Prep notes: Howard's Matthews to play two sports at Wesley

Howard High’s Darin Matthews (center) is surrounded by family and friends as he commits to play football and baseball at Wesley College.

Two-sport college athletes are about as rare as tax cuts nowadays, but Darin Matthews is going to give it a try.

The 6-foot-2, 260-pound senior at Howard High made his future destination official last week, choosing Wesley College.

“When I was on the visit, it just felt right,” Matthews said. “It just felt like home, like I could be there for the next four years.”

Matthews looked at other colleges, where coaches wanted him to decide between football and baseball. Not so at Wesley, where football coach Mike Drass and baseball coach Bret Underwood said he could play both.

“They said when it’s football season, then it’s all football,” Matthews said. “But then when baseball rolls around, I can go straight to baseball.”

Matthews played center and defensive tackle at Howard, which won the DIAA Division II championship in his junior year. He said Drass believes he will fit best on the Wolverines’ offensive line.

In the spring, Matthews will look to pitch and/or play first base for the Wesley baseball team.

“I want to stay active,” said Matthews, who plans to study athletic training or physical education. “I have love for both of the sports, so I just want to keep playing both… It’s going to be tough, but I like to challenge myself.”

Senior Classic wrestling

The annual Senior Classic wrestling match, pitting Delaware’s top seniors against the best from Pennsylvania’s District 1 South, will be held Tuesday at A.I. du Pont High. Action will begin with a Blue vs. Gold match featuring Delaware middle schools at 5 p.m., followed by the seniors at 7.

The Team Delaware lineup includes six 2017 DIAA individual champions – Dover’s Anthony Fisher (138 pounds), Smyrna’s Chase Archangelo (145), Sanford’s Timmy Griffith (152), Cape Henlopen’s Cory Lawson (170), St. Georges’ Austin Clayton (182) and Milford’s Bryan Wynes (285).

Other Delaware wrestlers scheduled to compete include Delaware Military Academy’s Dylan Peters (113), Salesianum’s Andy Lynch (120), Charter of Wilmington’s Jessey Muaka (126), Milford’s Jesse Arlett (132), Sanford’s Luke McDonough (138) and Milford’s Dominyc Hovington (220).

The District 1 South lineup boasts five seniors with more than 100 career victories, highlighted by Coatesville’s Chase Stephens. The 152-pounder has a 154-21 career record and won Ches-Mont League, district and regional titles before finishing fourth in the state.

Wolfe an All-American

Former Caravel wrestler Ryan Wolfe, now a senior at Rider University, earned All-American status by finishing seventh in the 197-pound weight class at the NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships over the weekend in St. Louis.

Wolfe, the 2012 News Journal Delaware Wrestler of the Year, reached the quarterfinals before dropping a 10-1 major decision to top seed and eventual champion J’den Cox of Missouri. He came back to edge Old Dominion’s Kevin Beazley 2-1 in the seventh-place match.

Two other Delawareans also competed in St. Louis. Smyrna’s Brent Fleetwood, a junior at Central Michigan, went 0-2 at 125 pounds. Caesar Rodney’s Zack Parker, a sophomore at Ohio University, went 0-2 at 285.

Rounding it up

— St. Georges’ Kyson Rawls has been named Gatorade Delaware Boys Basketball Player of the Year. The 6-foot-1 senior averaged 22.6 points, 5.6 assists and 4.7 rebounds as the Hawks reached the semifinals of the state tournament. Rawls also was named the Delaware Sportswriters and Broadcasters Association Player of the Year and first team All-State last week.

— St. Andrew’s graduate Myles Stephens, a 6-foot-4 sophomore guard at Princeton, was named Ivy League Defensive Player of the Year, first-team All-Ivy League and most outstanding player of the Ivy League Tournament. Stephens averaged 12.5 points and 4.6 rebounds for the Tigers, who went 23-7 and lost a 60-58 heartbreaker to Notre Dame in the first round of the NCAA Tournament last Thursday.

— The Ursuline basketball team, which finished 23-1 and won its third consecutive DIAA championship, has moved up to 18th nationally in the USA Today Super 25, and 16th in the maxpreps.com Xcellent 25.

— The outdoor track season gets under way Friday with the Tiger Field and Track Relays, which begin at 3 p.m. at A.I. du Pont. Boys and girls will compete in 4 x 100-, 200-, 400-, 800- and 1,600-meter relays, along with shuttle hurdles, Swedish medley, sprint medley and distance medley relays and a full schedule of field events.

— A.I. du Pont is seeking head coaches in girls basketball and boys basketball. Send resumes to athletic director Mark Alley at mark.alley@redclay.k12.de.us by noon March 31.

— Hodgson continued its five-year reign of raising the most money among high schools in the Easterseals/CAI Volleyball Challenge. Students from Conrad and William Penn also participated in the high school portion of the event, which has raised more than $26,000 in five years.

— Two Polytech athletes recently made their college destinations official. Bryan Perry will compete in cross country and track at East Stroudsburg, while Tamia Mathias will play basketball at North Country Community College.

Contact Brad Myers at bmyers@delawareonline.com. Follow on Twitter: @BradMyersTNJ