Touchdown Jesus sees the entire field at Notre Dame

Touchdown Jesus - The 34-foot mural that resides in the distance of Notre Dame’s library lawn is one of the more iconic and well known fixtures in college football. Touchdown Jesus can be seen in the direction of the north end zone. Texas A&M beat Notre Dame 41-40 Sept. 13, when Aggies quarterback Marcel Reed hit tight end Nate Boerkircher for an 11-yard touchdown pass with 11 seconds left to play. Boerkircher is a 6-foot-4, 250-pound graduate student transfer from Nebraska, where he began his career as a walk on. “My second touchdown pass ever,” Boerkircher said after the game. Spiritualists would say Touchdown Jesus delivered his lesson through a big old Nebraska boy Boerkircher. Who’s your 12th man?     

Fifty Sense - Georgia needed a two-point conversion, trailing Tennessee 38-36. I was home alone in the bonus room riding the boomerang chair. I astro projected back to 1974 as head coach of The Mitchell School. We needed a play for the two points. The end around pass always worked. The end had the option to run or pass. His name was Gil O’Neal. I blocked the play in my mind from 50 years away. And then one of those cosmic connections, Georgia came out and ran the exact same play, the end elected to throw for the two-point score. The game went into overtime, where the Bulldogs won 44-41. 

Facebooker - I took photos of a middle school field hockey play day Sept. 13 on the Cape campus before my grey head got baked and I retreated to my black car. I focus and see faces, and I stick them in chapters that tell stories of parents and grandparents matching with living history. And there is always that one field hockey dad who chirps coaching advice with every play. The Cape varsity girls did the officiating and, perhaps, the motto “sometimes wrong but never in doubt” was in play, but no one outside the lines knows the rules anyway. Middle school athletes are heroic in so many ways, but those who show up to support them already know that. 

Bye week - Cape football got stung at Lake Forest 34-14 Sept. 12. They now have a bye week leading into Homecoming versus Hodgson Friday, Sept. 26. Spirit Week leads into Homecoming. My experience is that coaches consider all these activities distractions where you could have the King, Duke, Prince and Lord all starting on defense, which doesn’t fill a coach with confidence. Hodgson plays Sussex Central the Saturday before playing at Cape. Hodgson has beaten Cape each of the past two seasons.  

Go Birds! I watched the first 30 minutes of the Emmys Sunday night, breaking away from Football Night in America just to reinforce how disconnected I am from regular entertainment television. Hannah Einbinder got an Emmy for Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for her performance in “Hacks” and added “Go Birds” in her acceptance speech. She grew up in LA, but her dad is from Doylestown, Pa. Her mom is Laraine Newman, an original Saturday Night Live cast member. Back in Kansas City, Eagles fans were drowning out the Fox on-field post-game show as they tuned up for their charter flight back to Philly. 

Snippets - Maurki James (Cape) scored his first collegiate touchdown for Old Dominion, as the Monarchs upset favored Virginia Tech 45-26 in Blacksburg, Va., in front of 57,000 fans. James is listed as a redshirt freshman out of Lincoln. Henry White, Cape Class of ’74, straight out of Slaughter Neck, went on to start at Colgate University and led the nation in all-purpose yardage his senior year. Cadence McMahon (Cape), playing soccer for Wilson University, scored her first college goal in a 5-0 win over Penn State Mont Alto. Cadence is a sophomore majoring in pre-veterinary medicine. Addison Bowman (Cape) plays wing for the Army Black Knights women’s rugby team at West Point. Addison was a pole vaulter at Cape and is the sister of Bailey Fletcher (Cape), now a sophomore pole vaulter for Ohio State. Bailey plans to attend medical school and become a pediatric surgeon. Devon DeGregory (Cape) is a sophomore starter on the Salisbury University field hockey team that’s now 4-1 on the season. Other Henlopen Conference players starting are Kelly Davis (Delmar), Regan Nacrelli  (Smyrna) and Morgan Bradford (Delmar). Julius Timmons (Caesar Rodney), a freshman quarterback at Alvernia University, completed his first collegiate pass in a 24-14 loss to Eastern College. Candace Britt ran the Utah Marathon in 3:31. Her daughter Hayley is a freshman cross country runner for Indian River. Go on now, git!