By Andy Walter

By Andy Walter
Delaware State News

NEWARK — Stephen Wilson can be pretty emotional at times.

And the thought of what it would mean to the Dover community to have the Senators win a DIAA boys’ basketball state title brought the veteran coach almost to tears.

“It would mean a lot,” Wilson said quietly. “It would mean a lot. ... It would mean everything. It would mean everything.

“It would mean so much. But, if the latter happens, it doesn’t mean we’re failures.”

On Saturday, second-seeded Dover High (22-2) will make the program’s sixth appearance in a state title game when it faces fourth-seeded Salesianum (15-8) at 6 p.m. at the Carpenter Center.

For a variety of reasons, the Senators have never won the state crown despite having plenty of memorable players and memorable teams.

Beating the Sals won’t be easy. While Dover downed Sallies, 72-52, in Wilmington on Feb. 13, the Sals were missing three of their top players as well as their head coach.

Sallies is also the defending state champion. The Sals are 11-3 against Delaware schools this winter.

In Thursday’s semifinals, the Senators topped No. 3 Middletown, 59-53, while Sallies knocked off No. 1 St. Elizabeth, 65-51.

Wilson knows all the Senators can do is be prepared to play their best.

“You’re going to be playing a good team in the championship,” he said. “What can you do about it? “

“It’s 0-0 at this point,” said senior point guard Devin Perkins. “We’ll be ready to play on Saturday.”

Sallies coach Taylor Trevisan knows that the Senators will pose a big challenge for his team as well.

“It will be nice to be in person,” joked Trevisan, who was suspended for the first meeting. “I’m excited. They’re a great team.

“They’ve got a lot of pieces. Coach Wilson does a great job with them. I’m excited for us to be at full strength against them.”

Trevisan doesn’t think the regular-season meeting will have much bearing on the rematch in the finals. Dover has won 14 games in a row while the Sals have won nine of their last 10.

“We’ll definitely take stuff away from it,” Trevisan said about the first game. “But as far as motivation and stuff like that — even against St. E’s — that game was long ago, we wanted to focus on who we are now.

“We’re a completely different team than we were a month ago. ... It’s a whole new ballgame.”

Sallies only won the program’s first state championship in 2014. The Sals have since added titles in 2015 and ‘23.

The Senators are trying to become only the ninth Henlopen Conference team and just the second since 1997 to win the state crown. Smyrna won the title in 2017.

Since the state tournament started in 1967, Downstate squads are 8-20 in championship games.

There are plenty of fans and former Dover players who still vividly remember the Senators’ heartbreaking 57-56 loss to Wilmington in the 1972 title game that was decided on a controversial last-second call.

In Dover’s last title-game appearance, in 2019, it lost just 48-45 to Sanford.

There was also the heartbreak of 2020 when a talented Senator team reached the state semis only to have the end of the tourney canceled by the COVID pandemic.

The current Dover players can’t change history, of course. All they can try to do is try to win the game that’s right in front of them.

On Thursday night, Perkins tried to imagine what winning a state title would be like for the Senators and the community.

“I don’t even know how to explain it,” he said. “The city would go crazy. I just want it for them, not just for myself but for the team and everybody else that’s involved in the community.”

Sports editor Andy Walter can be reached at awalter@iniusa.org. Follow on Twitter @DSNSports.