Henlopen Championship
- Thread starter BriggsBeall
- Start date
Dover High Friday night. Very odd to have a team play in their home gym but that's the word according to several AD's
Are you serious? I think Dover obviously already has the advantage of being a better team right now but I have never heard of a Conference Championship game at the high school level here on DE on a team's home court which would give them even more of an advantage. I'm sure Milford would have to have a big time issue w/ that. I was thinking it would be @ Polytech or even CR.
Neutral site should always be the case. According to AD's they selected location before the season smh. Size is irrelevant because smyrna, and cape gym's are just as large. Even with equal ticket sales it still puts dover at a distinct advantage IMO
While it's an advantage, I think the real advantage here is that Dover has a real good team. Going 16-3 with and undefeated in the North, that is formidable. Last year Milford traveled up to face Poly and was greatly outnumbered, in terms of fan support. I suspect a trip to Smyrna would reduce fan support even further. To play the game at Cape would be unfair as well. In a perfect world, Lake would have a brand new, huge gym and the game could be played there. The world isn't perfect, so Dover is the best place for the game. The gym will be packed and the atmosphere should be exciting. Just enjoy the game.
Ikey is so classy, I respect this answer. But truth is if I'm a Milford coach/player/fan/student/parent, I'd be .38 hot about this.
Lol Ikey just goes with whatever flow is going. As an athlete or coach a neutral site is a neutral site. People are going to travel for this game regardless so that's exactly how it should be, neutral.
Good news is, it's an exhibition game and doesn't really matter. Sure, saying you won a Henlopen Conference championship is nice and all, but in the end it's relatively meaningless. The important thing for both teams is just to get through it healthy.
I also disagree. I went last year and they was a lot of energy and passion in that gym. Milford almost pulled a huge upset in that game. I'm sure they'll be up for this one too.
No way this should be at Dover.
Have they ever played at DelState ?
No way this should be at Dover.
Have they ever played at DelState ?
They haven't, but they should. As a DSU alum, I'd think they'd like to host, but only God knows what the rent for Memorial Hall, outdated as it is, might be.
I didn't see Milford this year. I see Dover won regular season game. Did anybody go? Can Milford make any adjustments?
LOL. Yeah you know me, get along Ikey.
Milford gets to go up against at least a top 5 seed (i'm guessing), in their own house, in a very charged atmosphere. You can't replicate that with two weeks of practices. It should be fun.
If Milford pulls the upset, the first round is on me at The Milford Tavern. Maybe we can get Countian to attend and sign autographs for the masses.
The Henlopen Conference Championship game was @ Del State about 5 or 6 yrs ago when Dover had Corey Crawford & Kendall Williams & Polytech had Anthony Myles & Kendall Gray...all of whom went on to have good college careers.
I didn't say it doesn't mean something to people. Sure it does. The kids want to win it as well, obviously. But in the grand scheme of things, it has zero impact on the ultimate goal unless someone gets hurt.
No signings for me on Friday. I'm on deadline and then have a long day Saturday... One more week until things slow down, thank God.
No signings for me on Friday. I'm on deadline and then have a long day Saturday... One more week until things slow down, thank God.
Indeed. Just enough time off to mentally prepare for freezing outdoors for the next two months.
One other thing about this location deal. Going by the comments, the only other possible venue that could've hosted this thing is Smyrna if it wasn't decided before the season. And that's only if Smyrna wanted it. If the consensus is that Polytech is too small, that really only leaves four gyms. Cape is booked, Central is in the girls' game and Dover in the boys'. How many Milford fans do you think are going to drive to Smyrna for an 8 p.m. exhibition game on a Friday night? And virtually no fans would make the trip from Woodbridge or Sussex Central. Life isn't always fair, Dover is the right choice regardless of when it was decided.
With Dover playing in the game it's a TERRIBLE choice. Stop trying to get more money and just get it RIGHT. No way the Bucs should play a conference chip at Dover vs Dover. That's straight up WRONG.
Polytech has hosted conference chip before. Problem is they chose money over getting it right and we should not take that.
Polytech has hosted conference chip before. Problem is they chose money over getting it right and we should not take that.
I'm not going to disagree with you on the money thing. But think about it like this. One, the more people inside the gym the better. Milford isn't that much farther from Dover than it is Woodside either, so I can't imagine the location is going to keep its fan attendance down. Two, it's not easy scheduling something like this after the teams are decided. The chosen school would have to get all its stuff together -- and there is a lot of things that go into hosting a game -- within a few days. This year the girls didn't have a North champ until Wednesday. That would leave a day to pick a host site. The school that decided to do it would have one day to get everything in order. Picking the school to host prior to the season makes the most sense. Is it fair to Milford? No, of course not. But life doesn't always work out fairly.
Man this ain't the DIAA first rodeo. They have been doing this for DECADES. It has worked fine and VERY fine in the past. This was about MONEY PERIOD. No matter how you slice this it's WRONG.
I am here at the game now & security/staff just made spectators that paid their $7 admission get up out of a section of the bleachers so They could block it off for Dover's band...definitely a Dover home game & Dover feeds off of their home crowd. I am a Dover fan but this just doesn't seem right @ all for a Conference Championship game & it will be hard for Milford to walk out of here w/ a W.
Agree, definitely a home crowd for Dover. I don't have a dog in the fight but that's just wrong. Especially with both girls teams from down south Poly would have seemed more fair.
At least the band is entertaining - maybe next year DIAA can up the ticket cost by $1 for the half time show.... and yeah, very competitive 25-22 game to go with. Dover looking to be the stronger team but Milford's put up a heck of a fight.
72-59 Dover wins Henlopen led by Jordan Allen's 39 & Steve Justice had about 19 & played a hell of a game on both ends. Milford wouldn't go away & didn't back down but Dover was just the better team w/ more talent. I'm taking Milford over Howard in the 1st round & over St. E's in the 2nd round before bowing out to #1 Sanford in the quarterfinals @ the Bob.
A new season starts Wednesday March 2nd, no matter what has been done up to this point everyone has the same one and done situation if they don't come to play.
Jordan was dropping NBA 3's. Put his team on his back and carried them home. Fun game, site did not matter IMO
Allow me to preface this with the fact that I think in no way did the location play a role in the outcome. Jordan Allen wasn't going to be stopped anywhere.
That said, I was wrong about this. Dover wasn't the place it should've been after the way things were handled there. Kids allowed to shine their flashes at Milford players while they were shooting free-throws for an entire quarter (it didn't work). The Dover band there and the cheerleaders but none from Milford. Was Milford at least told it was allowed to bring a pep band and its cheerleaders? I hope so, because if not, that's pretty suspect. Even though this game was at Dover's gym, it shouldn't have been treated like a home game, in my opinion. If that makes sense.
That said, I was wrong about this. Dover wasn't the place it should've been after the way things were handled there. Kids allowed to shine their flashes at Milford players while they were shooting free-throws for an entire quarter (it didn't work). The Dover band there and the cheerleaders but none from Milford. Was Milford at least told it was allowed to bring a pep band and its cheerleaders? I hope so, because if not, that's pretty suspect. Even though this game was at Dover's gym, it shouldn't have been treated like a home game, in my opinion. If that makes sense.
The location had nothing to do with the result. Good game, let the playoffs begin.
Ikey, to be a Milford guy (even if you aren't from there) you sure enough aren't afraid to not show much support. You never cease to amaze me. Playing it safe all the time is weak. Just weak smh.
LOL, I have come full circle.
Knowing Spath and how his team thinks, they love a game like last nights. Travel to a tough gym and play your hearts out, that is what this team is about. Trust me, to win at Dover would have been something they would have treasured. They did not care where the game was held, this is a team with a lot of heart.
They aren't going to throw themselves a pity party because they didn't get a break. I know every kid on the team and trust me, they would have played the game anywhere, just so long as they had the chance at a title. Great effort by both teams, Jordan was just too much for Milford last night. A good measure might be to take a look at free throw stats from last night. That game was almost won at the line, by Milford.
At the end of the day, it was just an exhibition. If Milford lays an egg against Howard, that would be the one that hurts. The players, especially the seniors didn't like losing last night, but they know they have a chance to play more ball. I hope they win. If they don't however, if they play like they did last night they can hold their heads up high.
As to your questioning my loyalty to Milford, you might be right. If you are on the outside looking in, it would be fair to question it. I would ask however, that before you do, you talk to any coach or player or parent of from Milford,. Anyone that has worn the Buccaneer uniform, where I stand. Trust me, I don't need to wear my Buc pride on DE preps to have my loyalty judged,
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