Shy players spoke of friendship and love and a family they will never forget

The tracks of tears rolled down the young cheeks of Cape football players as they knelt in the end zone Friday night, Nov. 12, where a 47-yard would-be field goal fell just short of victory and the first winning season in 10 years. The sense of disappointment was crushing and that was a good thing. Good because the young men cared that much, wanted to put a stamp on the season and to stop the slide of negative momentum that has plagued the program for a decade. Each of 11 seniors stood and spoke; the faces of younger guys were quivering. Young men, many introverted and shy and reluctant to address a group, spoke of friendship and love and a family they will never forget. And they spoke of thanks for the journey and opportunity and of leadership shown by their coaches. It wasn’t all good - maybe a victory would have made the ending happier - but it couldn’t have been more powerful.

Bias boy! I spoke to the football team last Thursday morning and told them I wanted in on Friday night. I wanted to shelve the detached sportswriter guy and bring back Cape guy. I told them I was on the team and was there for the outcome, up or down. I cannot criticize officials because most are older and they are networked with large extended families that bite back if you criticize their relatives in print. So maybe all those flags were justified. How do I know if someone held on a pass play? And maybe there was a block in the back in the open field, and hands to the face away from the play on an interception return for a touchdown. I just know that the inordinate number of flags following big plays disrupted the flow of the football game to the point that a feeling of impending doom hung over the field after every play. As a biased Homer I found the odyssey agonizing. Smyrna is tough and talented; the team could have rolled over early but stayed in the fray and was truly overjoyed with a victory earned.

More than a game - Robin Adair, a Cape graduate, won her 300th game as head coach of Tower Hill field hockey with last Saturday’s 4-2 win over a dangerous Delmar team. Robin is cool, works hard on being the relaxed tactician and doesn’t like answering questions about herself. She is realistic of her team’s talents, and I can tell you the Hillers have won a few state titles when they appeared to be the fourth best team in a final field of four. Robin, winner of 10 titles as head coach, was the state coach of the year for all sports as voted by the Delaware Broadcasters and Sportswriters Association in 2007. Robin and Tower Hill are in this tournament to win it.

Good news is the bad news - For the last three seasons the Cape Henlopen field hockey team under coach Nicole Catanzaro and Kay Miller has won three straight Henlopen Conference championships and amassed a regular-season record of 43-1-1. This year both middle schools were undefeated, so the talent pool just gets deeper. The last state championship for Cape came in 1995 under coach Ruth Skoglund. The bad news is the pressure that comes with high expectations. That all goes with the privilege of wearing a Vikings uniform.

Black Friday lax bowl - The Cape lacrosse boosters are sponsoring an Alumni Turkey Bowl lacrosse game from noon to 3 p.m., Friday, Nov. 26, at Legends Stadium. Bring $5, your own equipment and your fat belly self. And yes, you can play if you ever played high school lacrosse anywhere in the great USA, Canada or American Samoa. There will be food, drink and music. Questions relevant to this activity should go to Tim.Voss@yahoo.com or check out Cape Lax Boosters on Facebook.

Snippets - Practices for winter sports began Monday, Nov. 15, and that includes middle schools. Remember that a posted cut list on the wall outside the gym has been deemed constitutionally insensitive, so only a made list can be displayed in public. “Hey, Bobby, did you happen to see the basketball list you’re not on?” Sussex Central football will open the Division 1 state football tournament Saturday, Nov. 21, at host Concord. St. George’s, coached by local J.D. Maull, will host an opening-round Division 2 game Nov. 21, versus Delmar. The site will be announced later and St. George’s does have enough bleachers to accommodate the extended Maull family. As soon as St. George’s qualified, beating McKean and finishing 8-2, J.D. called his coaching mentor George Glenn from the field. “It was a great moment for me,” Glenn said. “I was at the outlet mall hanging Christmas lights.” Maull to outlet mall sounds pretty freaky. Ironically, Cape tried to recruit J.D. back to Cape, telling him he would have a chance to be mentored under Bill Collick. J.D. loves Bill and his uncle Jay is on the Cape staff, but suggesting he needed mentoring kind of tripped him out.