Bits and Pieces 9 5 00
by Marshal Manlove
Lets rock.
Football rankings hot off of the Delaware Sports
press.
It's tempting to just join the crowd and and say
that we will use the DEL coaches poll for a top ten ranking, but I
don't like hanging out in the crowd (besides, they don't let me...).
It's also pretty tempting to just say that Newark will
start the year number one and stay there until someone knocks them
off, but what fun would that be? And why should Middletown be ranked
right behind them at number two? That wouldn't be any fun at all.
Forget about Salesianum too. Their football days are long gone.
So are the wrestling days as well. These more rugged sports aren't
Salesianum's forte any more.
There will be some similarities, but remember that there aren't
very many schools in Delaware to begin with, so predicting a few of
the top ten right from the beginning isn't very hard.
The Flight A conference should be more interesting than
it has been for a few years. Sure, Newark will be right there once
again attempting to win their fourth consecutive state Division One
championship. Their running game will still be very strong with
Brandon Snow, a huge 225 running back and Caravel transfer Nelson
Drew, another 200 pounder in the backfield. They also have a
Brandywine transfer named Kevin Wiggins who is a 6'3" 261 lb junior
fullback. Jr. Erec Speise begins the year as the starting quarterback.
The Jackets lost Kwayme Harris and Micah German, two
defensive/offensive line monsters, but Kwayme's little brother Orien
is back for his last year, all 6'4" 270 lbs. of him.
William Penn is always a pre-season favorite, and
normally rightly so. They come off a 7-3 season where their starting
QB Bruce Davis had been hurt most of the year. He is lost to
graduation this year, and there doesn't look to be a quality
replacement. Their line was small last year, and half of it is back on
both sides still on the small side.
The Colonial backfield is small as well. Returning fullbacks
Pedro Moore and Ron Kimbrough are both under 200 pounds. To reach the
playoffs again this year will take a series of minor miracles from
Bruce Reynolds who does, fortunately have a serious group of
youngsters up and coming from a series of little league champions much
as Middletown had to feed their program.
The Brandywine Bulldogs are coming off an 8-2 year. They
have lost their head coach Larry Wheeler, and the first-team all-state
quarterback, Jace Carletti. They still have the best receiver in the
state in Ivan Schmidt. He was actually the best receiver last year,
but somehow only ended up on the second team behind his teammate Cory
Hickson. Just a note about Hickson, Schmidt, and Carletti. Carletti
made Hickson look good, and Schmidt made Carletti look good. Hickson
was afraid to catch a pass over the middle and Schmidt made the tough
plays look easy, no matter where they were thrown.
The trouble for Ivan now, is that Carletti is gone. He will
have to play even better this year to make the leap to the first team
and help his new quarterback look half as good as Carletti was.
Watch out for the McKean Highlanders. You heard it here first.
The Highlanders only lost four players to graduation and head coach
Cordie Greenlea had his team go through a SAQ (speed, agility,
quickness) program. An accompanying strength program has some of his
athletes bench pressing TWICE what they used. Casime Harris returns
for his senior year as quarterback.
The Christiana Vikings end up as our pick to win the
conference. One of the two best quarterbacks in the state plays for
the Vikes; his name is Jeff Tatnall. He is joined in the backfield by
the preseason favorite for first-team all-state honors, Danny Foster.
Throw in a track and hurdle star in Quinn Martin at wide receiver and
a huge and hungry set of linemen including Ken Gomez, K.C. Cooper,
Kris Cooper, Devon Hubbard and Steve Carn and you have the makings of
a new champion.
The Flight B lineup includes the Mt. Pleasant Green Knights who
have the other top quarterback in the state in Brent Rogers. Rogers is
a tough all-around athlete who reminds me of Jace Carletti. In fact, I
almost called him Jace when I ran into him at the Blue/Gold game this
past summer.
The Green Knights were a game away from the playoffs last year
in what was a very tight Division Two class. Defensive lineman
Demetrius Warrick has drawn Division 1 college attention. He stands in
at 6'6" 250.
A D2 playoff berth is not out of range again for Jim Simmons
and the Knights, but the losses of Mike Coyle, John Hession, Scott
Henning and Misiaa Myatt were tough for a small roster. Perhaps the
baseball championship fever can draw out a few more solid players to
fill in some holes left by those graduations.
The Vikings of St. Elizabeth lost to Middletown in the D2
State Championship 9-7 last year. A fumble in the Cavalier end of the
field ended the season with disappointment. Quarterback Joe Durney is
back to lead the team at QB after a knee injury that kept him out of
the playoffs.
Andrew Swarter, a junior running back, is an up-and-coming
athletic star in this state, much like his older brother Matt was.
Swarter scored the only touchdown in the championship for St.
E's.
Workhorse Jeff Fletcher is back as well, giving the Vikings the
D2 edge in the offensive backfield. The Vikings will, once again, lack
size on the line.
The Middletown Cavaliers are the largest of D2 school. In 2002, they will be a D1 school as some of their sports programs
already are. This, from what we can tell, is the last of a group of
MOT football team that played together for so long and crushed
everyone they came up against.
There will be a new approach for the Cavs this year, as they
will look to go to the air more often. Rausheen Lively, is a returning
sophomore back who will become a household name to high school
football fans before his is done with his high school career.
Size isn't a problem for Middletown. They boast a solid line of
200+ pounders to open some holes for Lively and provide time to pass
for Matt Keen.
The Cavs lost J.C. Morgan and Brandon Brown to graduation, the
two workhorses of the backfield last year. But they didn't play very
much over the course of the year due to injury, and they still won the
whole thing.
Caravel Academy is the other D2 team to watch. They lost
running back Nelson Drew to Newark, but they have a wall for a line.
Kameron Cale is 335 lbs, Justin Saunders is 310, Andrew Carpenter is
290, Randy Barbor is 290. They lost only one lineman to graduation and
four players overall. R.T. Plumsky, Corey Heath, Adam Chandlee are
three running backs to watch out for. St. E's backs are better, but
this line is so huge, that they have to get an edge in D2 over them,
and have a real shot to be a playoff team and playoff winner.
The Sussex Central Golden Knights are hoping to knock off
Caesar Rodney from atop the Henlopen Conference this year. They come
off an 8-2 record and return Blake Hershelman QB, Matt Lawrence
OT/DT, Jack Roach OG/NG, Jake Booth OG, George Davis RB,
Orlando Short OG/DT, Leroy Mann SE,Teddy Thompson RB/LB, Yoree
Washington RB/S, Mike Lopez RB/CB, George Jenkins C, Jerry
Miller OT/DT, Jesse Makowski TE/LB, Ricky Pierre DE/RB, and Terry
Williams DT/OG.
Those Riders of Caesar Rodney went 10-0 in the regular
season last year including a win over Newark. Their wild loss to St.
Mark's on their home turf still has to hurt those who return. They
have a load of returning running backs who are undersized who will be
running behind a line that is also undersized.
The St. Marks Spartans, who knocked off the Riders, are
probably in some trouble this year. Gone are Steve Rogers, Louie
Wright, Al Blanchard, Jerry Denney, and Larry Zeccola. They will still
be better than their archrival Salesianum though.
Who else....hmmm. Besides Cape Henlopen, who whooped up on
Salesianum in preseason action, not too much. So with all that in mind
here is how it looks, believe it or not:
1- Christiana
2- Newark
3- Sussex Central
4- Caesar Rodney
5- Caravel
6- William Penn
7- McKean
8- Middletown
9- Cape Henlopen
10- St. Elizabeth
Marshal Manlove