Local sports notes: Middle football field, Hall of Fame nod for MT grad, Cape Tech hoops changes, D1 choice for wrestler, new AD at LCMR, new school for former WCA star, WCA AD leaves

Posted: August 26th 2025

By BRIAN CUNNIFF

CapeAtlanticLive.com

Some news and notes as a new high school scholastic sports year quickly approaches …

FIELD ISSUES FOR MIDDLE FOOTBALL

Memorial Field in Cape May Court House will look different for Middle Township High School football home games this season.

The bleachers on the home side and the overhead lights have been deemed unusable, leaving Middle in a bit of a bind. Middle will place its team on the south sideline, opposite its usual place, so the home fans can sit on what in the past were the away side’s bleachers. Portable lights will be brought in to light the field for evening home games. The field’s previous light system has already been removed.

Middle’s opener with Gateway on Thursday, Aug. 28, which was originally scheduled to be played at Memorial Field, has been changed to a road game for Middle. The team will now play just four home games, only three of which will be in the evening (Sept. 5 vs. Triton, Sept. 12 vs. Lower Cape May, Oct. 24 vs. St. Joseph). Its other home game is an afternoon contest with Salem on Oct. 4.

MIDDLE GRAD TO DREW UNIVERSITY HALL OF FAME

Former Middle Township High School basketball standout Danielle Barber-McCann will be inducted into the Drew University Athletics Hall of Fame, the university announced earlier this summer.

DANIELLE BARBER-MCCANN

Barber-McCann was a four-year starting guard for Drew before graduating in 2012. She ranks fifth in career points (1,366), second in career assists (436) and fifth in career steals (239) for the Rangers.

Barber-McCann was the first women’s basketball player from Drew to earn All-Met honors, doing so twice, and was a three-time All-Landmark Conference selection. One of the highlights of her college career came when she made a three-pointer at the buzzer in a 65-63 win at Catholic University during a game in which she posted the only triple-double in program history with 21 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists.

The induction ceremony is set for Friday, Oct. 10.

A 2008 graduate of Middle, Barber-McCann scored 1,156 career points as a high school player.

CAPE TECH BASKETBALL COACHING CHANGES

The Cape May Tech basketball programs will each have new head coaches this winter.

Dan Loesch, who led the girls program at the school for the past three seasons, is moving over to the boys program to take over for Phil Kelly, who resigned after one season.

Loesch helped improve the Tech girls team’s win totals from the previous season in each of his three seasons as coach. The Lady Hawks team set a program record for victories in a season with 14 in 2024-25.

Mackenzie Ironside, who has basketball coaching experience in Pennsylvania, is replacing Loesch as the school’s head girls basketball coach.

HANSEN MAKES COLLEGE CHOICE

One of the most accomplished high school wrestlers in Cape May County history has made his college choice.

Chase Hansen, a rising senior at Lower Cape May, announced earlier this summer that he will continue his academic and wrestling career at Division I Rider University.

CHASE HANSEN

Hansen is a three-time district and region champion, becoming the first Lower Cape May wrestler to claim three straight region titles. He brings a career record of 133-5 into his senior season. He’s never lost a regular-season match, with all five defeats coming in the state tournament.

Hansen is seven victories away tying the program record for career wins, which is held by current Lower Cape May coach Billy Damiana.

Hansen will join former Lower Cape May teammate Brock Zurawski at Rider. Last season as a sophomore, Zurawski won the Mid-American Conference title at 197 pounds and qualified for the NCAA Championships.

NEW ATHLETIC DIRECTOR AT LCMR

There’s a new athletic director at Lower Cape May Regional High School.

Matt Danze, a 2005 graduate of Lower, has taken over the duties after Erik Simonsen, who also serves as a New Jersey Assemblyman, retired from the AD position shortly after the close of the last school year in June. Simonsen was athletic director for seven years after serving as an assistant principal at the Richard M. Teitelman School for the previous seven years, following a long teaching career in the Cape May County Special Services School District. Simonsen was also a wrestling coach at both Wildwood and his alma mater during his career.

Danze, who played football and baseball during his time as a student at Lower, was a teacher in the Lower Township and Lower Cape May Regional school systems for the past 13 years. He also had served as an assistant coach for Lower’s football team for 16 seasons and spent four years as an assistant coach for the school’s girls lacrosse program.

“I’m just excited to be in the place where I grew up and learned a lot,” Danze said. “It’s great getting to work with people who coached me previously and with people I’ve gotten the opportunity to coach with. It’s good to get the chance to give back to this community and keep things moving in the right direction.”

THWEATT TO COPPIN STATE

Former Wildwood Catholic basketball star Taj Thweatt will use his final season of college eligibility at Division I Coppin State.

TAJ THWEATT

Thweatt, who helped Wildwood Catholic to three straight Cape-Atlantic League titles and a South Jersey championship in 2020, played last season at Division II Fairmount State (W. Va.), where he averaged 11.8 points and 6.2 rebounds per game for a team that finished 27-5 overall.

Thweatt first played college basketball at West Virginia before landing at Temple prior to his move to Fairmount State.

Coppin State, a member of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference, finished 6-24 last season.

ATHLETIC DIRECTOR OUT AT WILDWOOD CATHOLIC

Wildwood Catholic Academy is without an athletic director with the new scholastic sports year on the horizon.

According to multiple sources, Mike Rennie resigned from the position early last week in the wake of the school’s decision to turn the position from a full-time role to a part-time one in a cost-cutting move.

Rennie, a 1999 graduate of Wildwood Catholic, was a soccer standout at his alma mater.

There has been no immediate word on how Wildwood Catholic will handle the athletic director position moving forward.