We own our milestones: The longer we stay, the more they hurt

Mr. Vice President - I refused to call my friend Jerry McNesby Mr. Vice President, although he is the vice president for finance at Delaware Technical Community College. And he refuses to call me Emeritus Man, so the two of use are stuck on no status. Anyway, at Sunday’s Summer’s End 5K run in Dewey, which is part of the Races2Run 10 Sisters Running Series (no one knows who they are), Jerry ran his 149th straight series race and looks forward to reaching the 150th milestone this Saturday at the Bottle & Cork 10-Miler. I figured I’d better break this story while I had a good photo because next Saturday I’ll be covering the Lake Forest Invitational cross country meet with so many subsets of races that there is even one for impatient adults who are tired of just standing around. 

Drum majors - A message from Cape Band Director Chris Burkhart, a fellow Temple guy, after I asked him what’s up with drum majors this season. “Jeanae Clark, Noah Sutton and Morgan Whittam are the drum majors this year. We have 125 kids signed up to march and we're doing a Latin music show. One of the songs is a pop hit called ‘Havana,’ which was co-written by Cape grad Brittany Hazzard. Also, we're on a pretty cool run with our recent drum majors. Last year's was Will Warick, who is starting at Johns Hopkins Peabody Conservatory of Music this fall. Mel McCloy ('18) is going into her sophomore year at Princeton, and Juan Marquez ('17) is going into his junior year at Michigan. The Michigan marching band just featured him in a Facebook post. Morgan Hurlock ('16) is finishing her senior year on a full ride at UD. She spent the summer performing in Spain with the UD wind ensemble and then studying saxophone in Croatia on a UD grant.” Wait, there’s more! “Brian Mahoney (Mariner MS) is directing with me. Kait Kresse is back with the drumline. She's a recent Temple grad that marched bass drum for TU, but she's also an opera singer. She teaches at Love Creek. Shannon Palmer from the consortium/high school is doing color guard again. Kelci Atkins (social studies at the high school, but originally was hired at Beacon) is taking over the dance team.” I must mention that I have three college credits in music appreciation with a gifted grade of D. I didn’t know a trombone from the xylophone or an oboe from a Broad Street hobo.   

Football lineup - Occasionally I use my People in Sports column to feature actual people, so here is an expected prospective Cape lineup for Friday night’s opening football game versus St. Georges Tech. The offensive line from left to right if you’re standing in the backfield is Destin Minstretta, Josh Leppert, Patrick Emmett, Cruz Harmon and Lucas Ruppert. Tight end is Hunter Tyndall with J-Roc Burton at wide receiver. Hank D’Ambrogi is the quarterback. Slotbacks/wingbacks are Jordan Baines and D.J. Johnson. Jaden Davis is superback with Alex Taylor as fullback. Yes, that is 12 personnel. It depends on the formation. The defensive line will be Maurice Shepherd, Angel Ramon, Sam Webb, Josiah Miller.  Linebackers are Damian McFeaters, Jordan Baines, Kurtis Wells and Marrick Harrigan-Ferro. Defensive backs are DJ Johnson, Kevin Williams and Jaden Davis.  LT Messick and Daniel Saez will rotate into defensive backfield. Saez and Kevin Williams will also see time at running back. 

Kicking around college sports - There are many Cape Region-connected athletes playing a sport in college, so every time I mention one, I feel no compunction to mention them all, especially since I don’t know what a compunction feels like. Lily Dunbar, daughter of Mark who went to Cape, is a starting defender for the Drexel Dragons women’s soccer team. Lily is a freshman, played her high school soccer at Wilde Lake in Columbia, Md. Drexel is 2-1 on the season. Temple field hockey opened the season with two consecutive shutout wins over Merrimack and LaSalle.  Annie Judge is starting on defense. Franklin and Marshall field hockey opened the season with a 6-1 win over Elizabethtown. Freshman Darby Klopp started and had two goals and an assist. Erin Coverdale also had a goal and an assist. Darby narrowly missed a hat trick when a targeted shot was just wide of the cage. Northwestern field hockey beat Stanford in double overtime 4-3, then lost to UConn 4-1. Alia Marshall saw considerable time versus Stanford, then started against UConn. Anna Harrington started both games for Washington College field hockey as the Shoremen lost to Kenyon and Centre. Lynchburg University hockey beat Lebanon Valley 2-1 in overtime. Kaylie Truitt scored a goal for the Hornets. In soccer, Neuman defeated Goucher 3-0. Steven Matalavage starts at forward for Neuman, while Aidan Spoor starts on defense for Goucher. Redshirt junior defensive tackle Brandon Nixon got playing time in the Blue Hens’ win over Delaware State Aug. 29. 

Snippets - David Sills, wide receiver at West Virginia and former Red Lion Christian quarterback, was released by the Buffalo Bills. Sills is the quintessential possession receiver and the New England Patriots have made a living with those guys. Don’t sleep on Sills; he is likely to surface somewhere. Alex Ellis, out of Delmar, was waived by the Eagles, which means they can bring him back if someone puts in a claim. Go on now, git!