VIDEO: Lower Cape May vaults to top of division by controlling previously unbeaten St. Joe

Posted: September 27th 2025

By BRIAN CUNNIFF

CapeAtlanticLive.com

ERMA – Something special could be brewing with the Lower Cape May Regional High School football team.

A defense that produced three turnovers, a special teams unit that made numerous big plays and an offense that capitalized on enough opportunities led the Caper Tigers to the top of the West Jersey Football League’s Liberty Division Friday evening through a 31-19 victory over previously unbeaten St. Joseph.

“That’s a good football team right there,” Lower coach Billy Damiana said as he looked toward the St. Joseph post-game huddle. “They have a lot of juice and they came in here very excited to play us. We had to man up and we did.”

Lower improved to 4-1 overall, 3-0 in WJFL Liberty games. The Tigers are now the only remaining unbeaten team in the Liberty and control their destiny in the race for the division title.

The win will also produce a healthy amount of power points for Lower. The complex system, which determines playoff qualifiers, gives extra points for simply playing, let alone beating, certain non-public schools. St. Joseph (3-1, 2-1) is one such program. Lower went into the game ranked 15th in power points among South-Central Jersey Group II teams. Updated power-point rankings are usually released each Sunday.

“We get extra points for playing them and even more extra points for beating them since they came in here with three wins,” Damiana said.

Lower beat St. Joseph last year in a massive rebuilding season for the Wildcats. But Friday’s victory was Lower’s first at home over St. Joseph – one of South Jersey’s traditional small-school powers – since the mid 1990s.

“They’re in our conference, so now this puts us at the top of the conference, but we can’t fall down,” Damiana said.

Lower Cape May managed to eclipse 30 points despite producing only 186 yards of total offense. The Tigers did so in part by forcing three St. Joe turnovers to help their field position and also got a wonderful 57-yard punt return for a touchdown from Ryan Mallon. St. Joseph had not permitted an opponent to score more than 13 points in a game in its three victories to start the season.

Mallon’s punt return for a touchdown opened the scoring. The teams then combined for three field goals as St. Joe’s Nathan Weldon made two and Lower’s Britton Walls made one as Lower went into halftime with a 10-6 advantage.

The tenor of the game changed just three plays into the second half when Ashton Ray made one of the most acrobatic plays you’ll ever see at the high level. St. Joe quarterback Anthony Salamone tossed a pass to a teammate around the Wildcat 35-yard line, but the ball tipped off the fingertips of the receiver. Ray dove for the loose ball and somehow kept it from hitting the turf for an interception right in front of the Lower Cape May bench, which erupted in euphoria at Ray’s incredible effort and execution. Eight plays later, Lower upped its lead to 17-6 on a one-yard touchdown run by quarterback Dave Douglass.

Another interception, this one by Alex Nelson, gave Lower good field position again at the St. Joe 39-yard line. A 30-yard catch and run by John Fernandez helped set up another one-yard scoring run by Douglass early in the fourth quarter as Lower increased its lead to 24-6.

St. Joseph scored a pair of touchdowns late in the fourth quarter to make matters interesting, but Lower recovered an onside kick with 1:17 remaining. Then, on a third-down play, Fernandez ran in from 33 yards out to seal the victory.

Fernandez, usually a wide receiver, rushed multiple times out of a Wildcat formation in the second half, after Mallon, Lower’s starting running back, went out with an ankle injury. Fernandez finished with 60 yards rushing on eight carries in addition to 39 yards receiving on two catches. He also had a 32-yard touchdown run called back because of a holding penalty.

“Mallon goes down with that low-ankle sprain and we had to have a lot of other guys make plays,” Damiana said. “That’s part of football. I don’t think our team is geared toward one person. You take away somebody, or somebody gets hurt, and someone else has to make plays.

“With Jonathan, we’ve had to figure out ways to get him the ball. Teams are bracket covering him, sometimes putting three guys on his side. We have to find other ways to get him the ball because he’s an explosive player, as we saw tonight.”

While the victory was a sweet one for the Tigers, there are many challenges on the horizon, with games with Egg Harbor Township, Cedar Creek, Cumberland and Oakcrest still to come. But the opportunity to win a division title, qualify for the Group II playoffs and perhaps even host a first-round playoff game is there for the taking.

“We’re in a great spot but we have to get healthy and we have to keep getting better,” Damiana said. “We have a gauntlet coming up. We have (games with) Group V, Group III, Group IV and Group III (teams) coming up. We’ll need to be ready to go.”

EXTRA POINTS: Douglass finished 6 for 11 for 89 yards through the air. … Lower Cape May fumbled twice but did not lose either. The Tigers did not turn the ball over in the game. … Walls is now 19 for 20 on extra-point kicks on the season. His lone miss came on a blocked attempt in the team’s previous game against Absegami. Walls’s first-half field goal, a 30-yarder, was his first of the season. Walls was also excellent on kickoffs, his kicks coupled with good coverage forcing the Wildcats to start three possessions inside their own 20-yard line. … Cole Sederland had two catches for 15 yards. … Jonathan Dupree recorded two sacks and a fumble recovery for the Caper Tigers … Max Bracken made a wonderful tackle for a four-yard loss on a third-down play deep in Caper Tiger territory that forced St. Joe to settle for a field goal late in the first quarter. … Lower Cape May honored its seniors prior to the game.