Athletes of the Week Sept. 23
Kayla Brady
Kayla, a junior from Millsboro and Sussex Tech, played a major role in Lynchburg's 3-0 field hockey week that featured a 2-0 upset of nationally third-ranked Johns Hopkins. Brady spent all 180 minutes guarding the cage, registering 21 total saves and a .913 save percentage. She opened with three saves in a 2-1 victory at Stevenson University. She was spectacular in Lynchburg's 2-0 victory over JHU, stopping a career-high 16 shots in the unexpected shutout. She was particularly busy in the first quarter, making six saves as the Blue Jays peppered 10 shots. Brady closed her week with two more saves in a 2-1 victory over Dickinson College. Kayla is second in the ODAC in saves with 44 and save percentage (.830). Kayla just received the NFHCA Division III Defensive Player of the Week honor.
Keishawn Mansfield
Keishawn’s dad Kyle had the high school nickname of Bullet because he was faster than a speeding bullet. Keishawn is an old-school Cape athlete who can do anything and everything; he is a heartbreaker and game breaker. Sept. 17 at William Penn, the defensive back and backup quarterback caught a pair of touchdown passes from Joe Coveleski – one across the middle in red zone traffic just before halftime and the other on a fly pattern down the sidelines to open the third quarter. The score went from 14-6 to 28-6. Keishawn went in at quarterback at the end of the third quarter and took a direct snap right up the middle for an untouched 53-yard touchdown run. “He can do all those things on the football field,” said coach Mike Frederick. “And he’s a heck of a defensive player.”
Jayden Messick
Don’t mess with the Messicks on the football field. Jayden, a sophomore, is the younger brother of senior L.T. At William Penn Sept. 17, in a surprising 42-6 victory, Jayden, a defensive back, led the team with nine tackles, including two for losses. Jayden came off the edge to stop a two-point conversion run up the middle. How he got to the hole before the runner is impressive no matter how many times you watch the replay. Jayden also made a fumble recovery off an unintentional onside kick. Two plays later, his big brother, Little Thomas, turned a jet sweep upfield for a 43-yard touchdown run. L.T. was also second on the team in tackles for the game. The Messick brothers are coached by Sammy Mohr, a former DB at DelVal who looks like he could be an older brother.
Lilly Short
Longtime soccer coach at Sussex Tech Carlos Villa called Lilly Short the best player he ever coached, boy or girl. To see her excelling at the Division I level after two ACL surgeries is just amazing. Lilly is a freshman playing for the Highlanders of Radford University in the Big South Conference. Lilly scored the tying goal in the 63rd minute against Appalachian State in Boone, N.C., in a game that ended 2-2. Lilly was named Big South Freshman of the Week. Radford is in Christiansburg, Va. Lilly was named to the top 11 her senior year at Sussex Tech and was first-team all state. Sussex Academy beat Cape in soccer 1-0 on April 17, 2018, with the lone goal coming on a direct kick from eighth-grader Lilly Short. A year later, as a freshman at Sussex Tech, Short scored a hat trick in a 3-1 win over Cape. After the pandemic-canceled season of 2020, Lilly got to Cape again in 2021.
