NEWARK — John Wells has been here before, of course.
When his Sussex Central High softball squad fell to Caravel, 2-0, in the DIAA state championship game on Friday night, it was the fifth …
Join our family of readers for as little as $5 per month and support local, unbiased journalism.
Already a member? Log in to continue. Otherwise, follow the link below to join.
Please log in to continue |
NEWARK — John Wells has been here before, of course.
When his Sussex Central High softball squad fell to Caravel, 2-0, in the DIAA state championship game on Friday night, it was the fifth time in seven tries that the Golden Knights lost to the Buccaneers in the finals.
Wells, Central’s veteran coach, said he believes private schools like Caravel definitely have an advantage when it comes to building athletic programs.
“We like to play at the highest level,” he said. “We’ve got what we’ve got. We’ve got the kids that live in our area and we’re going against a private school that they’re always going to be at the top.
“When’s the last time they’ve not been here? How many times in my 30 years of coaching softball has Caravel not been in the finals? A handful.
“It’s not rocket science,” he continued. “How many coaches have come through? It’s not hard to figure out. They all do a good job, each coach that’s come in there. The playing field is what it is.
“We don’t make excuses. That’s why we beat them twice for state championships. It’s back to the grind. The bar is high, so you’ve got to get after it.”
For the record, Caravel has reached the softball state title game 23 times since 1991, winning 14 of them. Since 1999, the Buccaneers have been in 22 out of 25 state finals.
And Caravel has kept that run going through four different head coaches.
But, of course, Caravel is just one example of how private schools dominate DIAA state championships in Delaware.
In the 2023-24 school year that ended on Saturday, private schools captured 25 of the DIAA’s 34 state team titles (not counting Unified ones).
Only seven traditional public schools — including six from the Henlopen Conference — won a state championship. Cape Henlopen, with two titles, was the only public school to win multiple crowns.
Clearly, the demise of New Castle County’s public-school system plays a big role in the situation. Schools that once had highly-successful teams in multiple sports are now barely competitive.
Middletown was the northern-most traditional public school to win a state title this year.
Not surprisingly, Salesianum — the all-boys Catholic school that puts a great deal of money into athletics — won the most state championships this school year. The Sals won state titles in nine of the 13 DIAA-sponsored sports they are eligible for.
A few of Sallies’ programs are now considered national caliber, with its boys’ lacrosse team currently ranked No. 6 in the country.
Tatnall, with its highly-regarded running program, won five state titles this year with Caravel earning three.
Of course, there are also traditional public schools that dominate in certain sports, too. Cape Henlopen just won its 14th girls’ lacrosse state title in the past 15 seasons while the Vikings and Delmar have combined to win 19 of the last 20 state crowns in Division I and II field hockey.
Delaware being a state with school choice also plays a role in all this. There’s no publicly available stats that show how many student-athletes are choice students or live out of state.
The First State is hardly the only state where there are debates over whether public and private schools should compete for the same state championship. Different states have come up with different plans to try to make the situation more equitable.
For now, though, there are no signs of any major changes in Delaware.
All-star time
June is a big month for high school senior all-star games in Delaware.
Here’s the ones on the schedule: