Blanket coverage of championship wrestling from the house

Blanket coverage - I was Pop Pop in the paddock last weekend, contagiously sick sitting under a Cape state championship 2021 wrestling blanket following the DIAA state meet of individuals on trackwrestling.com. I was following so many avatars I felt like Sigourney Weaver. Cape hosted the state wrestling meet for the first time in 1977 (Little Big House), with Randy Johnson an upset champion at 138 pounds. Coach Bill Collick and I nicknamed Randy “The Knick-Knacker.” He could always find a way to win, whatever the sport. The 2024 finals for me, bracketed by 106-pounder Austin Guerrieri’s 8-6 overtime win over Clif Bakhsh and 175-pounder Gabe Cannon’s 11-9 overtime win over Luke Spoore, just bow-tied the craziness of the entire tournament. The Henlopen Conference had seven state champions. Sussex Central and Lake Forest each claimed two: Central had Malachi Stratton at 120 pounds and Cannon at 175; for Lake Forest, it was Case Dempsey at 150 and Nurrideen Ahmad-Statts at 157. Cape’s Guerrieri, Caesar Rodney’s 126-pounder Trevor Copes, and Sussex Tech’s 144-pounder Dustin Elliott each brought individual titles to their respective programs. I did not like being out of the loop-de-loop, but there’s a saying, “How can we miss you if you won’t go away?” But Davey Fred was there to greet Austin “G Man” after his state championship victory, same as he’s been there for all Big House champs going back to Thomas Ott in 2012. 

No jinxing - I can rattle off Cape’s 26 state championship wrestling wins without looking at a list. I knew that none had come out of the Milton-Mariner Muppet Matrix. And I knew the last freshman to win a state title was the “Choir Boy” Anthony Caruso at 106 back in 2016. I don’t believe in sports jinxes, but other people do, and I didn't want to get on the wrong side of the blended Guerrieri clan who have so many configurations across the generations they even use aliases. Cape has never had a four-time state champion – I know, shouldn’t have said that. Caruso won a second state title in 2019. I do believe in double whammies; they always get me off my game.  

Score no indication - How many times have you heard, “The final score is not an indication of the game.” Try selling that inside a statistical analysis class at Stanford. I watched Cape boys’ basketball on the Sanford YouTube channel play a close first half before getting blown out in the second half, losing 60-35. The Warriors later lost at Salesianum 50-45. The Cape girls lost a close game at Saint Mark’s 53-49. The Spartans were later eliminated by the Ursuline Raiders 69-38. The Smyrna girls, seeded No. 24, have won two games and will next play No. 1 seed Caravel. A statistical analysis suggests the Eagles have little chance of upsetting the Buccaneers, unless the numbers are not an indication of the strength of the teams. The sports cliché: “You never know; that’s why they play the game” is code for, “Mostly you do know, but they play the game anyway for verification.”   

College lacrosse wraparound - Rollins beat Flagler 14-10. Luke Burton (Cape) scored four goals for Flagler. Florida Tech beat CUI 15-8. Joe Coveleski (Cape) had three goals and an assist for Florida Tech. Akron beat Xavier 11-10. Sawyer Walker (Cape) had two goals for Xavier. The Syracuse women beat Duke 15-8. Superia Clark (Dover) had a goal for Syracuse. Boston College beat Virginia Tech 20-7. Ella Rishko (Cape) had a goal for the Hokies. St. Joe’s beat Air Force 15-11. Caelan Driggs (Sallies) had four goals for Air Force. 

Carshield - I’ve been sick for a week and I’d be crazy if I didn’t take a ride in my 4Runner with no intention of getting out, just needed to see life forms that weren’t digital. There was frolicking athletic stuff happening all over the Cape campus. We start out as snappers, grow into whippersnappers, and a select few become long snappers. I saw a football baller, 6-foot-3-inches and 245 pounds, snapping to his 6-foot-5-inch left-handed dad. They waved toward my car and I waved back. It was my great-nephew Bodie snapping to my nephew Mike. Mike was teammates with Ryan Kuehl at the University of Virginia (1995), who became a long snapper in the NFL for four different teams spanning 13 seasons. Kuehl joined Under Armour in 2009 and is vice president of sports marketing, responsible for signing golfer Jordan Spieth to a 10-year deal in 2015. If you're still not lost, wait until I add Dave Zastudil, a former NFL punter and nephew of local trainer Dave Kergaard. Dave played 12 years in the NFL. Every time I leave the house and see people, I start making connections. 

Snippets - Spring sports move into week two with lots of rain days ahead; just don’t let wet weather ruin your play day. Water dogs love chasing wet balls in a steady rain at the seaside village of Sesame Street by the Sea. Wet muppets are just mops wearing sneakers. Go on now, git!