Bits
and Pieces 8
Two e-mails I received this week were totally
contrasted. One was complimentary of coverage that I give to women's
sports and the other was blasting me for covering women's sports too
much.
I prefer the women's sports and don't apologize for covering it
the way that I do at all. Even though women are receiving increasing
amounts of attention these days, it's still not enough, and I have
found the women's sports more entertaining for me.
Eventually, when there are enough of us here to cover
everything with more comprehension, I personally will specialize
strictly in women's sports coverage.
In fact, since it looks 99% certain that we will acquiring more
broadcast time, there might very well be a show dedicated only to
women's sports on our schedule of shows. When you read though
some of the individual sport sections today, you will see how to
determine which teams make it to the various state tournaments. For
complete tournament regulations, see the DSSAA
website. Mets in 2001 Football bits....
How the mighty have fallen. Ok, so I was the only outside of the
McKean Highlanders immediate families to think that the Highlanders
were ready for a top ten ranking, so it's not much of a surprise. But
McKean scored 20 points against Sussex Central earlier this year, and
then last week lost to Brandywine 7-0. Brandywine wins for only the
second time on the field this year. Their first win, a 13-12 victory
over the winless Concord Raiders, was taken back from them because
they used an ineligible player and had to forfeit the game.
The Highlanders, I maintain, will be real tough next
year.
As well as Dover. The Senators were handled rather easily by
Sussex Central even though the Senators scored a 68 yard touchdown on
the second play of the game. End Jason Lilly, and tailback Pierre
Bowers (who scored the 68 yarder) will be back next year.
Newark scored 29 points in the first six minutes against A.I.
duPont. The second string was in before the cheerleaders went to the
other side to say hello to the fans!
Yellowjackets Nelson Drew and Drew Kisner combined for 163
yards....on four carries.
Jamil Young rushed for 116 yards for Woodbridge as the Blue
Raiders blew out Lake Forest 37-0. Interesting to note here that
Caesar Rodney only beat Lake by a 17-14 score.
Smyrna's Mike Pennewell added another 284 yards to his season
total which is now over 1300 yards. He scored four touchdowns in an
Eagle 40-13 win over Seaford.
In the first meeting between Caesar Rodney and Salesianum, the
Riders came out victorious 23-17.
So are the upstate teams better or the downstate teams? Refer
back to the CR-Lake score from earlier this year and compare it to the
CR-Sallie score. I know, I know, it doesn't mean much, but it's still
fun to do.
Kevin Nelson rushed for 200 yards and scored four touchdowns
for Delcastle as the Cougars beat Glasgow 35-25. That gave him nine
touchdowns in two weeks.
Hodgson's Lenzi Davis rushed for 112 yards against Mt. Pleasant,
but it wasn't enough to beat the Green Knights. Final score 36-16 as
Daryl Holcomb caught two of the four touchdown passes that the best
quarterback in the state, Brent Rogers, threw. Junior Kerry Miles
rushed for 164 for Mount in the game.
William Penn continues to roll after suffering their only loss
when their head coach Bruce Reynolds was absent. Christiana, a big
bust this year, was the 26-0 Colonial victim.
Tatnall's Laird Stabler continued to vie for all-state votes as
he rushed for 196 yards and kicked a field goal for the Hornets in a
23-7 win over Friends.
Otis Bridgeforth scored four times for Howard as the Wildcats
beat Charter 50-12.
And a good football team is a good football team. I hear alot
about St.Elizabeth and how they shouldn't be a ranked team because
they play a division two schedule. But that is an uneducated opinion.
Take last year as an example. They beat St. Marks during the regular
season who ended up playing Newark in the Division 1
championship.
Speaking of St. Marks and St. Elizabeth, they meet at Baynard
Stadium Friday night at 7. We will be there to tape for the television
show.
Volleyball bits....
Talk all about teams from other conferences outside the Catholic
Conference if you wish. They haven't been able to hold up against the
St. Marks', Ursulines and St. Elizabeths. The Spartans took the BHC
Flight A leader Newark Yellowjackets and beat them 15-4, 15-6.
Padua finished their conference record 0-8, but will still beat
most of the teams outside the conference; witness last night's win
over the Henlopen Conference Champion Caesar Rodney Riders (12-3). They might not make it into
the tournament as a result of the winless conference mark.
Will the real BHC Flight A champ please stand up? A.I. duPont's
win over Newark dropped the Yellowjackets into a tie with Brandywine.
Both teams are 12-2 in the conference at this writing and had split
their two matches this year.
