Cape-Sallies showdown highlights Dave Reynolds Lacrosse Festival

Eyeball to eyeball - Cape beat Sallies lacrosse Friday night at Wesley Stadium 12-8. The game started at 8 p.m. and was the headliner of the weekend for the Dave Reynolds Lacrosse Festival. I called the matchup eyeball to eyeball because I knew the 2019 Cape team was deep and diversified, and going into the game, coach Mark D’Ambrogi said, “We will not be intimidated.” Cape jumped up 5-0, but midway through the fourth quarter Cape led 9-8. A packed house on a perfect weather night was treated to a great game, although I’m sure Sallies wasn’t happy with their performance because they didn’t shoot well and turned the ball over in some key situations. Baxter Travers had 15 saves and the pipes behind him had another four. Cape’s Gabe Best played hot – he had a fever that didn’t break until later that night – but he led all scorers with four goals. The next afternoon at Cape, again waiting for rain that never came, the Cape JV team beat Sallies 6-4. The young guns celebrated, knowing Sallies is the standard. If you hope to make any noise in Delaware boys’ lacrosse, you have to beat them once in awhile.

Actively missing stuff - Every time I show up someplace with my camera and perspective, there are other venues where I’m a simultaneous no-show. Last weekend I missed baseball and soccer games, a girls’ lacrosse game, the Keith Burgess Invitational track meet, the Little League Opening Days in two towns, and the entire Coastal Delaware Running Festival with thousands of runners. I wasn’t noplace, just someplace else. The Beatles have a song lyric, “Life goes on within you and without you,” and ain’t that the truth? I saw Jim Reynolds Friday night at Wesley College at the Dave Reynolds Lacrosse Festival prior to the Cape versus Salesianum game. Jim looked at me with my big camera perched on a one-legged pole and said, “You still doing this?” Ironically, I’ve never done so much while simultaneously missing so much more, but there comes a time when you just have to let go of the autofocus button.

Missed the Masters - Not since the Miracle on Ice in February 1980 has the nation been riveted on a single sporting event like the 2019 Masters. Five golfers tied at 12 under with three holes to go and Tiger Woods in the final grouping. It was Tiger versus the field. My money was on the field, just because angst has had a way of finding Woods over the last decade. A significant subset of those who follow golf are intrigued by Woods yet jazzed when he falls apart. Susan, Carrie and I were connected to the world by cellphones during our drive to the 717 area code for a nephew’s 50th birthday party. My satellite radio came up lame, and Susan was driving as I stared at the leaderboard. Golfers are loners, they never run and don’t have to defend themselves; it’s a different kind of athleticism, all about singular focus. Listening to golf on the radio sounds pretty lame. Staring at a frozen leaderboard waiting for a number to change so you can go Jim Nantz for the two other people in the car is really lame. When we got to the party, there was no television, but a group of men hovered around a 13-inch laptop watching and waiting for the final and best moment for Tiger since he sank a putt on the Ed Sullivan Show when he was 4 years old. Say that didn’t happen, but you would be wrong.     

Keith S. Burgess - Caesar Rodney won both the boys’ and girls’ titles at the April 13 track and field invitational held at Lake Forest High School. There were 12 teams in each bracket. The Cape girls scored 117.5, just behind the Riders’ 120.5, for second place. The surprise on the boys’ side was Sussex Central with 95 points to place third behind Caesar Rodney’s 137 and North Caroline’s 114. The Cape girls won the 4-by-100 in 51.22 with a team of Timesha Cannon, Mehkia Applewhite, Sydney Green and Aya Daisey. Cape also won the 4-by-800 in 10.22 with a team of Olivia Brozefsky, Mia Nuebling, Taylor Johnson and E-Beth Melson. Mackenzie Parker won the shot put with a heave of 36-feet-6-inches. The Cape boys placed seventh in the meet with Josiah Miller the only champion, in the discus at 142 feet. Sussex Central sprinter Mahki Herring won the 100-meter dash in 11.0, 200 meters in 22.3 and high jump at 6-2. Cape track is at Caesar Rodney Tuesday, April 16, in a meet that also includes Dover and Delaware Military. Go on now, git!