Cape hockey ready to ‘go on and git’ another state title

Bedrock - I was researching the University of New Haven Chargers’ website to verify when Jimmy Allen was inducted and found that Cape’s Lonnie Maull was also in the Hall of Fame.

I already knew that, but most of you didn’t. And most of you don’t know that Edgar Maull was also a starting basketball player at New Haven.  

I was surprised to learn that former Phillies relief pitcher Steve “Bedrock” Bedrosian was inducted in 1996. Bedrosian won the 1987 Cy Young award for Philly, posting a league-leading 40 saves. Bedrock appeared in 732 major league baseball games.

Wesley College Hall of Fame - Remember when Wesley used to be a two-year school? Here are some local names that are members of the Wolverines’ Hall of Fame. Bill Collick, Harvey Kenton, JoAnn Outten Kenton,  Gerry Kobasa, Robert Langrell, Bruce Marine, Joe Roberts, Kim Smith and Tom Marshall.

Storyline - Sports practices for fall sports begin Aug. 15. A quick look at each Cape sport, and here’s what comes to focus in my meandering mind:   Football wins eight games, goes to states and wins in the first round.  Soccer, under the new leadership of Jay Jenkins, goes beyond expectations and makes the tournament in spite of heavy losses to graduation and retirement of Gary Montalto. Cape field hockey in Delaware will be lead dog, having won three straight state titles with three completely different-looking teams. Road games at Sussex Tech and Polytech will be tough outs for the Vikings. Volleyball continues to grow in popularity; Vikings win 10 games and challenge Caesar Rodney’s dominance in the Henlopen Conference. Boys’ and girls’ cross country is overdue to produce a top eliminator - that’s a runner who can win a big invitational - but some gifted runners elect team sports, so it’s hard to predict. The team most likely to end up in a state title game is field hockey.

Sandy soil - College football coaches have been sounding the alarm for a decade: “Our sports are eroding from underneath.” There are fewer kids playing in middle school and high school, and it’s always up for debate whether Pop Warner youth football by weight class is a good idea. I think with all the talk of concussion injury, otherwise known as minimal brain trauma, that momma is signing permission slips to play soccer but not so quickly for football. The attention-getter is the emergence of soccer dads who played college football but don’t want their sons to play. The weekend football-watching cycle begins Thursday night and rolls through Monday night.  The rotation for most hot dog inhalers like me rolls through professional, high school, college and back to professional football. It sure doesn’t look like a sport in trouble until you go to a high school freshman game.

Preseason All-Stars - What’s the difference between a preseason all-star and a future hall of famer? Somebody needs to be quiet and just watch games and stop making up honorary teams based on what may happen on the field. This release from the University of Delaware Sports Information sums it up: “University of Delaware men’s soccer star Guillermo Delgado has been named to the Top Drawer Soccer Preseason Best XI second team all-star squad.”

Snippets - Parents in bare feet cheer like mad for their junior lifeguards over three hours of beach olympics competitions in multiple events. It seems important at the time, but by the next day it’s all gone like an outgoing tide. There are no official results generated, no trophies, and photographers have a hard time getting their photos identified the next day. Our coastal community has become a running mecca with races spread over 12 months. That’s easily 30,000 participants over the course of the year with hundreds of thousands of dollars raised.  I remember a young man in Dewey sitting on a porch drinking coffee in jeans and no shirt or shoes. He saw 500 runners round the corner, put down his coffee and joined in. He was unofficial but probably ran something like 21 minutes for a 5K. He said to me, “Did you get my picture? Can you write down my email and send it to me so I can show my mom that I’m not the derelict she thinks I am?” Actually, I think he was the derelict she thought he was, but the boy could run fast on no sleep. Go on now, git!