the Cafe
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state tourney by CR, 27-26
(bottom) Cape coach Brian Donahue talks defense during a timeout
Time and again, Cape Henlopen High School's football team brushed itself off and came back strong after falling victim to one of Caesar Rodney's big offensive plays.
But the Vikings would give up one big play too many Friday night, Nov. 27, 1998, and see their dreams of a state football championship come to a heartbreaking end.
Joe Schonewolf's 31-yard touchdown pass to Jon Berry with 44.1 seconds remaining gave Caesar Rodney a thrilling 27-26 upset victory over Cape in a Delaware Division I state semifinal game played before a huge crowd in Lewes.
CR advanced to the state championship game against Newark, which beat the Riders 21-6 to claim the state Division I crown. The Riders finished their season 10-2.
"We haven't been giving up big plays and I think we gave up a lot tonight," said Cape coach Brian Donahue, whose team finished 9-2 overall. "Not to take anything away from CR, they did a great job executing on the big plays."
The normally stingy Cape defense gave up four touchdowns of 28 yards or more and CR's 27 points were just one shy of the 28 the Vikings surrendered in 10 regular-season games combined.
CR running back Robert Young rushed for 173 yards and scored on runs of 72 and 41 yards. Schonewolf, meanwhile, completed 4 of 9 passes for 82 yards and two touchdowns.
"It was a pretty physical game. We gave up some big plays but I guess they
gave up some big plays, too, so it was great high school football game,"
Donahue said.
After trailing nearly the entire game, Cape took a 26-21 lead with 3:14 remaining when Elijah Worthy scored from a yard out to cap a 14-play, 52-yard drive.
But CR got a 43-yard kickoff return from Young to begin its next series at the Cape 47 yard line with 3:04 to play. The Riders managed just two yards on their next three plays but on fourth and 8, Schonewolf fired a 12-yard completion to Rocky Myers for a first down.
A false start penalty backed CR up five yards but three plays later Schonewolf found Berry on the right side of the field for a 31-yard touchdown that put the Riders ahead 27-26 with 44.1 seconds left. CR's two-point conversion attempt failed.
"You go into a game like this and you say if there's three minutes left on the clock and you have a five-point lead, you turn it over to your defense ... you would feel like you should come away with a win," Donahue said. "That didn't happen because CR did a great job with those three minutes left on the clock."
Cape quarterback John Howard hit Ricky Thompson and Malik Lopez for 17- and 10-yard completions respectively to get the Vikings to midfield in the closing seconds. But a sideline pass intended for Worthy was intercepted, clinching the victory for CR.
"We practiced hard all season. Sometimes it just has to come down to this. Unfortunately, this was a game somebody had to lose and unfortunately it was us," said Worthy, who rushed for 95 yards on 13 carries and scored two touchdowns. "It's over now."
The game was tied 14-14 at halftime and CR went three-and-out on its first possession of the third quarter. But the Riders caught a break when O.J. Wilson fumbled Schonewolf's punt and CR recovered at the Cape 28. On the next play, Schonewolf found Berry in the end zone for a touchdown.
Dan Andrade's extra point, which was equivalent to a 35-yard field goal following an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty against Berry, gave CR a 21-14 lead.
But the Vikings needed just four plays to answer. Howard hit Lopez with a 32-yard completion to get Cape into CR territory, then lofted a pass down the middle of the field that was tipped by CR's Mark Razzano but landed in the hands of Lopez, who raced into the end zone to complete the 47-yard score.
CR maintained a 21-20 lead, however, when the Vikings were flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct and Cape kicker Matt Hall missed the extra point, which covered 35 yards.
The Riders carried that one-point lead into the fourth quarter but on the second play of the period, Schonewolf was hit as he threw a pass and Tom Sheehan made an interception at the line of scrimmage.
Setting up at its own 48, Cape methodically moved 52 yards for the go-ahead score while eating nearly eight minutes off the clock. A two-yard run by Wilson on fourth and 1 and a 15-yard screen pass from Howard to Worthy on third and 8 helped set up Worthy's 1-yard score that gave the Vikings a 26-21 lead. The two-point conversion attempt failed.
Howard completed 7 of 11 passes for 136 yards in the game while Lopez caught three passes for 89 yards.
In the first meeting between the teams on Nov. 6, Cape raced to a 19-0 first-half lead and cruised to a 25-6 victory. But on Friday night, CR wasted no time letting everyone in attendance know things would be different this time around.
On CR's first play from scrimmage, Young broke a tackle at the line of scrimmage and raced 72 yards for a touchdown to give the Riders a 7-0 lead just 2:32 into the game.
But Cape responded with one of its trademark time-consuming drives, moving 77 yards in 15 plays to tie the score. Tim Cannon's 3-yard touchdown run capped a drive that lasted more than seven minutes and was aided by pass interference call against CR on third and 7.
CR again drove deep into Cape territory on its next series but appeared to stall when a clipping penalty and a sack set up a third and 22 situation. But on the first play of second quarter, Young ran a sweep to right side and raced 41 yards to the end zone to give the Riders a 14-7 lead.
The teams traded interceptions before Worthy pulled the Vikings even shortly before halftime. After being stuffed at the line of scrimmage most of the first half, Worthy broke loose for 26 yards to give Cape some breathing room after starting at its own 13. Howard's 17-yard completion to Mark Moore moved Cape to the CR 39 before Worthy found daylight up the middle and sprinted to the end zone, tying the score.
CR drove to the Cape 15 in the closing seconds of the half but Andrade's 32-yard field goal attempt was blocked as time expired.
Donahue was pleased with the way his team responded after falling behind three different times in the game. "I think we've been doing that for the last two years now. "We've been down in ballgames before and they keep coming back," he said.
Added Worthy: "I'm happy with that, but you've just got to maintain the lead once up get up."
Cape finished with a 317-285 edge in total offensive yards. The loss ended Cape's nine-game winning streak, which began the week after a season-opening 7-6 loss at St. Mark's on Sept. 11.
"We're proud of our seniors, they represented the program well for two years and they've got a lot of great memories to look back upon," Donahue said. "Any loss it tough, certainly this is a tough loss. I think our kids gave an effort and played well and it just wasn't our night tonight. CR played better."
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