Those pesky Pop Tarts show up in the strangest places

The Seaford pole vaulter has a pole rated 155 pounds and a new rule has the athlete weighing in prior to vaulting to make sure he doesn’t weigh more than his pole causing it to bend and break scattering everyone as fiberglass fragments at high velocity ain’t no joke if you are struck.

“I’ve only eaten three Pop Tarts in three days,” Zach Hearn told Seaford coach Rob Perciful, who was mostly easily amused but not in this case. Those pesky Pop Tarts show up in the strangest places.

TERRITORIAL HIPPO - Last Saturday I was leaning over the fence a dog’s throw away from the Lake Forest concession stand - a place to make concession speeches. I give up, I am powerless over boiled dogs.

I was talking to former Cape distance stars Paul Ecker and Sven Haag, who was visiting from Germany. Sven is looking for an open 800-meter race where he hoped to clock a 1:52 and the next thing I knew Ecker was talking about a meet at Swarthmore. Then talk turned to an African distance runner who attends Widener.

“He and a friend had to escape from their country and when they stopped at a watering hole - Africa has a lot of them - his friend was eaten by a hippo,” Ecker said.

Sven and I both looked at each other and I said I thought hippos were vegetarians because they can’t wallow and wait for some poor soul to stick his head into their watery world.

“I think they are very territorial,” Paul said. If it’s any consolation, and it is not, bull hippos are not territorial on land.

THE MULE - “They don’t call me the mule because I’m stupid!”

Flag football kicking phenom Brian Sentman added to his legend last Sunday when he drilled a 50 yards and still going field goal just before halftime to put favorite Plummer’s Welding on top of the Greene Turtle Hurricanes 23-22.

The game was wild all day long and when Curt Long caught a tipped pass in the end zone from Johnny Howard off the fingertips of the 6-foot-5 brothers Travis and Codi White on the last play of the game, it was 36-34 and a two-point conversion pass to Codi White sent the game into double overtime where another Sentman kick proved to be the game winner as Plummer’s won 47- 44. John Howard threw six touchdown passes for the Hurricanes. The two semifinal games leading to the championship sponsored by the Cape Gazette will be held at Legends Stadium on the surf and turf field on Sunday, May 18. The championship game is schedule for 12:30 p.m.

RIGHT FIELD - I have been watching Aisha Hollomon play softball since she was 10 years old. I remember when her mother, Marcella, was Henlopen Conference champion in the shot put in 1984. Aisha was never the star - usually the only African-American on the team - and many times she played right field. But she is steady and solid and a great teammate. Last Saturday as a senior right fielder for Delaware State in the MEAC championship game, Hollomon cracked a three-run homer propelling the Hornets to their first Conference championship and a berth in the NCAA tournament with a 3-0 win over Norfolk State. Del State will face Houston (50-9) on Friday, May 16. Holloman was named the Most Outstanding Player of the tournament. She was 4-for-12 with six RBIs in four games.  

Coach Jeff Savage, a former Cape teacher and baseball coach, was named Most Outstanding coach.

Cape let Savage go after three years rather than grant him tenure which proved to be among the dumbest of dumb things they’ve ever done.

“There are lots of Jeff Savages out there,” an administrator told me as I lobbied for my friend.

Savage went on to become the winningest basketball coach at Caesar Rodney and behind Laron Profit led the Riders to the state title game. We Cape people are downright bubbly over the Hollomon and Savage and Del State going to the show story. Now where is my plane ticket?

SNIPPETS - Joe Cahill returned to the lineup for Lantz Surfboards as Lantz scored on its first three possessions giving it a quick three-touchdown lead. Underground Locating Services responded with two scores of its own. In the second half Lantz Surfboards’ defense tightened up and Cahill continued to direct the offense smoothly as the defending champs will move on to the semifinals next weekend to face the top-seeded Rebels team with a 38-22 win over Underground Locating Services. TD passes were caught by Gary Curry, Tykee Perry, Rich Lantz and Alan White. Who gets dominated in a physical sport by penguins?