Here is how the State Tournament teams are selected:
 | A. - The
tournament field will be comprised of the following 16 teams: the
first place team from Blue Hen Flight "A"; the first
place team from Blue Hen Flight "B"; the first place
team from the Catholic Conference; the first place team from the
Independent Conference; the first place team from the Henlopen
Conference; and 11 at-large teams. |
 | 1. - A team
must play a minimum of 14 matches at the varsity level in order
to be considered for either a conference or an at-large berth in
the tournament. |
| 2. - Only the
results of matches that consist of THE BEST TWO OUT OF
THREE 15-POINT GAMES OR THE BEST THREE OUT OF FIVE
15-POINT GAMES IF PLAYED OUT OF STATE will be used
to determine tournament berths or seed the qualifying teams (see
D. 1. a. below for exception). |
| 3. - The
results of matches played after Monday, November 1 will not be
used to determine tournament berths or seed the qualifying
teams. |
| B. - If a
conference does not have a method for breaking ties, the Committee
will use the following tie-breaking procedures: |
| 1. - If two
(2) or more teams are tied in the standings and at least one
team will not qualify for the tournament, the conference
representative will be determined by the results of head-to-head
competition. |
| 2. - If, after
considering head-to-head competition, the teams are still tied
and at least one team will not qualify for the tournament, the
conference representative will be determined by the point index
system described in D. 1. below. |
| 3. - If, after
considering head-to-head competition and their point indices,
two (2) teams are still tied and only one team will qualify for
the tournament, a play-off will be conducted by the Committee to
determine the conference representative. |
| 4. - If, after
considering head-to-head competition and their point indices,
three (3) teams are still tied and at least one team will not
qualify for the tournament, one team will draw a bye and the
other two (2) teams will play. If necessary, the winner of that
match will play the team that drew the bye to determine the
conference representative. |
| 5. - If a
conference qualifier chooses not to participate in the
tournament, that berth will be awarded to another at-large team. |
| C. - The
at-large teams will be selected by the Committee according to the
following criteria: |
| 1. - The 11
teams, excluding the first place team in each conference, with
the highest point indices as determined by the point index
system described in D. 1. below will receive the at-large
berths. |
| 2. - If a tie
exists for the final at-large berth, the results of head-to-head
competition will determine which team qualifies for the
tournament. |
| 3. - If, after
considering head-to-head competition, a tie still exists for the
final at-large berth, the team with the highest overall win-loss
percentage will qualify for the tournament. |
| 4. - If, after
considering head-to-head competition and overall win-loss
percentage, a tie still exists for the final at-large berth, a
play-off will be conducted by the Committee to determine which
team will qualify for the tournament. |
| 5. - If, after
considering head-to-head competition and overall win-loss
percentage, three (3) teams are still tied for the final
at-large berth, one team will draw a bye and the other two (2)
teams will play. The winner of that match will play the team
that drew the bye to determine which team will qualify for the
tournament. |
| 6. - If, after
considering head-to-head competition and overall win-loss
percentage, three (3) teams are still tied for the final two (2)
at-large berths, a draw will be conducted to fill one of the
berths. The other two (2) teams will play to fill the remaining
berth. |
| D. - After the
tournament field has been selected, all of the qualifying teams
will be seeded according to the following point index system and
tie-breaking criteria: |
| 1. - A team
will receive two (2) points for each regular season win, no
points for a loss, one bonus point for playing an opponent with
a win-loss record of .501 or better, and one additional bonus
point for playing an opponent with a win-loss record of .701 or
better. The point index will be determined by dividing the total
points accumulated by the number of matches played. |
 | a. - Pool
play will count as one match played with no points earned if a
team fails to advance to the next round of the tournament. |
| 2. - The team
with the highest point index will be seeded #1, next highest #2,
etc. |
| 3. - If a tie
exists, seeding will be determined by the results of head-to
head competition. |
| 4. - If a tie
still exists after considering head-to-head competition, seeding
will be determined by the better overall win-loss record during
the regular season. |
| 5. - If a tie
still exists after considering 3. and 4. above, seeding will be
determined by a draw. |
Got all
that??? Someone please do the math for me. A free subscription to the
newspaper for anyone who can do figure that all out before they are
officially announced.
Field Hockey bits.... With Stephanie
Mayhart back in the Tatnall lineup, the Hornets beat Wilmington
Christian 4-3 in overtime. However, it was Jackie Ciconte who scored
all four goals for Tatnall who shined as the brightest star on the
field that day.
With Mayhart out of the lineup, the Hornets dropped two
straight games. They now stand at 7-4 as the Warriors fell to 8-5.
