Cape cranks at the Castle, beating Sussex Central 46-14
A closely contested, full-house Friday night state tournament semifinal football game featuring Cape at the Castle of Sussex Central cranked crazy in the fourth quarter.
With the Vikings holding a 14-7 advantage, Cape scored five touchdowns and 32 points in seven minutes’ time to lead 46-14 with five minutes left on the scoreboard clock.
Coach Mike Frederick turned back toward his own bench and said words never uttered by a Cape head coach in the history of the state tournament: “Get that JV offense ready to go into the game.”
The whack factor overriding the fourth-quarter scoring spree was highlighted by three interceptions, beginning with Lex Wescott’s return to the five-yard line to set up a Maurki James rushing touchdown followed by pick-six interceptions by James of 27 yards and Cam Joyner of 37 yards.
“Keeping the defense off of the field and moving the ball and clock gave us confidence we could score with them if needed,” Frederick said. “The game was way closer than the final score. It was sort of a flip scenario of the game earlier in the year. Trying to come back throwing the ball isn’t really what the Wing T [Central’s offensive scheme] is made for.”
James carried the ball 32 times for 191 yards and four touchdowns, adding a fifth touchdown on his interception return. James now had 1,732 yards and 23 touchdowns on the season.
“Answering Central’s two touchdown drives with touchdown drives of our own was big on many levels,” Frederick said. “When the game was 20-14 early in the fourth period, I knew fans were looking at the missed extra point and blocked field goal before halftime.”
Cape led 14-0 at intermission but had an opportunity to go up by three scores just before half. Frederick said there was some confusion around a field goal attempt. It was third down, but there were only 15 seconds left and the Vikings had no timeouts.
“A sack or bad snap, or a runner short of the goal line, and there is not enough time to get another play off,” he said. “We tried to make it a three-possession game. Obviously, it didn’t work this time.”
Leading 7-0 in the first quarter, Cape took a deep shot to Lex Wescott. Quarterback Jameson Tingle (7-for-11, 108 yards) lofted the ball before Wescott came out of his break to the post. The athletic senior made a catch directly over his helmet for a 36-yard score.
“Wescott can take over a game when healthy,” Frederick said. “He had three catches for 70 yards and six tackles [on defense], and he’s a single punt return guy.”
Brenn Scott led a swarming Cape defense with 11 tackles, backed up by Dell Richards with seven.
Cape moves on to face No. 1 seed Salesianum in the state championship game scheduled for 7 p.m., Friday, Dec. 1 at the University of Delaware.
“Sallies look big, fast and athletic. Clearly a terrific team,” Frederick said. “And that provides a challenge on both sides of the ball.”
As for Cape’s fans at the Central game, Frederick said: “Our crowd was amazing. They packed the visitor section and provided unrelenting support. It was an unreal environment on the road for us. A special thank you to all of the Cape fans that impacted the game. And you take a win over coach [John] Wells and Central any way you can get it.”
Talking to his team in the endzone after the game, Frederick said: “Well, you took out No. 3 [Dover] and then we just beat No. 2, so let’s go play No. 1. And enjoy it because you never know when you're getting back here.”
For Cape, it’s been 39 years between championship games and 44 since the last and only state football championship.
Notes: Will Harmon and Jajuan Sturgis scored for Central. Malik Bell carried 18 times for 109 yards for the Golden Knights. Sussex Central finished the season with a record of 9-3. Salesianum is 11-1, losing Sept. 29 at Dover 27-16. The Sals have beaten Smyrna 41-40 and Middletown 24-14 to reach the final.
