Bits and Pieces 9 21 00 

Marshal Manlove
editor

 There are a couple of interesting football games set for Friday. The Bucs of Caravel host Middletown at 7 and the rematch of last year's D1 final will be held between Newark and St. Marks at Baynard Stadium at the same time.
  At the start of the year, the Caravel-Middletown game looked tougher than it does after two games for Middletown. The Bucs are really hurting with the loss of Nelson Drew to Newark. Despite the state's largest line, they aren't piling up any numbers to impress anyone and have a loss already to deal with.
  The Yellowjackets obviously are the class of the state based on their two opening games. They are still un-scored upon, and have racked up over 70 points. They have also avenged their only loss of last year, to Caesar Rodney. They shouldn't have much trouble with the Spartans Friday night either.
  Hodgson and Delcastle are both 2-0 in Flight B football, and will go head-to-head on Saturday. Hodgson boasts the states leading rusher (based on my info) in Ed Barksdale, who had a 212 yard opener against Polytech and followed with a 202 yard performance against Sussex Tech. This game is for Vo-Tech District bragging rights, so it's one worth attending at 10:30.
  Speaking of district bragging rights, Brandywine and Concord go to battle in the Brandywine School District home of the Bulldogs on Saturday. Both teams are 0-2 and starving for victory. A bit of the rivalry was diminished with the departure of Brandywine's ex-head coach, Larry Wheeler, but the fans, new coaches and athletes won't let it stay that way for long. We will be taping this game for our show.
  Concord travels to Mt. Pleasant on October 14th to complete the series in a game which we will broadcast live on WMPH at 10:30. I'll do the play by play, and am searching for a color announcer. So if you know someone who is capable of doing so, give me a call or drop a note.
  The Senators of Dover are making noise in Kent County. They have knocked off Glasgow and Christiana to start 2-0. They take on Laurel and Lake Forest and should be 4-0 before they meet up with St. Marks on October 6th to see if they are for real this year.
  Another Friday night game that is of interest here is the Sussex Central-McKean match-up. Sussex Central is our current #2 football team and the Highlanders our sleeper favorite. Game time is 7 p.m. at McKean. That's where we will tape our Friday game for show highlights.
  Saturday will be the day where William Penn and Salesianum prove who is the pretender, and who is the contender. It's pretty much as simple as that. The game is at Baynard Stadium at 2:30.There is a chance that we will tape this game, provided we can make it over in time from the Brandywine-Concord game.
  
  Football bits from last weekend---
  Delmar's Ian Hudson rushed for three touchdowns and 142 yards in a 47-0 win over Victor Cullen from Maryland.
  Seaford's Brian Batson also scored three TDs and ran for 158 yards for the Blue Jays in their win over Friends. Friends was 9-1 last year.
 Tony Alleyne scored three times for St.Andrews as the Saints beat Maret from Washington D.C. 35-8.
  William Buck rushed for 148 yards in the Delcastle 19-16 win over Howard.
  Howard's Shawn Jolley rushed for 148 in the same game.
  Nelson Drew carried 12 times for 125 yards for Newark against Caesar Rodney.
  A two-point conversion by the Buccaneers' Derrick Beckett gave Milford a 14-13 upset win against Woodbridge. The Blue Raiders were the Henlopen South champs who were undefeated in regular season last year.
  Laird Stabler scored three touchdowns and rushed for 181 yards for the Tatnall Hornets as they picked up some Division 1 points by beating A.I. duPont 28-14. The Hornets are the defending Independent Conference champions.

