Middletown picked up its eighth win of the season by defeating Glasgow, 13-0, on Thursday afternoon.
Seniors Ryan Haas, Elliot Gardner, Brendan Parsons and junior Chad Kuhl combined to throw a no-hit shutout for the Cavaliers.
“Our pitching has been what has carried us this early in the season,” Middletown coach Scott Smith said. “Our strikeout to walk ratio — 10 to 1 in this game — has been outstanding all season.”
The Cavaliers scored three runs in the first inning and five in the second to break the game open and give their pitchers the cushion needed to coast to the win.
Senior Zach Durham homered and doubled for the Cavs, while seniors Eric Husni and Elliot Gardner also hit home runs. Junior Adam Stein also added to Middletown’s powerful offensive attack with a double and senior Billy Wessells tripled. Middletown finished with 10 hits.
“The bottom line is we put the ball in play and made them play defense,” Smith said. “And having three home runs account for six of our total runs never hurts.”
With an 8-0 record nearing the halfway point of the season, it turns out that the Middletown Cavaliers’ runner-up finish in last season’s state tournament was no fluke.
The Cavaliers — playing on a home field for the first time since moving to their new school in 1997 (the Cavs home field was previously a bus ride away at Silver Lake Park) — returned several players from last year’s team.
“Returning so many starters from last year’s team, we had high expectations from this group,” Smith said. “I knew we had a pretty complete team coming back and it definitely helps playing on our own field.”
Smith considers Newark (8-2) and Charter (5-3) to be the other top teams in the Blue Hen Flight A Conference. Middletown defeated Newark, 3-1, earlier in the season, but their scheduled game against Charter last Tuesday was rained out. No make-up date has been set.
The Cavaliers have a busy week this week with key games against A.I. duPont, Delcastle and Caravel Academy.
“Staying focused on a daily basis and keeping the game in perspective is hard for a high school athlete to do,” Smith said. “I tell them all the time that it doesn’t matter if we are ranked 1 or 20, the mental approach has to be the same. I think some of them are catching on.”
Glasgow falls to 0-8, but despite its record coach Mack Haman is optimistic about his team’s play and improvement over the course of the season.
“The kids worked hard throughout the game,” Haman said. “The good thing is they never gave up. At the end of the game I let my kids know that we are going to get back on the field tomorrow and get back to work. They truly believe that they are getting better … and so do I.”
Glasgow will look for its first win of the season when they travel to Delcastle on Monday afternoon.
Boys Basketball: Newark hires coach
Newark high school has hired Shannon McCants as boys basketball coach for the 2009-10 season.
McCants, a 1990 Newark High graduate, was the starting point guard on two state championship teams and reached the semifinals and finals in his other two years. He then went on to play for four years at Lincoln University.
“We are very excited to be able to bring in a person of Shannon's ability, energy, and integrity, and especially because he is one of our own,” athletic director Steve Bastianelli said.
McCants replaces Kimphus Daniels, who was hired as the interim head coach at the beginning of last season when Gregory Benjamin Sr. — who was set to begin his 14th season on the Yellowjackets’ bench — was relieved of his duties due to a personnel matter. Benjamin is no longer employed by the district.
McCants is currently employed as a program manager for Project Stay Free, where he works with troubled youth. Bastianelli says the school hopes to have McCants in the building on at least a part-time basis starting in September.
“I am very excited to become the Newark High School boys basketball coach,” McCants said. “This position is so special to me. Being a former player and accomplishing so many things while at Newark, it truly is my dream job.
“I owe so much to the school, the community and the people that helped me along the way. I know it will be a challenge, but I have a great support system and I just want the kids to concentrate on being the best student-athletes they can be.”
Boys Lacrosse: Tower Hill downs Archmere in OT
Jake Graham scored the game-winning goal with 1:23 left in the first overtime to give Tower Hill a 7-6 victory over rival Archmere.
The win was the fifth straight for Tower Hill (6-2), while Archmere suffered its first loss (8-1) of the season.
Ripley Nielsen, who assisted on Graham’s game-winning goal, sent the game into overtime with a game-tying goal at the 1:24 mark of the fourth quarter. Nielsen finished with two goals and an assist, and Chas Robino also scored twice for the Hillers.
The Auks were led by Phil Pieretti (3 goals) and Jim Bowers (1 goal, 2 assists). Ian Allender finished with five saves for Archmere.
“My team is really growing up,” Tower Hill coach Brad duPont told The News Journal. “I think we’re getting better. We play a hard schedule and I think it makes you tougher as the season goes on.”
Girls Lacrosse: St. Mark’s downs Archmere
St. Mark’s senior Courtney Schweizer, bound for Johns Hopkins in the fall, scored five goals to lead the Spartans to a 15-4 victory over Archmere on Friday afternoon.
Schweizer’s fifth goal brought her to 271 for her career, just four shy of the state record 275, held by Heidi Pearce of St. Andrew’s. Pearce also played college lacrosse at Johns Hopkins.
Schweizer will go for the record on Tuesday afternoon when St. Mark’s (8-1) hosts Tower Hill (8-1).
News and Notes
Tower Hill’s Perrin Downing scored her 100th career lacrosse goal in an 11-4 victory over Tatnall. Downing will play lacrosse at Haverford College … Caravel’s Darwin Gibbons finished third in the pole vault at the Penn Relay Carnival. His teammate Bobby Kennedy finished fifth in the discus … Newark’s 1,600-meter relay team of Elliott Webster, Lee Sausen, Jordan Imeokparia and Kendall Daniels finished first in the Northern Delaware Division at the Penn Relays.
Jon Buzby is the Delaware correspondent for MaxPreps.com.
