but opted for a field goal with 6 seconds remaining after being unable to get the ball into the end zone. The kick missed just right and the teams went into the half with Oakcrest ahead 20-7.
After halftime saw LCMR senior Ava Samaniego crowned as homecoming queen, the momentum landed with the Caper Tigers in spite of the scoring deficit and missed opportunities 20 minutes earlier.
Oakcrest took the kickoff to open the second half. Facing a fourth-down on the drive, the Falcons faked the punt and gained a first down. The Falcons made it all the way to the 7-yard line for what could have been the dagger, a three-score lead, but the Caper Tiger defense held them off.
Lower’s offense couldn’t gain ground and was forced to punt, but an unusual sequence of events turned out in their favor.
Mallon’s kick was a low line drive from near the goal line that bounced through the players on the field and then off a Falcon. An alert Caper Tiger jumped on the ball and got it back.
That’s when the offensive line showed its strength, helping push the Falcons back as a pack, leading the way for their quarterback, and moving to the 17-yard line. From there, Douglass handed off to Mallon, who was caught in the backfield but shook the tackle and raced to the end zone.
With Walls’ kick, Lower cut the deficit to 6, 20-14.
The Falcons tried another fake punt on their next possession, but Lower was ready and pushed the kicker out of bounds just shy of a first down.
The Caper Tigers converted quickly.
After two running plays ended with net zero yardage, Douglass sent a pass to Lawler, who rambled his way through tacklers to the 3-yard line.
“We’ve been running that play since week four,” Lawler said. “My coach has trusted me. I’m just grateful I had a great block by Cooper Milligan out there. That’s all I needed to make a big play.”
From a few yards out, the entire offensive line shoved its way into the end zone for Douglass’s tying touchdown.
Walls’ kick gave LCMR its first lead, 21-20, with 9:43 left in the game.
The Falcons responded. Fortson took the kickoff. A Caper Tiger just about tripped him up, but he regained his balance and ran 68 yards to the Lower 12-yard line. The LCMR defense kept the Falcons out of the end zone, but Jaxon Carr made a 28-yard field goal to retake the lead, 23-21, with 7:44 on the clock.
Lower then used its strong offensive line push to help Douglass and open room for Mallon. Those runs churned up the clock and brought them to the 10-yard line. Douglass carried it to the 6-yard line and a face mask penalty set the Caper Tigers up at the 3.
Mallon ran it up the middle for the go-ahead touchdown and Douglass used his legs to race around to the right untouched for the 2-point conversion and a 29-23 lead that would hold up.
“We know that we might bend, but we’ll never break as a team,” Mallon said about the perseverance of the Caper Tigers.
As for scoring that final touchdown? “It felt like the world,” Mallon said.
– STORY and PHOTOS by DAVID NAHAN/Cape May Star and Wave and Ocean City Sentinel staff
