With all that being said and for those that still want to hear what I might think about the football games this weekend and next weekend, I’ll just mention my thoughts briefly.
I actually like Hodgson tonight down in Delmar. I like their upfront size, which is considerably more than Delmar. If they can stay mistake free and motivated, I smell an upset. The only big problem Hodgson has that I see is their lack of offensive threats. If the Wildcats successfully key on Lenzie Davis, coach Cylc is going to have a difficult time playing one more game this year.
I like the Spartans over the Golden Knights at Baynard tonight. St. Marks simply has too many weapons on which to focus and they have the player that I think is the player of the year in Jonathan Heydt. Gatorade selected Andrew Weatherly from Sussex Central but I question nearly all of those Gatorade selections because I don’t believe that anyone from there has come down to see anyone in Delaware play any game at any time. But I will keep mentioning Gatorade anyway since they sponsored the Diamond State Games last year! (Drink Gatorade).
I like Middletown over William Penn on Saturday basically because I think the Cavaliers picked up steam with the win against Sussex Central on the last day of the season. Both teams are evenly matched and all of the picks seem to be rather close so I’ll take Middletown by 3.
I like Laurel over Howard mainly because there is a Manlove coaching the team. Ok, also because I think Howard played way over its head this year. The last game against Mt. Pleasant is my measuring stick for that comment. But I am just hoping for a good game because it’s nice to see Howard make the playoffs under the leadership of a real good guy in Dan Ritter. And the Bulldogs haven’t been to the show for a long time either so I like the new faces in there this year. I would like to see either a Hodgson-Howard final or a Delmar-Laurel final to inject the flavor of rivalry into the mix.

So the only soccer game that I did manage to see was the state championship between St. Marks and Salesianum. By now everyone knows what happened there. The game was exciting even if it was played in a rainstorm that made viewing not so pleasant. How they actually played the game on Newark’s football field was beyond me though. While trying to walk across the field after the game my shoes were getting stuck in the mud all along the way. It was like trying to escape from a monster in a nightmare where your feet can’t move and the monster continues to gain.
In that game I did witness the single most sportsmanlike act in the last 7 years (I’m sure you can name more, but it’s just what I have seen.) In the second half, the Spartans Patrick Bross went down with a leg cramp and was in enough pain that Spartan goalie Dan Mangat intentionally kicked the ball out of bounds to force a whistle and a stop of play. The first person to Bross wasn’t the trainer or a Spartan, but Salesianum Captain Rick Henderson. Henderson held up Bross’s leg to help stop the cramp until the trainer arrived. After play resumed, Henderson took the throw in for Salesianum, but threw it over the goal line to give the Spartans a goal kick and the possession they had when Bross had his cramp. This act between two of the states greatest rivals gives hope to humanity I think. At the very least, it should be mentioned at least here.

DIAA Tournament Highlight tapes of the Volleyball and Cross-Country championships are now available. Each are $25 dollars and can be ordered through us by sending a check to Delaware Sports 338 Tamara Circle Newark, DE 19711. Field Hockey and Soccer are next and then we will put out the Division 1 and 2 football tapes separately, which will include the semifinals and finals on both tapes complete with narration.

I may be ready to wipe out the message boards altogether and forever. There have been some extremely rude posts left up there that have been available for the public to see as long as it took for me to review them and delete them. DEPreps.com has been having them as well so it would appear that someone just doesn’t like us or doesn’t realize that they have taken something a bit too far and isn’t funny. I’ll just ask that it stop. If it doesn’t I’ll just remove them because I don’t need the aggravation. If you know who it is or who they are, please just ask them to stop so that people can use them in a normal fashion.

I will work on a short version of a winter preview during the week and have the preseason top ten lists up by Friday and maybe even Thursday night.

On the Diamond State Games front, I will be meeting with Delaware State University in the middle of the month to discuss their hosting of the 2003 Games. They have expressed interest in hosting the event, which will allow us to centralize the activity a bit more than we were able to last year.

Check out the Delaware Sports Cup standings so far this year and you’ll see a bit of a surprise as Tower Hill leads the current point standings. Last year’s winner St. Marks (I am getting the trophy made soon) is way off the pace right now but still has their football team in line for a title and 25 points. The Hillers were carried to the top based on their two state championships, one in Field Hockey and the other in Cross-Country.

Check out the Delaware Sports All-Heart team page and notice that you can now begin to nominate athletes for our next set of awards, which will be given in May most likely. I have from between 7-10 so far as I can remember. If you have nominated someone already and are wondering what may be happening with the nominations, we have all of them but have not yet made a final determination.