“We will have a first practice in the gym the day before the Dover game,” Cape head coach Dwight Tingle said. “Right out of the box it will be a tournament-type atmosphere for us and Dover. Dover has all but one starter back from last year and is picked as the best team in the conference and no worse than third in the state.”

Dover returns 6-foot-10 Pieter Prinsloo and guards Corey Crawford and Kendell Williams. Crawford is regarded as one of the state’s top players.

The Vikings promise to be dog pack tenacious as always under Tingle who enters his seventh year at Cape having won a pair of Henlopen Conference championships while nailing down 105 victories.

“I guarantee you we will fight to defend our new house,” Tingle said. “We are all about defense, transition and bringing the pressure.”

The Vikings will likely start Trent Batson, Jarron Dukes, Andrew Merlo, Jack McPike and Paris White.

Turrell Bowe is out with a bad back and Dewayne Sheppard has been slowed by an ankle injury.

Other players on the varsity roster include Jeremiah Cohen, Marcus Shockley, Andrew Scrutchfield, Antoine Person, Kwante Hovington, Troy Hazzard and Josh Hackney.

A special ceremony will precede the start of the varsity game to dedicate the new gym.

A basketball signed by the starting five of the 1975 state championship team that included Jimmy Allen, Ronson Burton, John Bishop, Purnell Ayers and Carlton Allen will be presented to Cape by team members before the game.

The 1975 team is regarded by many basketball historians as the best ever in Delaware. The team played its home games at the Milton gym with a seating capacity of 300.

The 1976 Cape team repeated as state champions and that starting five was Purnell Ayers, John Bishop, Johnny Allen, Jeff Hood and Emory Sumlin.