History
1961 Championships
Cape May County Midget Football League
Court House Is County Midget Grid Champion
The Cape May Court House Knights defeated the Millman Raiders of Lower Township, 13-6, to capture the 1961 championship of the Cape May County Midget Football League. Fullback Skip Bechtold scored both touchdowns for the Knights, the first on a seven yard scamper and the second on a one yard plunge.
Wildwood Midget Football League
Crusaders Trip Red Raiders To Win Midget League Title
Before the largest crowd of the season, the Crusaders captured the championship of the Wildwood Midget Football League. The new champions defeated the Red Raiders, last year's titleholders, 13-6. Many fathers and mothers were out to see the climatic game of a highly successful kids league season. For the 16th consecutive year, the Wildwood Recreation Department conducted the program. Highlighted by the sparkling run of 65 yards by Larry Lillo, the Crusaders were never-the-less pressed by the Red Raiders who remained very much alive and in the game until the final whistle sounded. The losers had the ball on the Crusaders 8-yard line when the game ended. Besides Lillo's trek down the sidelines for the 65 yards to pay dirt, Bill Mahoney went across after a short 10-yard pass from Lillo and a scamper of 25 yards for the tally. Jim MacAlarnen pushed across the point-after-touchdown for the winners. After taking one of the Crusaders' punts on their own 35 yard line, the Raiders in six plays sent Ray Guzmon over from 1 yard line for their tally.
1962 Championships
Cape May County Champions
Middle Township and West Cape May Are Co-Champions
Instead of having playoffs this year, the league decided to form an All-Star team and face a Bridgeton team which would be called the "Beach Bowl". The Cape May County Stars lost 2-0. The game was played at Memorial Field in Cape May Court House. The lone score of the game came in the first period when Paul Morris of the Cape May Stars was thrown to the ground in his own end zone by Bridgeton's Don Donaldson. After the game the boys were treated to hot dogs and hot chocolate at the Middle Township Rescue Squad under the direction of Mrs. Sally Garrison.
Wildwood Midget Football League
Red Raiders Edge Crusaders, 6-0; Win Midget Loop Title
Except for one offensive drive put on by the winners; the game developed into a defensive battle. The only score came in the second period when Bill Smith passed to Bob Coleman for 25 yards. The try for the extra point failed. The Crusaders held the Raiders on the two-yard line late in the last quarter to climax a hard fought offensive struggle.
1963 Championships
Cape May County Midget Football League
Braves Beat O.C. For Midget Title
Wildwood won the championship of the Cape May County Midget Football League, 13-7, when Rich Mitchell broke a 7-7 tie with Ocean City on the first play of sudden death extra period by bulling, tripping and finally sprinting 75 yards for a touchdown. The winning run came only minutes after Mitchell set the stage for the extra period when he scored on an eight yard run and notched the all important extra point which tied the game. He also engineered the winning drive out of his quarterback position and turned in the key run, a 15 yard sprint around end on the play after a 15 yard penalty seemingly ended the drive. While Mitchell took the spotlight, a great deal of credit has to go to the linemen who blocked on offense and on defense held the vaunted Ocean City running game. After a scoreless first period, Ocean City moved 62 yards for a late period score with Jim Tarves going over from the four. Bob Glaspey passed to Stu Shriner for the extra point. Wildwood's Frank Read had scored earlier in the second period on a 62 yard run but clipping nullified the play. On Ocean City's scoring drive a 12 yard pass-Glaspey to Shriner-was also called back. Midway in the final quarter Wildwood finally got the break it was looking for. Jim Tarves was back to punt for OC when the snap from center got away. Wildwood recovered and were on their way to their tying TD. Wildwood won the toss for the extra period and elected to receive, Mitchell took the ball on a bounce, hesitated for second to let his blockers to form and headed down the right sidelines. Several Hawks got their hands on him and he almost lost his footing at mid-field but as a stunned Ocean City crowd watched as he regained his balance and outran one last defender. The win was the first time the Wildwood entry in the league won the championship. Last year they finished third behind Middle Township and West Cape May who shared the title. The loss was only the second for Ocean City, a new team in the league this year. The first loss was also at the hands of Wildwood, 7-6, in the season opener.
Wildwood Midget Football League
Spitfires Win Midget Loop Title; Trim Trojans, 26-0
A strong second period, in which 13 points were scored, enabled the Spitfires to capture the Wildwood Midget Football League championship, replacing the Red Raiders as this year's champions. The "Fires" downed the Trojans in a well played game by a score of 26-0. Joe Stella accounted for two of the champ's tallies while Skippy Czyzewski and Joe Bimbo each had one. Extra points were made by Richard Ludman and Gerry Sloan. Stella's scoring came on a 55 yard run in the first quarter and a 20 yard scamper in the second period. Ludman's point after touchdown followed Stella's run in the second. Czyzewski caught a well-executed pass from Bimbo in the second quarter for a 32-yard gain. In the third, Bimbo carried from the one yard stripe to tally again for the champs. Sloan's conversion was by the "plunge" route.
1964 Championships
Cape May County Midget Football League
Middle Township Knights Topple Wildwood Braves, 7-6, For Loop Crown
The Knights of Middle Township won their fifth Caper May County Midget League championship in six years by defeating the Wildwood Braves, 7-6, to end the season undefeated. They were 6-0-1, finishing ahead of second place Ocean City Hawks, who finished 6-1. The Wildwood-Middle contest was really the "game of the year" as it decided the title winner, and featured the defending champs from last season, Wildwood. The Braves finished the season 4-3.
Wildwood Midget Football League
Spitfires Capture Wildwood Midget Tackle Grid Crown
A strong first half when they scored 27 points against the Braves enabled the Spitfires to capture the championship. Ed Olney accounted for two of the four six-pointers scored by the champions. In the first quarter Olney went 15 yards on an end sweep to chalk up the first counter while Chick Ludman ran across for the conversion. Again in the first session, Olney went for about 30 yards to make the score 13-0 and again Ludman backed across for the extra point. In the second period Ludman went across on a 20 yard run and Ron Czyzewski ran across for the point after touchdown. A 30-yard pass interception by Rich Ludman accounted for the fourth touchdown by the winners. The final score was 27-0.
1965 Championships
Cape May County Midget Football League
Knights Lose Title Despite Winning All
The Middle Township Knights closed out another successful football season in the Cape May County Midget Football League, having won all their games, scoring 174 points and having only 13 points scored against them. They lost the championship to Ocean City by forfeit due to an ineligible player on the team who had played in the first three games. They beat Ocean City 7-0 in the regular season.
Wildwood Midget Football League
Spitfires Trim Red Raiders To Win Midget League Title
By winning their sixth straight and final game of the season, the defending champion Spitfires captured this year's crown by beating the second place Red Raiders by the score of 25-0. Ricky Haas scored two of the champions' touchdowns while Joe Doyle and Ricky Czyzewski accounted for the other two. The only extra point was scored by Czyzewski. Haas' two tallies were on a well executed plays and he carried both times for more than 35 yards each. Czyzewski, behind good blocking went for about 30 yards to tally his score.