After convincing win, 3-1 Lower Cape May to host unbeaten St. Joe Friday

Posted: September 23rd 2025

Running back Ryan Mallon (with ball) is escorted back toward the sideline by teammate Will Torres after scoring one of his four touchdowns in Saturday's win over Absegami.

By BRIAN CUNNIFF

CapeAtlanticLive.com

The players on the Lower Cape May Regional High School football team are feeling good about themselves these days.

And that they should, after last weekend’s convincing 33-7 victory over Absegami gave the team its third win in four games to start the season.

But lingering feelings of euphoria over the Tigers’ good start won’t help them Friday, when Lower Cape May hosts St. Joseph in a meeting between two of the surprise teams in the West Jersey Football League hailing from the Cape-Atlantic League area. St. Joe is unbeaten, winning three relatively close games.

“It’s great to get off to a good start, but you’re only as good as your last quarter, and we didn’t score in the last quarter against ‘Gami, so there’s always room for improvement,” first-year Lower head coach Billy Damiana said. “St. Joe is 3-0 and I’m sure they think they can beat us and it’s right for them to think that. A lot of teams probably think they can beat us. But we’ve been trying to make this a new generation of Lower Cape May football. We have a new standard, and that’s what we have to withhold.”

Lower got all the scoring it needed against Absegami in the first half. Quarterback Dave Douglass opened the scoring with a touchdown run, before halfback Ryan Mallon ran roughshod through the Braves’ defense for four scoring plays, three of which came in the second quarter. 

For Damiana, three wins in four games certainly represents a fine start, but the coach is most happy about many of the little things he’s seeing in the team more so than the actual results of games.

“I’m happy about how they’re holding each other accountable, how there’s excitement on the sideline, excitement after big plays,” he said. “They’re chasing the ball downfield, playing fast, playing downhill on defense and gang tackling on defense. We’re seeing linemen running over to pick up our quarterback or running back after a play, whether it’s a positive play or negative play. It seems like everyone is starting to understand what the standard and expectation is.”

A win Friday against the Wildcats would establish Lower Cape May as a true Group II playoff contender.

“It’s nice to see all the work we’ve put in start to fulfill itself,” Damiana said. “But there’s a long way to go. But our destiny is in our hands. We can control whether we play in a state playoff game or if we’re going to just be average and have an exhibition game at the end and call it a season. But that’s not the standard. The standard is to be in the NJSIAA playoffs.”

(photo courtesy Heidi Ray.)