Cape’s three middle schools closing out year with 45 successful teams

Blood in the game - “I stand accused of the things I’ve said.” - BB King. When Cape had two middle schools and my son Dave was the principal of Beacon, there were whispers that I had a Beacon bias. Column side, I would refer to Beacon as Beacon Academy, just to annoy people. My perceived biases shifted to Mariner where Carrie and Jack Fred taught, and Meredith Fred was an athlete. And now it's a new school on the block, Fred Thomas. Three of my children work there, and two grandchildren play sports for The Freds teams. I can’t win unless I support all Cape athletes, wherever I find them; then I can’t lose. 

45 teams - Cape district opened the Frederick D. Thomas Middle School for the 2024-25  school year, joining Mariner and Beacon. A full sports schedule shows 15 competitive sports times  three schools, which generated 45 head coaching positions, each with at least one assistant coach and double digits in volunteer coaches. The discussions always revolve around participation and development versus quality of teams, and the best players need to play with each other to get better. That argument remains unresolved, and it’s best not to overthink it. The spring season is still in progress. Fred Thomas across all sports, factoring in wins, losses and ties, has a cumulative team record of 12-1-2, followed by Beacon 8-6-1 and Mariner 9-3-3. No one is crying or whining, or if they are, I’m not hearing them. 

Barometer  - Barometric pressure is a gauge used for predicting weather. Now there are weather bugs on cellphones, and moving blobs of yellow and green. I was looking at JV team records as a barometer for future success of the varsity team. I realized that no one has a barometer gauge over the mantel in their bonus room. The health of JV programs measures depth of talent, but some teams are varsity strong yet junior varsity weak, which has always been a bit of a mystery to me. 

Next best - Going back into the 1974 season and through an undefeated 1975 season then into 1976, Cape boys’ basketball was approaching 50 straight wins. There was a rumor that Sports Illustrated was going to do a feature story on the team from a small town (OK, three towns) reaching 50. But then Cape lost at Dover, but went on to win another state title, beating P.S. duPont in the final, 73-71. Howard Stevenson sent along a photo of the 1976 team. 

Pitch clock -  I can invest three hours tracking a Phillies game, but I won’t beat myself up doing that. My first 10 years of life were spent growing up two blocks from Connie Mack Stadium. I was there alone when I was 6. I knew the ushers and concessionaires. We all knew the hot dog guy who looked like Bob Hope. “Have a hot dog sandwich!”  he would scream, then slather mustard on it with a wooden paddle. “When you see the three-ring sign, ask the man for Ballantine.” The Phillies being five games behind the Mets in April makes me unhappy, and to quote a Fats Domino lyric, ”I’m a fool to care,” appropriately a song he released in 1964.       

Snippets - Tia Felton was a 1,000-point scorer, coming to Cape for her junior and senior years, graduating in 2006. Tia spent her first two high school years at Sussex Central. The tabulation and coordination of scorebooks I remember as a problem, so maybe this season, 2026, a cool 20 years after the fact, Tia can be presented with a lettered ball before a Cape girls’ basketball game. I remember writing this in March 2010 as Delcastle was playing at Cape in the first round of the state basketball tournament: “FALLING SHORT - Last Tuesday at Cape, in the first round of the basketball tournament, senior Bianca Parker, who needed 17 points to join the 1,000-point club, fouled out in the second quarter with only three points, 14 short of her milestone.” Trust me, that was an awkward halftime, as an angry mom carrying flowers for the anticipated milestone wanted a piece of somebody. Some 30,000 runners fork over a $250 entry fee to run the Boston Marathon. The total marathon money impact is estimated as a half-billion dollars. Go on now, git!