In response to several conference opponents refusing to play them because of their recent Delaware Interscholastic Athletic Association rules violations,
Red Lion Christian Academy (Bear, Del.) has voluntarily withdrawn from the Diamond State Athletic Conference.
This latest fallout follows last month's decision by Red Lion Christian to withdraw from the Division II football tournament — the Lions would have been the top seed — and also agreeing to multiple additional penalties (including an undisclosed fine and head coach Eric Day being put on probation for one year) for having conducted excessive practices and playing too many games on its football schedule.
As a result of the DIAA violations, Delmarva Christian and Wilmington Christian, members of the Diamond State Athletic Conference, publicly stated they preferred not to compete in football or basketball against Red Lion Christian in the future. The two schools felt, and apparently they aren't alone, that it was in those two particular sports that the school gained its greatest advantages from its admitted rules violations and also alleged recruiting violations that were not part of the official sanctions.
The Diamond State Conference now consists of Archmere, Campus Community, Delaware Military Academy, Delmarva Christian, St. Thomas More and Wilmington Christian. Conrad Schools of Science will leave the Blue Hen Conference and join the Diamond State Conference in the fall of 2011.
But don't expect the Red Lion Christian football program to suffer. Day said in an e-mail his team is looking to play a rigorous national schedule in the near future.
CHESAPEAKE BOWL TO DEBUT DEC. 30 IN MARYLAND
The inaugural Chesapeake Bowl will match up the best players from New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware against the cream of the crop from Maryland, Virginia, D.C and West Virginia.
The North team will be coached by Terry Smith from Gateway High School in Monroeville, Pa., and the South team will be coached by Biff Poggi from the Gilman School in Baltimore.
The game will take place Thursday, Dec. 30 at Johnny Unitas Stadium on the Towson University campus. Kickoff is at 7:30 p.m. and although online ticket sales have ended, according to the event's Web site,
www.chesapeakebowl.com, there will be plenty of tickets available at the gate for $15.
The players selected from schools in Delaware, Maryland, D.C. and Virginia include:
DB
Adeboye Aromire (Woodson, D.C.) – committed to Virginia Tech.
DE Emmanuel Bawa (Northwestern, Md.) – considering Michigan State, Miami (FL), Ohio State, South Carolina and Illinois.
PK
Michael Branthover (DeMatha, Md.) – committed to Virginia Tech.
DE
Rob Burns (Stone Bridge, Va.) – committed to Virginia.
DL Darian Cooper (DeMatha, Md.) – considering Georgia Tech, Iowa, Michigan State, Penn State and UCLA.
LB
Vincent Croce (Good Counsel, Md.) – committed to Virginia.
RB
Malcolm Crockett (Friendship Collegiate, D.C.) – committed to Cincinnati.
LB
Conner Crowell (North Point, Md.) – committed to Ohio State.
OL Ben Curtis (Calvert Hall, Md.) – considering Duke, Marshall, Navy and New Mexico.
QB
Zach Dancel (Good Counsel, Md.) – considering New Mexico and Illinois.
DE
Giovani Francois (Wise, Md.) – considering FIU, Louisville and Rutgers.
OL
Jake Goins (Manchester, Va.) – committed to Virginia Tech.
RB
Crusoe Gongbay (Rockville, Md.) – offer from New Mexico.
OL
Hunter Goodwin (Gilman, Md.) – committed to Wake Forest.
LB
Darren Harris (DeMatha, Md.) – committed to Michigan State.
DB
Jeremiah Hendy (Bowie, Md.) – considering Iowa and Virginia.
QB
Kevin Hogan (Gonzaga, D.C.) – committed to Stanford.
WR
Darius Jennings (Gilman, Md.) – considering Maryland, Ohio State, UCLA, Virginia, Virginia Tech and West Virginia.
DE
Marco Jones (Boys' Latin, Md.) – committed to Virginia.
DB
Nicholas Law (Bishop McNamara, Md.) – committed to Iowa.
DB
Darius Lee (St. Stephens & St. Agnes, Va.) – committed to Virginia.
OL
Jamar Lewter (Ballou, D.C.) – committed to Marshall.
DB
Jordan Lomax (DeMatha, Md.)
DB Chaz Lowery (Ocean Lakes, Va.) – considering East Carolina and Marshall.
OL Josh Mann (Ocean Lakes, Va.) – committed to Old Dominion.
DL
Kevin McReynolds (St. John's, D.C.) – considering Arkansas, Oregon, Syracuse and UCLA.
OL
Evan Mulrooney (Salesianum, De.) – committed to Maryland.
LB
Daquan Romero (Phoebus, Va.) – committed to Virginia.
LB
Caleb Taylor (Phoebus, Va.) – committed to Virginia.
OL
Trip Thurman (Dover, De.) – committed to Florida.
WR
Dominique Terrell (Osbourn, Va.) – considering Auburn, Miami (FL), Stanford, Tennessee, Texas Tech, UCLA and Virginia Tech.
DB
Ronny Vandyke (South County, Va.) – committed to Virginia Tech.
DL Josh Wade (McKinley Tech, D.C.) – considering Illinois, Louisville and West Virginia.
WR
Matt Zanellato (Lake Braddock, Va.) – committed to Penn State.
The buzz
* John Wilson, football head coach of the undefeated Division I state champion
St. Mark's (Wilmington, Del.) Spartans was named head coach of the Blue team for the 56th annual DFRC Blue-Gold All-Star Football Game. Freddie Johnson, who coached
Lake Forest (Felton, Del.) to the Henlopen South Conference championship, was selected to coach the Gold. The game, which benefits Delaware residents with intellectual disabilities through grants distributed by the Delaware Foundation Reaching Citizens (DFRC), will be played on June 18 at the University of Delaware.
Jon Buzby is the sports columnist for the Newark Post, a freelance writer, and on the broadcast team for the 1290AM The Ticket High School Football and Basketball Games of the Week. You can reach him at jonbuzby@hotmail.com.