  Volleyball bits....
  There aren't many secrets out there unless we start talking about who will play St. Marks in the finals. The Spartans spanked Ursuline in two straight games; the Raiders probably had the best shot of the rest of the state to notch a win against their archrivals. 
  We taped the St. Elizabeth-Archmere match on the 15th for our show on the 26th. Lauren DiSabatino racked up 19 kills in the 2-1 Viking win. Lauren is the real deal and should be a lock to be a first-team all-state player again. The Vikings will do well riding her back to the tournament. The trouble will be whether the rest of the young Vikings can mature fast enough to take them deep and be the second place team at the end.
  The Concord Raiders continue to impress in Flight B. They bopped their way past Hodgson in straight games and are undefeated in Flight B. Charter, a school that battled all last year for the Flight B crown, is having some real trouble, so the Raiders, behind Colleen Sherk, look like they have a conference championship banner in their future.
  William Penn is having trouble in Flight A. They simply lost too much over the year, and while Lindsay Miller is competent, she hasn't been able to carry her team like Lauren DiSabatino has.
  Danielle Kerns and a group of experienced teammates has the Bulldogs of Brandywine continuing to impress. I wouldn't put them as high as fourth as the News Journal given that the win against the early high ranked William Penn wasn't as grand as it originally looked, but it landed them in the top eight. 
  Don't forget about the Padua Pandas. They have been overshadowed by the other four Catholic Conference schools, but they are 3-1, and have more rising talent than any of the other schools outside of the conference. All five Catholic Conference teams could make the tournament provided one team doesn't get blanked inside the conference. Even if that were the case, I would still pick the fifth place team there over any of the Blue Hen, Henlopen, or Independent conference teams.

 Cross Country bits.....
 Caesar Rodney's Jill Hajec repeated as D1 winner in the Lake Forest Invitational in 20:02. Brandywine's Jenn Kutney repeated as the second place finisher. Kutney's performance is respectable since it appeared as if she may have peaked after her freshman year. She slumped a bit last year even though she remained near the top of the heap, but she often looked very pained. She has been the Bulldogs top runner all year so far.
  The Division 2 girl's winner was Tatnall's Meredith Lambert in, what I would call, an upset over Milford's Jessica Rivera, and the reigning D2 champ, Colleen Taylor from Ursuline. Lambert beat Rivera by a minute and Taylor by a minute and a half. 
  Ursuline still managed the best team performance by a D2 Delaware school.
  St. Marks edged Brandywine by 5 points in the D1 team standings. We have kept Brandywine #1 for now due to the one point win in a head to head contest with the Spartans, but all it really means is that either team could win the state championship on any given day.
  The St. Mark's boys move nto the #1 slot simply because of their convincing showing over Sallies in the D1 team standings in the LFI. St. Marks was second overall with 47 points and the Sals were third with a very high 136. Injuries have taken a temporary toll on the Sals, but they are a team so rich in Cross Country tradition that they can't be counted out for too long. The combination of Kyle Berseth, Mike Lahm, and Chris Coyne might be strong enough to wrest the title away from a team that has won 25 out of 27 state titles in that sport.
  Hodgsons Andrew Scarpitti finished 8th in the D2 at the LFI, but it was the best D2 time for a Delawarean by two seconds over Wilmington Christians Chris Lucernoni. Cape's Dean Popovich was the highest Viking in at #13, which is going to mean a dog-fight come the November states.

  
  Field Hockey bits...
  Cape Henlopen is off to a flying start (4-0) especially after they beat last year's semi-finalist St. Andrews 6-0. This wasn't as big a surprise as some thought. The Saints were decimated by graduation last year. Their lacrosse team will be in dire straights in the Spring too.
  Newark is 3-0-1 after Jessica Coombs scored seven goals in two games for the Yellowjackets. 
  William Penn picked up their first win of the year against top ten ranked Mt. Pleasant, who lost their first. The Colonials outshot the Green Knights 21-5. 
  Delmar and Caesar Rodney played a great overtime game with Delmar coming out on top 3-2 in overtime. Michelle Rigby scored twice for the Riders in the first half. Erin Budd tied the game for Delmar in the second half with two goals of her own and then tallied the game winner in overtime. 

  Soccer bits....
  Three words: St. Marks, Hodgson, Tower Hill. That's right. Ok, so the Silver Eagles and the Hillers aren't yet in Salesianum's league, let alone St. Marks, but they are playing good footie so far, and will turn more heads as time passes.
  St. Elizabeth improved to 2-0-1 with a top ten tie with Glasgow. The Vikings were outshot 17-6 in the game. 
  One more word: Dover. 

  Some of the Salesianum football players took exception to some thing I wrote a couple of weeks ago. Sadly, the ones who decided to be write back to me decided to use profanity and act in a manner that is supposedly against the life training they are supposed to be receiving at that school. 
  I'm getting used to those replies from students at that school though even if it most likely is a very small sampling of the student body. But it's why I have convinced a good friend of mine to send his son to St. Marks instead of Salesianum. A great athlete who excels in three sports, he will be a welcome addition to the Spartan sports program and will learn to be a respectful and productive member of society. 

Marshal Manlove