Photos Special to the Delaware State News/Doug Curran

NEWARK — The tears of joy were still drying on the face of Jodi Hollamon as she cracked a joke to her Delmar High field hockey team.

As the Wildcats were posing for a state championship photo, Hollamon, Delmar’s coach, reminded them they had to hold up one finger.

“Sorry,” she laughed. “We’re not used to this.”

This feeling is what Delmar has been on the precipice of for about a decade.

After years of coming close, Delmar captured its first field hockey state championship with a 3-0 victory over Tower Hill on Friday night at the University of Delaware’s Rullo Stadium.

Junior attacker Peyton Kemp led the third-seeded Wildcats with a goal and two assists. Freshman Morgan Fletcher and senior Caitlyn Wink also added a goal for Delmar.

“This is the best time of my life right now,” Kemp said. “This is awesome.”

“I can’t even handle this,” Wink said. “We finally did it.”

It’s the first non-football state championship in Delmar High history.

The Wildcats had reached five state finals before Friday, including four of the last five. Each one ended the same way, with a long bus ride back to Delmar and hope that next season would be different.

This year was different.

Kemp scored in the game’s seventh minute and the Wildcats never looked back.

“This is for every single player who has ever lost on this field,” Hollamon said. “This is for Linda Budd who I took over for and the history and the tradition she made with Delmar field hockey.”

Hollamon was mobbed by throngs of Delmar field hockey alumni as she left the field. Some even made it onto the turf and tackled her to the ground in celebration.

She said she has been bombarded with texts, emails and phone calls from her former players since the Wildcats won on Tuesday to reach the final.

The stands were full of people wearing the familiar orange and blue of Delmar. Some were shirtless, with orange and blue painted on their chests. As the Wildcats were presented with their championship medals, they chanted each individual’s name one-by-one.

Hollamon said she never lost faith after all those championship defeats.

“I knew there was a field hockey god up in heaven, my aunt, and I knew she would take care of it sooner or later,” Hollamon said. “She did.”

Kemp’s opening goal came off a one-timed shot from the center of the circle. Fletcher doubled the lead three minutes from halftime with a diving effort to tap home a pass from Kemp.

Tower Hill, the fourth seed, never could threaten the Delmar goal and Wink sealed it with a goal from a penalty corner. Wink, the lone senior starter, sent the corner to the top of the box to Kemp, who fired a pass back to Wink for an easy goal.

“These girls played probably the best game I’ve ever had a Delmar team play,” Hollamon said. “We’re putting up a banner in the gym. These girls deserve this so much.”