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Friday Night Lights at Cape brings out all the muppets

October 19, 2021

Healthy home games - Cape Henlopen rocks a spirited atmosphere at Friday night home football games. The band, cheerleaders and Cape chorale get the party started. The student section is loud and thematically coordinated – Friday night it was purple to celebrate the memory of Maggie Browne. A tribute to Maggie is that her memory always brings out the smiles in her classmates. Along the fence, it is a homecoming festival – the best reunions last five minutes; you catch up and move on. Don’t let the 1-5 Cape football record bring a gloom and doom forecast to the future. The Vikings have talent in the pipeline. Beacon is currently 3-0 with 53 players on the roster. Coached by John Parker III, John Parker Jr., William West and Eddie Ghabour, Beacon has outscored opponents 78-0. Cape’s 2021 roster has 13 seniors. The Vikings will play at 3-3 Sussex Central on Friday night. The Golden Knights have 11 seniors on their roster, but a strong sophomore class. Since 2008, Central holds an 11-2 advantage over Cape. The Cape wins were at home 43-28 in 2013 and 16-14 in 2016. 

Coach Fred - I was a head football coach at the Mitchell School in Haverford, Pa., in fall 1974, before coming to Cape. We had some seriously good players on the team, including a couple Division I running backs. We had many behavior anomalies among the student body. One little guy named Bobby wore thick glasses and carried a fat briefcase. I hear in 2021 he’s a substitute teacher in Philly. Bobby wore me out greeting me every morning. “Coach Fred, how’s it going, Coach Fred? Our own Coach Fred. Co, Co, Coach Fred.” I knew he was breaking it down to how silly it was for a grown man to be Coach Fred. One day I was being observed by professor Debbie Nichols of West Chester University as part of a master’s program. Bobby came up to my desk and started to rub my shoulders, saying “Coach Fred. Our own Coach Fred.” Debbie said, “Get your hands off him and stop feeling on him.” Bobby went quickly to his response, “I’m not feeling on him! I feel for him, an idiomatic expression.” Bobby was a freaking genius of comedy rolling through his life unscripted. 

Milk Cow Blues - Bust a Moo - The Delta Blues (COVID connection) originated in the Mississippi Delta in 1920, when Freddie Spruell recorded “Milk Cow Blues” before cutting his grass with a “push mooer.” “Don’t mask, don’t tell.” I don’t know the difference between a spinner spreader and a super spreader. I just know football and baseball fans are filling stadiums and just spreading more droplets than a pop-up shower in a tropical rainforest. I say, “Get vaccinated, then get down and jump around.” Sports fans are off the hizzy, and most don’t watch political channels that feed them information they simply don’t want to hear.   

Snippets - Cape hockey led Padua at the Chase Center sports complex on a rainy late-afternoon Saturday 1-0. The Vikings had beaten the Pandas (can’t be beating no Panda) in the state finals in 2018 5-0 and 2019 2-0. The Vikings rolled through the stormy weather in the second half to win 6-0 behind five goals from Reagan Ciabattoni and a single tally from Mack Brown. Cape had a 23-0 advantage in shots and 9-0 in penalty corners. Pandas goalie Cara Quinlan had 14 saves. Cape plays at 7-3-1 Dover on Tuesday night at 7 p.m. Franklin and Marshall field hockey with Darby and Riley Klopp on the roster won at Washington College 3-0 Oct. 9. Anna Harrington is on the Shoremen’s roster. Then F&M defeated Swarthmore 3-1 Oct. 16, with Anna Stancofski on the roster for the Garnet. Beacon field hockey, behind coach Lynn Richardson and Danielle Smith, is 5-0 on the season having outscored opponents 62-0, and most of the talent is in seventh grade. Tom Morey, the inventor of the Boogie Board, died Oct. 14 at the age of 86. The Boogie Board turned 50 this year. The trademark was sold in 1977 and is now owned by Wham-O. Any board that’s not a Morey must be sold as a bodyboard, not a Boogie Board. Locals only rode Boogie Boards; you can bet your Birdwells and OP shorts on that. Go on now, git!

 

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