Cape basketball will play in semifinals

Concord High School is a welcoming place for a visiting team. That is a tribute to athletic director Debbie Corrado and the entire crew of coaches and teachers. It’s just a feeling you get when hospitality is in the house. Vice Principal Mark Mayer, who was on the Cape football staff back when Brian Donahue was head coach, was described by my son Dave, who was also on the staff, as simply a great guy. Mayer, speaking to me after last Friday night’s Raiders’ victory over the Vikings, said every player on the Concord basketball team is a great kid, and head coach Ralph Flowers, a Delaware state trooper, has taught them discipline, tenacity and respect. A tribute piece is usually highlighted by contrasting stories where good sense has left the building, but as my leaf blower would say if it could speak, “Don’t get me started!”

Family reunion - There is a look in the eyes shared by friends who haven’t seen each other in decades. The image is distorted and digitized but the clues and cues of voice and mannerisms bring the way back quickly into the focused, high-definition present. Aaron Burton is the senior starting point guard for Concord. Aaron had 13 points in a quarterfinal win over Smyrna. He is an academic golfer dude who placed fourth in the state last spring. His father, Anthony Burton, and mother, Ella Floyd Burton, both graduated from Cape in 1978. Anthony went on to Swarthmore then earned a master’s degree at Delaware; Ella is a teacher. Anthony sat behind a video camera, apologized for not getting up after two spinal surgeries, flashed his trademark broad smile and showed his cane, which is a steel golf club - a putter. Russell Burton was also at the game, grandfather of many Cape athletes, and uncles Garfield Daniels and William Jones. “I’m married to the sister, Denise, and we’ve been married 26 years,” William said. “Make sure you put that paper.” Basketball guys never stop looking for points.

Simply the best! - Lamont “Poochie” Hazzard and Will Edwards are simply the best in my book, and I don’t know if they’re better than all the rest. I just know the last two seasons of Cape girls’ basketball have been magic and mysterious and I don’t know how they have done it. Somehow to me their team seems dissonant, like somewhere a wire is loose. The girls beat Milford and Dover by a combined 30-point margin but racked up over 40 turnovers in the two wins. But the Vikings are 18-4 and they know the formula for winning: their team chemistry is chippie and when necessary the girls hold each other to high expectations as they race for the top. Cape led at Ursuline 28-20 at the half Jan. 14, before sliding backward to a 53-47 loss. Cape faces Ursuline at 6:30 p.m., Wednesday, March 9, at the Bob Carpenter Center. Cape won the very first Delaware girls’ state championship in 1973 and hasn’t been back to the dance since.

Snippets - Plenty of tickets at the door for the Wednesday, March 9 semifinal matchup featuring Cape and Ursuline. Smyrna will play Sanford in the 8 p.m. game. I went on the web and tried to make sense of the field hockey age group indoor nationals in Richmond, Va., and I just got overwhelmed with teams and games and figured someone is getting really rich off athletes playing an indoor tournament in a sport that is played outdoors. I just know locally many perceive this region as a hockey hotbed and many athletes who play multiple sports choose field hockey first, not wanting to lose their places in line. But camp competitions are not the best predictor of future success in high school; that is still DNA. Several old school Cape guys speaking only of boys’ programs they have observed think that kids have gone soft and do not approach competition as fiercely as they did when they played 25-30 years ago. I’m not married to any particular era; I can say that from 1975-80, the hallways of Cape looked like an NFL training dormitory. The Cape baseball field looks great - better than ever - hopes are high, talent is good enough to win, hopefully the wind will not blow relentlessly and we can all hang out and watch some good baseball. My high school had a Russian science teacher as baseball coach. He told his base runners, “My back to you, steal,” and when he turned everyone in the stands yelled, “There he goes!” My back to you - “Go on now, git! “