Here is how to figure out which Field Hockey teams will advance to
postseason play:
| A.The tournament
field will be comprised of the six (6) conference champions and
ten (10) at-large teams. |
| 1.Henlopen
North Champion, Henlopen South Champion, Blue Hen "A"
Champion, Blue Hen "B" Champion, Independent Champion,
and Catholic Champion. |
- If fewer than
four (4) schools in a conference are sponsoring varsity field
hockey teams, the conference champion will not receive a
guaranteed berth. However, the conference teams will be eligible
for at-large berths.
| b.A
conference champion must play a minimum of six (6)
"designated conference games" in order to receive a
guaranteed berth. If a conference champion does not satisfy
this requirement, the team will not receive an automatic berth
but will be eligible for an at-large berth. |
| 2.The at-large
teams will be selected according to overall record and strength
of schedule as determined by their "Combined Win-Loss
Percentage" described in C. below |
| 3.A team must
play a minimum of twelve (12) games at the varsity level in
order to be considered for the tournament. |
| B.Selection of
Conference Champions |
| 1.If there is
a tie for the conference champion's berth, the following
tie-breaking criteria will be used: |
| a.The winner
of the regular season game between the two teams will be the
conference representative. If the teams played twice and each
won one game, the following point system will be used: |
3 Points for a Win,
1 Point for a Tie,
0 Points for a Loss.
Percentage - Total
Points Accumulated
Total Possible
Points
NOTE:Only
conference games will be used to determine this percentage.
| b.If a tie
still exists and only one of the teams will qualify for the
tournament, the Committee will conduct a playoff. If both
teams will qualify for the tournament, the Committee will seed
the teams involved. |
| c.If there
are three (3) teams tied for the conference champion's berth
and at least one of the teams will not qualify for the
tournament, one team will draw a bye and the other two (2)
teams will play. If necessary, the winner of that game will
play the team that drew the bye to determine which team will
qualify for the tournament. |
| C.Selection of
At-Large Teams |
Percentage - Total
Points Accumulated
Total Possible
Points
| c.The
opponents' overall win-loss percentages are added together and
divided by the number of opponents to determine the opponents'
average percentage. Opponents played twice are counted twice. |
| d.The
opponents' average percentage is added to the at-large team's
overall percentage and divided in half to determine their
"Combined Win-Loss Percentage." Opponents' % +
At-Large Team's % ¸
2 = Combined Win-Loss % |
| NOTE: By
including the opponents' win-loss percentages, the Committee
is taking into consideration the strength of a team’s
schedule. |
| e.If two (2)
teams are tied for the last at-large berth, the Committee will
use the following tie-breaking criteria: |
| (1)The
winner of the regular season game between the two (2) teams
will qualify for the tournament. |
| (2)If the
teams split or did not play during the regular season, the
Committee will conduct a playoff to determine which team
will qualify for the tournament. |
| f.If three
(3) teams are tied for the last at-large berth, the Committee
will use the results of head-to-head competition during the
regular season to break the tie. If, after considering
head-to-head competition, the teams are still tied, one team
will draw a bye. The remaining two (2) teams will play and, if
necessary, the winner of that game will play the team that
drew the bye to determine which team will qualify for the
tournament. |
| g.All
playoff games will be under the control and supervision of the
Committee. |
| D.Seeding for
Bracket Placement |
- All of the
qualifying teams will be seeded using the at-large selection
procedure described in C. above and placed into a bracket
accordingly.
- If two (2) or
more teams are tied with the same "Combined Win-Loss
Percentage", the results of head-to-head competition during
the regular season will determine which team will receive the
higher seed.
Soccer bits....
Caesar Rodney's 1-0 win over Dover put the Riders in the
drivers seat for the Henlopen Conference title. Jason Atkinson scored
the lone goal of the game.
The only trouble was that Dover needed to beat Seaford to give
the Riders the title. Dover came through a couple days later. Had
Seaford won they would have been the champions because they had beaten
Caesar Rodney earlier in the year.
Congratulations also go out to the Glasgow Dragons for
clinching the Blue Hen Flight A crown and Concord for clinching the
BHC Flight B crown. See "The Dragon's Lair" on the front
page for more information about Glasgow's clinching win over A.I.
duPont.
The Riders will play the balance of their season without Lance
Johnson, a captain, due to a season ending knee injury.
