Cape football beats Ravens 26-23 in seesaw battle of unbeatens
Rosemarie Dmiterchik “took one for the team” in pregame just outside the north endzone fence, where, later in the third quarter, her grandson Cody would throw a two-point conversion pass to her grandson Jake. They were the last points scored in an electric, back and forth game of highlights survived by Cape Henlopen for a 26-23 victory.
“This win was for her,” Cody said after the game. “Jake knew she got hurt but but I didn't.”
Rosemarie, 75 years old, slipped and went down in the mud a first down away from the visitors' entrance gate to the Sussex Tech field. She dislocated her elbow breaking the fall. She calmly stayed there with her sons Mike and Mark waiting for medical attention.
“She didn't want to leave and go to the hospital and miss the boys playing, " her son Mike said. “We will have to show her a tape of the game on Sunday.”
The game featured highlights and big plays made by players on both teams, but it was Cape's Sammy Mohr who snapped, crackled and popped over four quarters, including a 90-yard kickoff return late in the fourth quarter that eased the sting of a 95-yard Sussex Tech touchdown drive and brief lead for the Ravens at 23-18.
The Mohr touchdown and subsequent Cody-to-Jake Dmiterchik two-point conversion pass proved to be the final margin of victory for the Vikings.
Dustyn Beebe, who kicked a 39-yard field goal in the first half to give the Ravens a 17-12 lead, set up for a game-tying kick in the fourth quarter which was smothered by Mohr blitzing off the corner and preserving Cape's 26-23 win.
“Last week Jerome got six [touchdowns] and I told him, 'Jerome I'm coming for you'," Mohr joked after scoring three touchdowns by land, air and coast-to-coast plays and blocking a would-be game-tying field goal. ”Coming in here we knew they had a hard team and we had to bring nothing but our A game and that's what we all brought through. Hurt, sick, tornado, hell or high water, we were coming here and giving our best.”
Cape jumped on top early 12-0, scoring on a shovel pass to Mohr and fullback belly to Jerome Johnson to lead 12-0.
The Ravens responded with 17 unanswered points, pounding the right side of the Cape defense with running backs Darren Beckett and freshman Kani Kane.
Beckett scored on a 15-yard run; later Kane scored from 23 yards out and the Dustyn Beebe points after made the score 14-12.
Beebe's later field goal gave the Ravens a lead of 17-12. Cape came right back. With eight seconds remaining in the half, Cody Dmiterchik hit Mohr on a perfect pass and catch in the corner of the end zone. Cape's attempt at a two-point conversion failed as the Vikings led 18-17 at halftime.
"This was just a special victory because our kids persevered,” Coach Bill Collick said after the game.”This game was not for the faint of heart,.“I wasn't comfortable until it was totally over. That freshman [Kane] - that kid is the real deal.”
Cape took the opening kick of the second half and drove it to the Ravens' 5-yard line but were stopped on two consecutive running plays.
The Ravens then drove 95 yards. A big play was a Jack Redefer third down pass of 15 yards to tight end Ben Barron to keep the drive alive. The Ravens eventually scored on a 3-yard run by Kane for a brief 23-18 third quarter lead.
The ensuing kickoff by Beebe was returned by Mohr 90 yards for what proved to be the game-winning touchdown.
Cape Coach John Parker, who as head coach of Sussex Tech in 1993 led them to a state championship, said after the game: "The important thing for us is our maturity in learning how to win, persevering even when up against it, and our guys did that.”
Cape improved to 4-0 on the season and travels to 0-4 Milford on Friday, Oct. 7.
Sussex Tech drops to 3-1 and travels to 0-4 Caesar Rodney Oct. 7 for the Rider homecoming game. Caesar Rodney has lost games to Newark, Downingtown West, Salesianum and Saint Mark's.
