Lily Ashby meets the moment with an assist from Uncle Chris

Lilies of the Field - Lily Ashby is a flower; her name could have been Blossom. She is a romp-through-fields-of-clover personality type. I took Lily’s photo April 11 as she was announced with the starting lineup before Cape’s home game versus Sussex Central. Her dad Jay’s brother Chris had died earlier in the day from complications of a second stroke suffered a year earlier. I looked into Lily’s face and could see she was OK, and that comes from family strength. Poetically, she scored the last goal in a 7-0 Cape win. Then April 16, eight minutes into overtime against Indian River, Lily lofted a rebounded shot back toward the goal hoping a teammate would get a head on it. And someone did. Chris Ashby gets the assist because no one else touched it. “If only you believe in miracles, baby, like I believe, we’ll get by.” - Jefferson Starship

Kaepernick factor - Three full seasons in the book following the first sit down, which transitioned to kneeling down. Adults have been arguing every angle of this issue. It has proved to be intricate and complex, and produces deep emotions in some and shoulder shrugs in others. Athletic kids, defined as everyone still south of high school graduation, have never paid much attention to adults arguing issues. But Nike paid attention and embraced Kaepernick in an advertising campaign, “Believe in something. Even if it means sacrificing everything.” Nike stock values soared, and if you hate how that all went down, you belong to the demographic sent out to pasture wearing New Balance Quad E shoes or perhaps Skechers purchased from Target. Tuesday afternoon before a high school track meet at CR involving four schools, the national anthem was played. Most kids stood and were quiet, but some weren’t. I saw a girl kneeling. I also saw a boy lying back and stretching with his hand over his heart. There was also a small group in the bleachers that just sat and talked like nothing was going on. And then commenced four hours of track featuring the most diverse array of student-athletes of all the high school sports. There is no security or off-duty cops because they are not needed. These athletes always get along. There is a shared respect. Some adults may bark about what anthem decorum all means. I didn’t see many adults there, so when the anthem was over, it was back to track and field. Personally, I shrugged and said to myself, “What was that all about?” then went Bachman-Turner Overdrive and starting taking care of business like I do every day.

Head on a swivel - Looking over the sports landscape, I will admit that some of what I know about schoolside sports I don’t reveal or blab about because unlike “Breaking News” on cable, scoops are not how I make my bones. Cape softball went to Archmere Monday afternoon, although I had alerted readers they were home because they were until they weren’t. Cape won 12-0 in a five-inning contest in which Savannah Reed tossed a perfect game. Cape, 5-5, plays a schedule of five straight home games and not much wiggle room if the Vikings hope to make the postseason. The quest for a new head coach of boys’ basketball at Cape is less of a search and more of a let’s put this thing together and get it finalized. Cape girls’ lacrosse goes into spring break or Easter Interlude, whatever you want to call it, with a 10-0 record and 130 straight wins over Delaware opponents since 2009. The Vikings will host Ursuline at 3:45 p.m., Friday, April 26. The Raiders are also 10-0 and are coached by Feffie Barnhill, who is in the Delaware Sports Hall of Fame and has a house in Rehoboth. Feffie was head lacrosse coach at William and Mary from 1982-98, winning eight conference titles and reaching six NCAA tournaments. She is also in the National Lacrosse Hall of Fame. Ursuline put a scare into Cape in the semifinals in 2017, tying the Vikings at halftime 4-4 before Cape went on a 6-1 second-half run to win 10-5. Salesianum lacrosse is now 4-5 after a 14-7 loss at nationally ranked Malvern Prep. I have a Malvern sports friend who told me, “That is usually a rivalry game because we both recruit the same area of Southeastern Chester County and the players know each other.” Sallies is still Sallies, but the DIAA computer ranking system doesn’t know that, so Cape and Sallies could by random happenstance end up on the same side of the bracket. Davey Fred, the Inclusion Kid, grabbed the press box microphone at Legends Stadium in the waning minutes of Cape’s 18-1 win over Smyrna April 17 and went full volume public address announcer, “Let’s go, guys. Overtime!” Go on now, git!