For many who follow cross-country, there wasn’t much of a question about whether the Southern Regional boys were going to light up their Ocean County opponents on Oct. 13. The county meet really was Southern’s to lose.

The Rams had easily won the Shore Conference Class A South title at Ocean County Park in Lakewood a week earlier, and the B South division had two viable teams, but none that could handle Southern’s depth near the front of the field.

“We were confident coming into the race,” said senior Fabian Ramales, who led the way for the defending champs by…