Now that the 2009-10 athletic/academic year has come to a close I thought I'd look back at my favorite — note I said my favorite, and not necessarily the best — high school sports stories.
My favorite individual story was Middletown (Del.) lineman Gifford Timothy receiving a scholarship to play football at Clemson University.
While it might not seem odd that this 6-foot-8, 300-pound behemoth received a football scholarship, what did make Timothy’s story so special is that his mother passed away his junior year. No matter what kind of support system a person has in place — and despite being an only child, he had a good one — it's still hard to predict just how a tragic event is going to affect someone.
Timothy, while obviously affected by his mother's passing, continued to excel in the classroom and in the sport that will now pay for his opportunity to make himself a successful person off the football field. My guess is that's exactly what his mother would have wanted.
Another great individual story was Milford (Del.) running back Brandon LeGrand moving on to play football at Wesley College (Dover, Del.). While playing for Wesley isn't like suiting up for Florida or Texas, the mere fact that LeGrand is going to college is a spectacular story.
The talented running back, who ended his career at Milford as the school's all-time leading rusher, used the opportunity to play football as his motivation to overcome a severe learning disability. And unlike some college students who play at Florida and Texas, LeGrand will most likely graduate.
In terms of team stories, there probably wasn't a better one than Delmar (Del.) recovering from a 0-3 start to finish with 10 consecutive wins to capture the Division 2 football state championship. The town of Delmar is about as big as the palm of your hand, and yet the hearts of those players from that tiny town are as big as any.
After becoming the first public school to ever win the girls lacrosse state title in 2009, Cape Henlopen (Lewes, Del.) completed its undefeated season with a 12-7 win over St. Mark's (Wilmington, Del.) in this year’s championship game. It was a title run that reconfirmed last year’s Cinderella season was not just a one-year fluke, but rather, instead, this beach resort school is on the girls lacrosse map to stay.
Most softball fans already believe the Caravel Academy (Bear, Del.) team is a dynasty. The Bucs have made a state-record 12 trips to the championship game, winning eight of them. Caravel rode the arm of talented pitcher Carolyn Szymanski (15-3, 0.06 ERA) to this year’s title. She was only a freshman. Need we say more about the prospect of this softball championship-producing factory staying in the limelight in the near future.
Sanford (Hockessin, Del.) became the first Delaware high school to win boys and girls basketball championships in the same season, and each team has its best player (Trevor Cooney, Andrea Hines) returning.
And now, one disappointing tidbit per sports season.
Fall -- Newark High's (Del.) football team has won 10 state championships. However, this past season the Yellowjackets went 2-8, suffering their worst season ever during coach Butch Simpson’s 33 years. And while the coach told me throughout the preseason that his young team would struggle, he later admitted he had no idea the losses would pile up as they did. Injuries plagued the young Yellowjackets, but that still didn’t take the sting out of the traditional powerhouse’s poor showing.
Winter -- Highly-touted Appoquinimink High (West Middletown, Del.) junior A.J. English III was suspended from the team by rookie head coach Spencer Dunkley for what was termed insubordination. What followed were a myriad of stories, in the press and in social circles, which put a negative spotlight on the team during its first varsity season. Clearly it was a simple case of coach and player not being on the same page, but what made it such a big story was that it involved a player considered to be one of the best in the country and a beloved coach who starred at the University of Delaware. What was unfortunate during this incident is that it not only brought negative attention to the team, but also inevitably overshadowed an otherwise respectable inaugural season (12-8) for the Jaguar program.
Spring -- William Penn (New Castle, Del.) baseball coach Mel Gardner certainly deserved to retire after 30 seasons at the helm of the Colonials’ program. But at the same time, when the high school sports scene loses not just a good coach, but a good person, it’s reason to lament. Gardner’s teams won 370 games and qualified for the state tournament 20 times, winning the title in 1991. He coached some kids who had never played the sport until they stepped on his field, and others who went on to play in college and the pros. He said he'll miss them all the same. The sport will miss him.
And the best news is … only six weeks until fall sports practices begin.
Jon Buzby is the sports columnist for the Newark Post, a freelance writer, and occasional color commentator for the 1290 AM The Ticket High School Football Game of the Week. You can reach him at jonbuzby@hotmail.com.
