VIDEO, PHOTOS: Tigers rally from two-score deficit to win thriller on Homecoming Day, clinching playoff berth and division title in process

Posted: October 24th 2026

Lower Cape May's Ryan Mallon tries to stiff arm an Oakcrest defender during Saturday's football game. Mallon ran for 140 yards and two touchdowns in the win.

By BRIAN CUNNIFF

CapeAtlanticLive.com

ERMA – The Lower Cape May Regional High School football team found itself trailing by 13 points to Oakcrest late in the third quarter of Saturday’s West Jersey Football League Memorial Division contest.

The Caper Tigers, who pride themselves on their training program, drew on that conditioning to rally from there and record a thrilling victory.

Lower scored three touchdowns in the final 12 ½ minutes of the contest and posted a 29-23 win over the Falcons in front of a large Homecoming Day crowd on a perfect fall day.

The win clinched a South Jersey Group II playoff berth for the second straight season and also allowed the team to secure a co-championship of the Memorial Division along with Egg Harbor Township.

“We train to be in high-stress situations,” Lower coach Billy Damiana said. “We push them as much as we possibly can. We try to create these situations in practice, for the times we find ourselves down and have to come back. I attribute a lot of it to our effort and our attention to details, having some poise under pressure and being hard to kill when you’re thrown into the deep water. When you do all that, you have a chance to figure it out.”

Down 20-7, Lower pulled to within six points with 24 seconds to go in the third quarter on a 17-yard scoring run by Ryan Mallon that came five plays after Lower recovered the ball at midfield after a punt bounced off the leg of an Oakcrest player who was attempting to block on the play.

One of the game’s most important plays occurred shortly thereafter.

Oakcrest, which had successfully run for a first down on a fake punt earlier in the contest, tried one again inside its own territory, only to see Maison Webster tackled just inches short of the first-down marker at the 39-yard line.

“Hey, we gave up a (first down on a fake punt) on a fourth-and-44 play against Pleasantville, probably the only time in America that’s happened,” Damiana said with a laugh. “Then we gave up another one on a fake today and it’s like, ‘Come on, guys, we have to figure this out.’ So to get that stop was a big stress reliever off our shoulders. Our energy picked up right after that.”

Lower used that energy to capitalize. 

A 37-yard catch and run by emerging sophomore wingback/tight end Shane Lawler put Lower in scoring position. One play later, Douglass ran in from two yards out and the extra point by Britton Walls gave Lower the lead for the first time at 21-20.

“We kind of hit one against the grain there,” Damiana said. “David delivered a great ball and Shane can be explosive once he gets the ball in hands. Just a big, big play for us.”

Devin Fortson’s 58-yard kickoff return set the Falcons up at the Lower Cape May 12-yard line, but the Caper Tiger defense held, forcing Oakcrest to settle for a 28-yard field goal by Jaxon Carr and a 23-21 lead with 7:44 to go.

Taking over at its own 34-yard line, Lower proceeded to use 13 plays – many of them effective quarterback sneaks by Dave Douglass – to go 66 yards to take the lead for good. Mallon finished the drive with a three-yard scoring run with 2:13 to go, followed by a two-point conversion by Douglass.

Oakcrest (6-3 overall, 3-2 WJFL Memorial) completed two short passes to move into Lower territory with less than two minutes remaining, but Connor Milligan ended any thoughts of a late Oakcrest score with an interception on a fourth-and-10 play.

Lower Cape May (7-2 overall, 4-1 WJFL Memorial), a WJFL division winner for the second straight year, will play its first-round Group II playoff game next weekend, most likely on the road. Official seedings and first-round playoff matchups are due to be announced Sunday.

“People thought last year, going off the history of our program, was a one-off,” Damiana said. “But we’ve created this changing of the guard, so to speak, and I think we’ve proved it throughout the duration of the season. The kids have really believed and they’ve performed.”

Mallon rushed 22 times for 140 yards and Douglass ran 26 times for 122 yards to pace Lower’s offense. Mallon now has 1,126 rushing yards for the season.

Oakcrest opened a 14-0 lead before Lawler’s six-yard touchdown run got his team on the scoreboard. But the Falcons took a 20-6 lead into halftime when Fortson returned an interception 69 yards for a score with 1:19 remaining in the second quarter.

That set the stage for Lower Cape May’s furious second-half comeback, one that resulted in a state playoff berth and a division championship.