Call from the Bullpen by David Maull
The Bullpen | Indian River | Sports Front Page
Dream Week With I.R. Gridders
From the Oct. 29, 1998 TV Times
Two weeks ago I had the unique privilege of spending five days with the Indian River High School football team as it prepared for a crucial showdown with Henlopen Conference Southern Division rival Laurel.
The Indians had lost to the Bulldogs nine consecutive times dating back to 1990 and only a handful of those games were competitive. But IR opened the 1998 season with a 4-0 record and this seemed like its best chance in years to defeat the most despised opponent on its schedule.
With that in mind, I set out to give our readers a behind-the-scenes look at IR's preparations for the biggest game of the season. Compiling that day-by-day journal was one of the most enjoyable experiences of my career.
Head coach George Bethard graciously gave me complete access to practices, team meetings, pre-game pep talks and halftime strategy sessions. I looked forward to each day's practice and felt a twinge of sadness when the week was over.
From the first day, it was obvious the team desperately wanted to beat Laurel for the first time since 1989. Doing so would have put the Indians in contention for the Southern Division title and a state playoff berth. The last IR team to open the season 4-0 went on to win the state championship in 1988.
Space restrictions allowed me to use only a fraction of the material that filled my notebook and some amusing anecdotes had to be left out.
Here are a few that missed the cut:
- Assistant coach Pat Kelly, who has been IR's basketball coach for 13 years, admitting before Friday's game that he was so consumed by football that earlier in the day he passed up the opportunity to buy one of Street and Smith's new basketball preview magazines.
- Kicker George Cole, a full-time soccer player who joins the football team for Friday night games, entering the trainer's room Friday afternoon carrying a pair of thigh pads and a puzzled look on his face. It seems he wasn't sure where the pads belonged on his uniform.
- One player, after a fiery pre-game speech from Bethard, who has missed portions of the season with complications related to a brain tumor, turning to a teammate and saying, "He's baaack."
- Before the team bus departed for Laurel late Friday afternoon, Bethard gave T-shirts to every player and coach on the team. The shirts, which proclaimed "Indian River Football 1998, Takin' It Home," were to be worn under every player's jersey.
As I exited the meeting room, Bethard ordered me to grab a shirt for myself. Later, I was told to put it on under my sweatshirt.
As a reporter, I was supposed to be an impartial and detached observer, but the bug had hit me, too, and I wore the shirt.
By then, it was no longer possible for me to watch this football game without some type of emotional attachment. I couldn't outwardly root for the Indians, but deep inside I wanted them to win. They had to win.
Only they didn't. Laurel extended its winning streak over IR to 10 games with a 20-7 victory and a line of sullen faces filed onto the bus for what would be a long ride home.
As badly as he wanted a victory over Laurel, Bethard remained remarkably upbeat when it was over. For a man who had endured two brain surgeries and a series of radiation treatments in the past year, losing a football game hardly qualified as a hardship.
"It's not over. It's still going. You guys are 4-1," Bethard told the team afterward. "You never quit, you never stopped, you played your hearts out. We're going to do it."
The week's only blemish for me was the behavior of Indian River fans who stood behind a fence near the team's sideline. As the fourth quarter wound down, these fans took it upon themselves to verbally berate Bethard and the players. One loudly proclaimed, "Maybe next week you'll be ready to play."
News flash: they were ready to play, they just lost. Things like that happen in sports, and the sun always rises the next morning.
I exercised every ounce of restraint in my body to keep from confronting these bozos who thought trashing teenage kids was a form of productive criticism. Eventually I realized they were already making idiots of themselves without my help.
I offer my sincerest thanks to Bethard, his coaching staff and all of Indian River's players for allowing me to into their world for a week.
The experience is something I'll fondly remember every time I put on my "Takin' It Home" T-shirt.
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