Here is how to figure out who will go on to the state soccer
tournament:
| A.The tournament
field will be comprised of the following 16 teams: |
| 1.Blue Hen
"A" Champion, Blue Hen "B" Champion,
Henlopen North Champion, Henlopen South Champion, and
Independent Champion. |
| a.If a
conference champion chooses not to participate in the
tournament, that berth will be awarded to another at-large
team. |
| 2.Non-conference
team with highest point index. |
| 3.10 at-large
teams. |
| B.The 10
at-large teams will be selected according to the following point
index system and tie-breaking procedures: |
| 1.Teams in
contention for an at-large berth will be awarded 3 points for
each win, 1 point for each tie, and 0 points for each loss
during the regular season. In addition, 1 bonus point will be
awarded for each win or tie against a team with a regular season
win/loss record of .500 or better. |
| 2.Each team's
point index will be determined by dividing the total points
earned by the number of games played. |
| 3.The 10 teams
with the highest point indices, excluding the six (6) teams
which received guaranteed berths, will be the at-large
selections. |
| 4.If two (2)
or more teams are tied with the same point index, head to-head
competition during the regular season will be used to break the
tie. |
| 5.If, after
considering head-to-head competition, a tie still exists and ALL
OF THE TEAMS WILL QUALIFY FOR THE TOURNAMENT, the following
criteria will be used to break the tie: |
- Most bonus
points.
- Most wins.
- Win-loss
percentage against common opponents.
- Draw by the
Committee.
| 6.If, after
considering head-to-head competition, a tie still exists between
two (2) teams for the final at-large berth, the Committee will
conduct a playoff to determine which team will qualify for the
tournament. |
| 7.If, after
considering head-to-head competition, a tie still exists between
three (3) teams for the final at-large berth, one team will draw
a bye and the other two (2) teams will play. The winner of that
game will play the team that drew the bye to determine which
team will qualify for the tournament. |
| 8.If, after
considering head-to-head competition, a tie still exists between
three (3) teams for the final two (2) at-large berths, the
criteria stipulated in 5.a. - 5.d. above will be used to fill
one of the berths. The other two teams will play to fill the
remaining berth. |
| C.In the case of
a tie for a conference berth and the conference does not have a
method for determining its representative, the Committee will use
the following tie-breaking procedure: |
| 1.If two (2)
or more teams are tied in the conference standings, head-to-head
results during the regular season will be considered first. |
| 2.If, after
considering head-to-head results, a tie still exists between two
(2) teams for the conference berth and one team will not qualify
for the tournament, a playoff will be conducted to determine the
conference representative. |
| 3.If, after
considering head-to-head results, a tie still exists between
three (3) teams for the conference berth and at least one of the
teams will not qualify for the tournament, one team will draw a
bye and the other two (2) teams will play. If necessary, the
winner of that game will play the team that drew the bye to
determine which team will qualify for the tournament. |
| D.A team must
play a minimum of 12 games at the varsity level in order to be
considered for the tournament. A game will count as a varsity
level contest only if the opposing team has played at least 10
games against varsity level opponents. |
2. Tournament
Pairings
| A.After the
tournament field has been selected, all 16 teams will be seeded
according to the point index system and tie breaking criteria used
to determine the at-large teams. The team with the highest point
index will be seeded #1, next highest #2, etc. |
Yeah, it's all clear now! Cross Country
bits....
Tatnall's Meredith Lambert has the best time at five major
courses this year, Brandywine Creek, Lums Pond, Bellevue, White Clay,
and Killens Pond. Her time of 19:13 at Killens is only 10 seconds off
the record of 19:03 set by Brandywine's Jen Kutney just last year. I'm
thinking that is a precarious mark on November 11.
Lambert just set a new record at Bellevue during the Bellevue
Invitational. Her time was 18:25, five seconds better than the old
mark. That was her second record set this year; the first was at Lums
Pond earlier this year when she busted out a 19:23. She has a time of
only three seconds less than Kutney's record time of 19:00 at White
Clay Creek.
Jen Kutney's Bulldogs secured their seventh consecutive BHC
Flight A title when they swept Glasgow 15-50. Alison Sanchez, Kimi
Lopata, Jeanna Wood, and Abby Nerlinger are some of the other top
Bulldog runners this year.
Cape Henlopen boys and girl's teams won't be able to defend
their division two titles from a year ago. Cape Henlopen was
classified a Division 1 school for cross country purposes. Polytech
will drop from D1 to D2.
The St. Marks girl's team clinched the Catholic Conference
crown with their dual meet win over Ursuline. A great team battle at
states is in store with the Spartans and Bulldogs taking the course to
fight it. Jackie Justison, Mandy Hewes, Kristin Sullivan, Michele
Spadaro, Andrea Marinelli, Sonya Gupta, and Katie Park are seven
Spartans to watch for.
There is another Taylor running for Ursuline. Freshman Julie
Taylor (seen below) joined the varsity ranks and has been
finishing consistently behind her now senior sister Colleen all year.
Older sister Tricia, who is one of three Ursuline athletes to have a
banner hung in their honor in the Ursuline gym, is now attending
Villanova.
 |
|
| Manlove in action
with Colleen and Julie Taylor from the Ursuline Academy Cross
Country team. |
|
Marshal Manlove
The archives
|
|
|
|