Milford High School’s athletic program, fresh off its winningest season ever with four state championships, was dealt a crushing loss last week when a Chancery Court judge ruled the school must move to the Northern Division of the Henlopen Athletic Conference.
The lawsuit was filed based on Milford’s contention that eight students who are housed in the high school as part of the district’s Intensive Learning Center program should not count toward the overall student enrollment. The addition of those eight students increased Milford’s total enrollment to 1,166, just two more than Polytech, formerly the smallest school in the Northern Division which will now play in the league’s Southern Division against Division II schools.
The move to the higher division, based solely on student enrollment, means Milford will be forced to compete against the seven Division I schools in all sports. And while many Buccaneer teams currently play against other Division I schools, those games were contested as additional non-league games when wins helped the Buccaneers vie for state playoff spots and losses rarely hurt.
Now the teams will play against the tougher teams from larger schools as their regularly scheduled league games.
Henlopen Conference officials contended — after the issue was brought up by the Polytech administration at a league meeting — that the students should count toward the school’s enrollment primarily because they are overseen by the high school principal and participate in the school’s extracurricular activities, including sports.
With the decision now behind them, the Milford athletic department will turn its attention to the future and competing in the stronger Northern Division.
”We feel we can stack up whether we’re playing in the south or the north,” athletic director Glenn Stevens said following the ruling.
Meanwhile, the Milford School District was the recipient of the Henlopen South Division Founders’ Cup, awarded annually to the district with the best records in the division among all sports.
Milford, which won state championships in football, wrestling, softball and track, averaged third place or better in the division. Indian River had won the five previous Cups.
Baseball: State Hall of Fame inducts two
Former Delaware high school baseball standouts Paul Loder and Homer Reihm were recently inducted into the Delaware Baseball Hall of Fame.
Loder, 70, a star pitcher for Smyrna High School in the late 1950s, lost just three games in four years, two of them his freshman year when he was 2-2 on the mound. At the conclusion of his senior season he received the school’s Babe Ruth Award, given to the athlete who displayed athletic skills and sportsmanship throughout his four years of high school.
Loder is a retired State Trooper who now spends his free time still working magic with his hands -- expertly carving wooden decoys.
Reihm, also 70, played his scholastic ball at Middletown High School and then attended the University of Delaware where he played baseball for legendary football coach Harold “Tubby” Raymond. He played third base and batted cleanup for a Blue Hens team that made the College World Series in 1958.
Reihm worked as an executive for ILC Dover, which designs and produces space equipment, including the spacesuit used for project Apollo in the late 1960s. He enjoys passing on his baseball knowledge as a coach of his grandchildren’s tee ball teams.
News and Notes
McKean defensive back Erik Wilkerson (5-foot-10, 165) is headed to Cheyney University, an NCAA Division II program, while teammate, center Eric Dickson-Peppler (6-0, 280), will play at Ursinus College (NCAA Division III). … Cape Henlopen alum Tyler Townsend was drafted by the Baltimore Orioles with the 85th pick in the third round of the Major League draft. … Laurel’s Josh Kosiorowski is the recipient of the WGMD Sports Boosters Scholarship. The $1,500 award is in recognition of athletic and academic excellence. Josh, who finished with a 3.8 grade point average, will play football at Mansfield State in the fall.
Jon Buzby is the Delaware correspondent for MaxPreps.com.