Cox (Virginia Beach, Va.), winner of four straight Virginia High School League AAA
field hockey state titles, heads into this week’s Beach District
Tournament at 12-3 with hopes of earning a spot in the regional tournament. If
it does, it will be the first step in the team’s quest to become the
all-time national leader in state titles with 18. But Cox coach Julie
Swain is careful not to let her players think beyond the very next game.
“We
will have to earn a spot in the regional tournament by doing well next
week in the Beach District Tournament,” Cox said in an e-mail. “I expect
it to be very competitive and anything could happen. After losing 14
players from last year's amazing team, this team has continued to exceed
my expectations with the way they have stepped up their play. We are
continuing to take it one game at a time and hope to finish strong.”
Cox plays Salem on Tuesday in the first round of the tournament.
2. Phoebus has no trouble with Hampton: In arguably the biggest game of the year to date on the gridiron in Virginia, nationally-ranked
Phoebus (Hampton, Va.) (No. 10 in the MaxPreps Xcellent 25 presented by the Army National Guard) made easy work of rival Hampton, 37-12, Friday night in front of an estimated 10,000 fans at Darling Stadium in Hampton.
Breon Key returned a kickoff 80 yards and a punt 90 yards for touchdowns, and
Jordan Roby threw for one score and ran for another to lead the Phantoms over their cross-town rival.
Tequan Blackley recorded three sacks to lead a stingy Phoebus defense.
The win was the 38th straight for Phoebus (8-0), while Hampton (7-1) suffered its first loss of the season.
3. Middletown makes statement with win over Charter: Middletown (Del.) celebrated homecoming in grand style with a convincing 41-8 win over Charter (Wilmington, Del.) (5-2, 2-2) in a Blue Hen Flight A matchup Friday night.
After senior running back
Michael West ran into the end zone from 8 yards out to open the scoring, freshman quarterback Darius Wade threw two touchdowns to junior
Luis Prado and one to freshman Chris Godwin to give the Cavaliers a big first-half lead that would never be threatened.
“We felt we needed to earn some respect,” Middletown coach Mark DelPercio said of his team, whose lone loss came at the hands of Salesianum (6-1). Those wins had come against opponents with a combined record of 13-22 heading into the Charter game.
With the win Middletown improved its record to 6-1 overall, 4-0 in Flight A, and the Cavaliers will host Concord (6-1, 4-0 Flight A) Friday at 7:30.
4. Gonzaga ruins Paul VI’s homecoming: Gonzaga (Washington, D.C.) maintained its lead in the Washington Catholic Athletic Conference with a solid 49-25 win over Paul VI Friday night.
The host’s onside kick attempt to open the game fooled nobody and quarterback
Kevin Hogan (a Stanford commit) made them pay when he hooked up with wide receiver
Brady Malone for a 50-yard touchdown on the Eagles’ first play from scrimmage.
As quick as its first score was, Gonzaga (7-1, 5-0 WCAC) proved it could play grind-it-out football as well, intercepting a Paul VI pass in the end zone and then marching 80 yards to go up 14-0 when junior running back
Duane McKelvin plunged into the end zone for a score.
The only bright side for Paul VI (2-6, 1-4 WCAC) was
Zach Tuell's three rushing touchdowns.
5. Chesapeake Bowl to feature senior all-stars from six states and D.C.: The inaugural Chesapeake Bowl, an all-star game with senior players from New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware competing against seniors from Maryland, Washington, D.C., Virginia and West Virginia will be played Dec. 30 at 7:30 p.m. at Johnny Unitas Stadium on the Towson University campus. For more information visit
www.chesapeakebowl.com.
PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
* Kendal Robino, sophomore forward, Tower Hill (Wilmington, Del.): Scored the game-winning goal in overtime to lift the No. 4-ranked Hillers to a 4-3 win over second-ranked William Penn.
* Taylor Reynolds, junior quarterback, Newark (Del.): Scored five touchdowns on two passes, two rushes and an interception return to lead the Yellowjackets (3-3) to a 44-35 upset win over visiting A.I. du Pont (5-2) to keep the Yellowjackets’ playoff hopes alive.
* Sherrod Baltimore, senior wide receiver, Friendly (Fort Washington, Md.): Caught four touchdown passes and ran for another in Friendly’s easy 66-27 win over Riverdale Baptist. Baltimore finished with 167 receiving yards.
* Chris Hall, senior quarterback, Dinwiddie (Va.): Threw a touchdown pass (17 yards) and rushed (29 and 11 yards) for two others, finishing the game with 167 yards on 24 carries to rally Dinwiddie (7-0, 4-0) from a 21-12 deficit to a 33-21 win over Petersburg in a key Central District game. Hall has verbally committed to play tight end at Virginia Tech, where he will enroll as a greyshirt freshman in January 2012.
GAME TO WATCH
* Middletown (6-1, 4-0 Blue Hen Flight A) hosts
Concord (Wilmington, Del.) (6-1, 4-0 Flight A) Friday at 7:30 with the winner in the driver’s seat to win the conference title and the automatic playoff berth that goes with it.
THE BUZZ
Christiana (Newark, Del.) scored its first points of the season and picked up its first win of the season, 20-14, over winless Brandywine (0-7). Delaware Military Academy (0-7) and Dickinson (0-7) are the other two Delaware schools yet to win this season. Brandywine and Dickinson were also winless in 2009, while Delaware Military Academy finished with a 6-4 record.
Jon Buzby is the sports columnist for the Newark Post, a freelance writer, and color commentator for the 1290am The Ticket High School Football Game of the Week. You can reach him at jonbuzby@hotmail.com.
