Year End
Woodbridge senior Ian Hayes had success in the Fall season like no other in recent Delaware HS sports history. Hayes won post-season honors in THREE sports, earning All-District Honors as a kicker for the football team, All-State Honors in Soccer and in Cross Country.
Cape Henlopen wins their first-ever D1 Dual Meet Championship. They went through Smyrna in the semifinals and then beat Caesar Rodney 43-26 in the championship match.
Smyrna's Gabe Giampietro and Caravel's Alex Poore both became 4-time Delaware State Wrestling Individual Champions.
Caravel head girl's basketball coach, Kristin Caldwell, cuts the last rope on the net at the Bob Carpenter Center in Newark as the Buccaneers win their first-ever state championship 53-47 in overtime against the Sanford Warriors. Gatorade Player of the Year for Delaware, India Johnston, scored 27 points, including 7 of Caravel's 10 points in overtime.
St. Elizabeth's Quasim Benson added 30 more touchdowns to his career total for the Viking football team this fall pushing his career mark to 75. He also set new school records on the track and field team in the Long Jump (20-8...6 inches better than the previous mark) and was part of a new school record-breaking 4x400 relay team for the Vikes.
Conrad's Kayla Dillon scored 13 goals in a game against Newark in a 20-4 win for the Red Wolves. Dillon's 13 goals in a game landed her on the NFHS record's list for goals in a game. She then beat that mark with 14 goals in a game against Brandywine. That total was the 4th best in a game in NFHS recorded history.
Tatnall graduate Sam Parsons returned home in a publicized attempt to break the 4-minute mile. His 3:58.17 did just that and the time became a new record here in Delaware.
Appoquinimink softball pitcher Savannah Laird was involved in 6 no-hitters on the mound for the Jaguars in 2022. She combined with Ayla McCathern on 4 of them and had one solo no-hitter and one perfect game to help lead the team to the semifinal round of the state tournament.
Tatnall Senior Lydia Colasante was a State Champion and Gatorade Player of the Year in Cross Country as a Freshman. She turned her focus towards Field Hockey and Lacrosse earning First-Team All-State Honors in both sports. She celebrated her 200th career goal for the Hornet Lacrosse team this year and also earned a roster spot on the USA National Team for her age group.
Speaking of Delawareans on National rosters, three Delmar Wildcat Field Hockey Players are on Team USA Field Hockey.
Josie Hollamon is on the U-18 and US National Team which just competed in Argentina. This is the squad which will attempt to qualify for the Olympics.
Jordyn Hollamon is on the U-16 National Team.
Maci Bradford is on the U-18 team.
Tatnall's Rachel Whitehead is on the U-18 Team.
Smyrna's Dru Moffett is on the U-18 team.
It was little surprise, then, that Delmar bulldozed their way to their 7th straight Delaware Field Hockey Championship. They haven't lost a game since 10-22-16 and in that year they were 14-1. The Wildcats, under head coach Jody Hollamon, outscored their opponents 140-5 in the regular season and 27-2 in the state tournament. Two of the regular season wins were against their long-time rivals the defending Division 1 champs from Cape Henlopen who they beat in the Henlopen Conference Championships and a 6-0 win over Smyrna who became the D1 Champion. Maci Bradford was the Offensive Player of the Year. She had a 7-goal game during the regular season which landed her on the NFHS record book list for goals in a game. She scored 49 goals for the Wildcats just this year. Josie Hollamon was named the Defensive Player of the Year but also added 31 goals and 22 assists. Sophomore Jordyn Hollamon scored 9 of the Wildcats goals in the state tournament including 5 in the first round. She scored 43 goals and had 17 assists this year.
The Smyrna Eagles beat Cape Henlopen for the D1 Field Hockey Championship ending a 5-year stranglehold the Vikings held on trophies in that division. A diving shot by Kirsten Johnson off an assist from Dru Moffett in overtime earned the Eagles their first-ever Delaware Field Hockey Championship. Only the Vikings or the Delmar Wildcats had laid claim to state championship honors since 2011. It was head coach Loveita Moffett's first championship in two tries in the title game with the first being with William Penn in 2006.
The Cape Henlopen Vikings won their 13th straight Delaware Girl's Lacrosse championship beating The Tatnall Hornets 16-4 in the final game. They have now won 40 consecutive state tournament games and 165 straight wins against Delaware opponents. Their last loss was in 2009 to a Delaware team.
Salesianum won their 18th State Boy's Soccer State Championship under Head Coach Scott Mosier. They have only been denied the State Championship twice since 2004.
Leading the Sals to the title again this year was Jake Ross. He was named a National All-American for the second year in a row.
Two football teams went undefeated and claimed Class Championships this year.
The Laurel Bulldogs, under head coach Joey Jones, repeated as Class 1A champions. After scoring 31 points in their first game of the year, they didn't score less than 40 all year up until their 28-13 win over St. Elizabeth's in the Championship Game.
Wilmington Friends captured the Class 2A title in similarly convincing fashion. First-year Head Coach Rob Tattersall took over for his father Bob Tattersall, who won the only other previous Quaker football crown back in 1984. Rob started planning the positions the seniors on this team were going to play way back when they were all in the third grade. His son, Robbie, was the quarterback who earned Offensive Player of the Year honors.
The Tatnall Boy's Cross Country team won the D2 State Championship. This marked the 17th time that head coach Pat Castagno had guided the boy's to this championship. He now has a total of 51 (one tie) championships as head coach of the Hornet XC, Indoor and Outdoor track teams.
Pat Castagno
The Hillers of Tower Hill won their first-ever State Volleyball Championship. They had a 13-2 regular season record and entered the state tournament as the 9th seed. They had to win 5 matches to earn the title. They knocked off the #1 seed from Smyrna, the #5 seed from Caravel (the only team to have beaten Smyrna prior to the Hillers win) and then the two-time defending champion St. Marks Spartans in straight sets in the final.
Bill DiNardo, the Salesianum head football coach, won his 300th career game. 150 of these were with Salesianum and the other 150 with Caravel and Middletown. DiNardo has helped guide teams to 7 state championships, 3 with Middletown and 4 with Salesianum.
Delaware says, "Fare well," to the following five members of our athletic community; those who I have known and followed for many years.
Eileen Voltz is retiring from the State of Delaware after her wonderful career, in part, as coach of the Girl's Basketball and Softball teams at the Charter School of Wilmington.
Caravel Girl's Basketball coach, Kristin Caldwell is stepping aside after 16 years at the helm. She led the Buccaneers to the State Championship this year. She was one of the states all-time leading scorers as a player herself at Caravel.
Dave Stover started the Charter Force volleyball program 24 years ago and will be retiring at the end of this season. He has been a part of Delaware High School Volleyball since 1988 winning three state championships with St. Marks.
Over the last 15 seasons at CSW, Coach Stover has complied a 195-64 record while qualifying for the Delaware Interscholastic Athletic Association State Tournament every year. In 2018, Coach Stover led the team to its first-ever DIAA State Championship.
After 40 years at Ursuline Academy, Susan Heiss is heading into retirement. She spent the last 30 years as the AD at Ursuline and was the head volleyball coach for about 30 years. As the head coach of the Volleyball team she led the Raiders to 11 Delaware State Championships.
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