Game with giant goals and a big ol’ ball ends in scoreless tie

Kick ball - I can go hovering drone in my mind (some go to Carolina) looking down at a soccer game and see the expansive field with giant goal cages, a big ol’ ball you're only allowed to kick or bounce off your bonnet, and exquisite athletes playing, all of whom can run. So how can double-overtime games end in a scoreless tie? That’s what happened in the Cape versus Delmar game, in which Delmar keeper Caleb Ritchey stopped all 23 shots on goal. First of all, I think the Academic Challenge students should be assigned to write lively game stories of scoreless overtime soccer games and have them delivered the next morning with supporting photos. But perhaps I’m offsides on this? Flag is up.      

Power Ranger - Nataleigh Hunter has always been the power and speed package with an effervescent personality and positive approach to sports. That is the girl I have known since her days at Mariner Middle School. I saw her last spring when she was the head coach of girls’ lacrosse at Sussex Tech, and there was no doubt Cape would run the clock on the Ravens. Nataleigh, a former volleyball and lacrosse player at Sussex Tech, Class of 2021, ran across the field to greet me. When you connect with an athlete as a child, that bond will last  forever. She talked to me about her powerlifting. It was not bragging – all you had to do was look at her – but Nataleigh has always been off-the-charts strong and fit. At the world championships in Italy last week, Nataleigh competed in the 53 kg weight class (116 pounds) and set a world record in squats with 195.5 pounds, earning a gold medal and a fourth-place overall score in the entire world combining the three lifts of squat, bench and deadlift.

Just wrong! - I am in the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame that has a two-year waiting list of stellar athletes who are already dead, some for decades. The setup: If you make the deceased list of potential hall of famers, you can only be on it for two years, then you are really gone like a Willie Stargell home run (535 feet) into the 700 level at Veterans Stadium. About 40 years ago, Tim Bamforth and I went to the Cape school board meeting with a proposal to start a high school sports hall of fame. A great idea commenced to get criticized, then it was suggested that I hold a spaghetti dinner to raise money for computer equipment. I said, “Do I look like Chef Boyardee to you?” There was laughter in the library. “Actually, you kind of do.” And that was that. What does it cost to honor your own people? Just 400 plates of spaghetti and 800 meatballs.

Cross country - Cross country has always been a big sport at Cape going back 50 years. This fall, the Vikings sport rosters of 30 boys and 23 girls, along with six coaches. Matt Lindell is the head coach for both boys and girls, and he will be assisted by Rick Brokaw, Shane Jensen, Rob Perciful, Martin Rodriguez and Lily Smith. The team opens the season Saturday, Sept. 7, at Killens Pond for the Lake Forest Invitational. The Vikings follow that with a Wednesday, Sept. 11 quad meet at Sandhill Fields. High school cross country races are almost always the 5K distance. The Delaware big boppers of cross country – Salesianum boys and Padua girls – will not be attending the Lake Forest Invitational. 

Changes in attitudes, changes in longitudes - The Eagles took a 10-hour flight Wednesday night to play the Packers for a Friday night game in Brazil. Brazil is 51 degrees west longitude, while Philly is 75 degrees west. Philly is 39 degrees north latitude (above equator) while Brazil is 14 degrees south.  The big questions are, “Does your phone know what time it is?” and “Is the crime rate higher in Brazil than North Philly?” Jimmy Buffett doesn’t play well in NFL locker rooms (not many parrot heads), players don’t like 10-hour flights, and growing the game is not a concern with the people who play the game. A round-trip flight, single-game ticket and four-night hotel stay will cost a fan $5,500, but at least the No. 1 local crime is kidnapping tourists.   

Snippets - Cadence McMahon (Cape) is a freshman at Wilson College in Chambersburg, Pa., majoring in veterinary medicine. She also plays soccer. Sussex Central football will host Middletown at 7 p.m., Friday, Sept. 6. You can catch the game livestreamed at 302sports, YouTube live, or on DSN, but you will miss the in-person experience of The Castle on a Friday night with the voice – sometimes singing – of Tommy Marvel from the press box. Middletown won last year's game 41-7, but throw those old records off the shelf, and CDs too. This game will be a battle. Go on now, git!