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Get up and give back, Sean Mann directs Mariner wrestling team

December 14, 2018

Walk like a Mann - Sean Mann, head coach of Mariner wrestling and former heavyweight at Cape, battled weight problems in high school, then lost a bunch and made himself into a wrestler. Sean loves the sport because of what it has done for him. I was watching him Wednesday night and was impressed – a good coach and great young man. He stayed behind the bench during JV and varsity matches cheering on Cape wrestlers. Sean represents taking what you have learned from a sport into life and later giving back to help others. “Awesome young man with a great attitude,” said former Cape Principal Brian Donahue.

Hertz so good - Totally in control, decisive and one tough-looking hombre, wrestling official Paul Hertz was all over the Sussex Central at Cape varsity match Dec. 12, controlling the grapplers on the mat, dealing with coaches and keeping the score straight when takedowns, escapes and reversals happened quickly. Google search Paul Hertz and astrophysics director is the first name to launch, and I’m pretty sure that ain’t him. There was a moment when he told the scoring table, “Clear the score of this bout back to zero,” and then he took them through what happened for each scoring move all the way back to 7-4 in favor of Central. Peeps along press row all said, “That’s what we got ... not. We ain’t got nothing. It’s not like we’re astrophysicists.”

Hound of hearing - I hope Darby Dog understands English, otherwise I told an interesting story of a wrestling bout to myself. I know at one point my wife Susan was standing in the office doorway.

Beast Mode - I haven’t succumbed to the latest sports jargon of referring to women in sports as absolute beasts. I’m old school. Back in my day, calling a strong woman a beast would not yield positive results. During the Mariner versus Beacon wrestling match Dec. 12, Mara Lobley of Beacon grappled with Alexis Sanger of Mariner. I have seen girls wrestle lots of times, but never each other. Boxing is the sweet science, but extract punching, and add arms and legs and a scoring system only the officials understand, and you have the science of wrestling. Where else do you run the risk of getting caught in a cradle and a cement mixer in the same bout? Maura won the match over Alexis, a fun bout to watch, just like the other 55 matches I watched over four hours.

Big game - How big a game is it, Fredman? BIG! Big like Burger King. Biggie Fries Big. Cape basketball, running on low expectations, is currently 2-0 with road wins over Smyrna and Polytech, and getting ready to host Caesar Rodney on Friday night. The Riders are coached by the well-respected Freeman WillIams. He and coach Steve Re have been in lots of battles. The Vikings have won the last three. “It’s a huge game for us to see if we can compete at a high level in our conference,” Re said. “We’ve had a great start, but we need to keep it going. I hope the fans will come out and support us.”

Snippets - Sussex Tech, the defending Henlopen Conference champion in girls’ basketball, hosts undefeated Sussex Central (4-0) on Friday night. In a 60-53 Central win at Dover, Raeonna Stratton had 30 points. The Golden Knights were outscored 21-4 in the fourth quarter of that game, which was not good for bench players looking for more playing time. The Sussex Academy Seahawks are undefeated 3-0 in girls’ swimming and 2-1 in boys’ swimming, and, yes, having your own pool helps, but basketball has been slow to get off the mark, as the boys are 0-4. The girls’ team won 25-15 at Milford Dec. 6. Cape is the referendum-passing district of the galaxy because the yes people all come out to vote. I’m hoping residents in the Indian River district come out in February in support of their referendum. The yes crowd has to get out there because for chump change that you’ll never notice, you get to enhance the property values of everyone. You already have great kids; just give them great schools. And why do I care? Because I have friends who are 10, that’s why. Go on now, git!

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