Cape field hockey is my comfort zone, like an old chair cushion

Tapestry - I consider myself a dream weaver, part of the fabric of the Cape field hockey team. I’ve been on board for all 10 championships going back 40 years. I’ve written their stories and emceed the banquets. My granddaughters were on title teams. I hid in plain sight Nov. 16 next to the team bench rather than accept banishment to the far side of the field. I wanted to be close, to feel the game through the coaches and players. I got a sense of how Cape finds a way in title games, going eight for eight since 2011. The players find a way and stay the course in tight games. Cape’s girls are tough. The coaches don’t yell at them. There is no derision or challenging desire. Sometimes voices are raised for emphasis, but it’s a Cape collaboration. The coaches this season all contributed in significant, yet different ways. I said to coach Tracy Greisbaum: “I am really trying hard to like this official. I prefer to like them all.” The former head coach at Iowa and later assistant at Duke smiled and said, “I like having you on the sidelines; there’s something comforting about you.” I think like a worn cushion on a chair-and-a-half, just part of the upholstery inside the bonus room of championships. 

Academic awards - DIAA decided that before each tournament game, a player from each team should be honored for academic achievement. The players seem to like it, and the parents and grandparents can all claim a genetic link. Prior to the semifinal game versus Polytech Nov. 14, it was Nadja Postel-Weaver for the Panthers and Emily Monigle representing the Vikings. And before the state championship game Nov. 16, it was the Lives of Rileys, honoring Riley Hickox of Padua and Riley Klopp of Cape. 

Sussex showcase - Sussex Academy showed they understand hospitality by hosting semifinal and final games in the DIAA field hockey tournament. It’s not always easy to convey the attitude, “Mi casa es su casa,” and allow people to knock about your crib, but it all had a good feel to it, and the playing surface of the field was so perfect that no one bothered to complain about it. Playing at the University of Delaware’s Rullo Stadium would have helped a passing team like Cape, but you don’t need an E-ZPass to drive to Georgetown.  

Girls’ all-state cross country - Three teams of seven and one coach’s selection. Just five of the 22 top slots were awarded to Henlopen Conference runners. First team: Keely Arndt of Caesar Rodney. Second team: Faith Mitchell of Milford, Sarah Larose of Smyrna and Reagan Sebastianelli of Smyrna. Coach’s selection: Josephone Ledford of Lake Forest. Cape girls who were selected first team are Marti Shue 1984-85, Chris Snarsky 1985-86, Sonja Friend 1988, Cindy Price 1989 and Jennifer Hicks 1996.

Double E - Cape’s Ethan Edery was selected first-team all-state cross country, the first Viking to be selected to the first team since Taiwan Savage in 1992, when he was voted Cross Country Runner of the Year. Blaise Moyer of Caesar Rodney joined Ethan on the first team. Blake Hundley of St. Andrew’s and Ocean View was a second-team selection. Tim Bamforth was selected first team in 1983 and 1984. Danny Harmon of Cape was first team in 1981 and 1982. Cape’s Lance White was first team 1975-76-77. Jay Reed of Cape was first team in 1975. Aron Price of Cape was first team in 1970. And never to be forgotten was Barry Lambertson of Lewes High School earning first-team all-state in 1966. 

Snippets - Local runner Holly Wilson Smith was a first-team all-state cross country selection in 1998 and 2000 while running for Lake Forest High School. Posted rosters for Cape boys’ basketball show 10 players on varsity,  eight on the JV team and nine on the freshmen team. The swim team has 31 girls and 21 boys. Franklin and Marshall will play Johns Hopkins Saturday, Nov. 23, at 11 a.m., at the Spooky Nook Sports Center in Manheim, Pa., in the semifinals of the NCAA Division III field hockey tournament. Middlebury will play Salisbury at 2 p.m. in the other side of the bracket. The championship game is Sunday at Spooky Nook. Game time is 1 p.m. Philadelphia Inquirer sports columnist Bill Lyon died Sunday at the age of 81. Bill had a tough exit, afflicted with Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s. A good man. You’ll never hear anyone who knew him or read his prose say any different. I have an autographed copy of Bill’s book “When the Clock Runs Out” about 20 NFL players after they left the game. I think I’ll go and reread it while I still have time. Go on now, git!