The Brandywine team is very young. Very young. So despite being outscored 168-12 in their four losses so far, the Bulldog are setting themselves up for the next two years.

The Division II football tournament run should be interesting during the next few weeks. Delmar and Middletown are both undefeated with Hodgson, St. Elizabeth, and Concord,  with just a loss apiece. It would be easy to predict, based on those marks, that Middletown and Delmar look headed toward a championship matchup….so I’ll take the easy way and say just that!

The third annual Turf Bowl at Rullo Stadium in Newark was held this weekend (Sunday scores unavailable at this time) with 18 teams playing nine games on the artificial turf and the home of the state semifinal and championship games. It was a great opportunity to see some teams and some players who I don’t get to see very often, if at all.

The first interesting game was the first one between Cape Henlopen and Wilmington Christian. Both teams were undefeated although the Warriors did have two ties on their mark. The Cape defense was particularly stifling and made the Warrior offense appear meek despite the presence of the legitimate scoring threat in Jenna Schwind.

The Seaford Blue Jays are overlooked playing in the Henlopen Conference but brought up a 6-2 record to take on the Bulldogs of Brandywine (and staff reporter Dana Anderson). The Bulldogs had just finished an emotional 3-0 win over William Penn to take hold of the Flight A lead on Friday. That win was the first against the Colonials for all of the Brandywine seniors and was a game they had highlighted on their schedule for a while.
It would have been easy to let down against Seaford after such a win, but nobody on the team seemed to know anything about the Blue Jays (including their record) so their guard was up and their game was on in a 4-2 victory. Junior co-captain Bryce Jones scored twice in the win.

Newark and Concord were sporting winning records themselves and the game, as do all games, was important to both squads. A 1-1 tie at half time was no indication that the Raiders would break the game open with three unanswered goals in the second half to knock the wind out of Jackets. Sophomore Ashley Rowell scored twice for Concord.
Some of the Raider team will make an appearance on the radio show this Tuesday evening at 9 p.m. (Which can be heard right through this site or through WMPH.ORG.)

The next game I stayed for was the Tatnall-Indian River game won by the Hornets 2-1. Cathy Perotto scored both goals for Tatnall, but the key player on this team in clearly the senior co-captain Jackie Ciconte. This young attack forward is the real deal and, in my humble opinion, one of the best players in the game right now. Her ball-handling skills are truly Gretsky-esque and she passes the ball with purpose. Even bouncing passes headed her way seem to be corralled effortlessly while her teammates benefit as hockey stars like Mark Messier, and Jari Kurri did during the "Great One’s" reign in Edmonton.

A plainly upset (and intentionally unnamed) River coach was not at all happy about the Indians first half of the game, although they only trailed 1-0. The game plan for the second half was to shadow Ciconte, but that didn’t work either. River got on the board with a Brittany Croll goal late and had a nice chance to score in the last 30 seconds, but the loss left a host of upset Indians who fell to 4-4. The halftime "pep" talk might have led more to the tears at the end of the game than the one-goal loss. Just an observation.

While preparing for last week’s radio show, the St. Marks Spartan volleyball team finally lost their first match under head coach Nancy Griskowitz. It had to happen some time because no one is invincible. It will be interesting to see if the loss strengthens the Spartans for the stretch run. Sometimes these losses have a tendency to do just that while giving other teams an unrealistic analysis of future success. Only playing out the balance of the schedule will prove one way or the other.

Was comparing a local high school field hockey player to Wayne Gretsky a full stretch? Hmm….who knows. But I’ve seen Gretsky play and I will tell you that what he did on the ice was just the same type of thing that Jackie Ciconte was and is doing on the turf and on the grass. Both athletes made their teammates better. The first goal that Perrotto scored was off of a Ciconte blast from the top of the circle that deflected off of her stick. We’ll talk more with Jackie on the radio show on the 16^th as well as the Tatnall goalie Amanda Jacobs and perhaps the star cross-country runner Meredith Lambert on that evening. That is providing she says yes if I can get a hold of her. (Someone please let her know I am looking for her, ok?)

Highlights of three of the Turf Bowl games will be featured on the TV show on the 16th.

Speaking of the TV show, if anyone is watching the versions in Kent and Sussex Counties and would like to see the show continue in that area, please drop me a line. If we don't get any response, we're going to discontinue the show in those areas. It is completely important for viewers of the TV shows (even up here in New Castle County) , and listeners to the radio show to let us know how we are doing and also to let any sponsors that we have that their dollars invested in these shows is appreciated. That means buying their products or services, or at least calling them up and asking some questions. Any sponsors that we have are the only reason that the shows can continue and let no one forget that our TV show is the only one of its kind in Delaware. So help us out a bit with that please...thanks.

So, what else is new? Well, check back here next time the front page says there is a new "Bits and Pieces" to find out.