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From the first day of preseason football practice, it was obvious that Cape Henlopen High School's strength in 1998 would be defense.
However, few could have envisioned the team giving up a total of just 15 points through the first seven games of the season.
But that's where the Vikings stood Friday night, Oct. 23, 1998, after routing Polytech 42-0 in Woodside for their sixth consecutive victory. The shutout was the team's fourth straight and its fifth in six games. In the last four games, the Vikings have outscored opponents 142-0.
"Our front just drives into the backfield and gets guys on the move, our linebackers field, our ends contain and we just do everything right and work together as a team," defensive tackle Matt Graviet said of the unit's success. "We were really pumped up tonight. We just wanted to get on a roll before CR and Snow Hill and we came out here and did that."
The Vikings held Polytech to nine total yards in the first half and just 83 for the game. The Panthers managed just four first downs and didn't have a play from scrimmage gain more than 10 yards until the game's closing seconds.
"We're playing good defense but we've still got some tough people to play," Cape coach Brian Donahue said. "After tonight we've still got plenty of things we can improve on. We've still got some things we can get better at."
The Vikings also had a big night offensively, racking up 423 total yards despite losing three fumbles and being penalized 11 times for 84 yards. Running back Elijah Worthy gained 160 yards on 11 carries and scored four touchdowns. Malik Lopez rushed for 90 rushing yards, including a 64-yard scoring run early in the fourth quarter. Tim Cannon picked up 69 yards.
Worthy scored on runs of 4, 35 and 67 yards and caught an 8-yard touchdown pass from quarterback John Howard. He was on the field for just one play in the second half, scoring from 35 yards out to put Cape ahead 28-0. So far this season, Worthy has rushed for 994 yards and scored 18 touchdowns.
"We're a defensive team. We live off defense," Worthy said. "When the defense starts to produce then it makes the offense want to run more and run harder. We played pretty sloppy tonight. We could have done a lot better but I'm just thankful we came out with a victory."
Cape improved to 4-0 in the division and 6-1 overall despite a rash of penalties and two fumbled punts by O.J. Wilson. Those second-quarter fumbles twice gave Polytech first downs deep in Cape territory but the defense stiffened each time. The Panthers' only real scoring threat was Wyatt Parker's missed a 27-yard field goal attempt with 15 seconds left in the first half and Cape leading 21-0.
"Polytech was certainly a real young team with a freshman quarterback and a lot of young kids playing and we gave them some opportunities we didn't need to give them tonight," Donahue said. "They're not mistakes that we're going to be able to make against more experienced teams and expect to come out on top."
The Vikings, the defending Henlopen North champs, must clean it up now that they're entering the toughest part of their schedule. After facing Snow Hill, a Maryland playoff team in 1997, at home next week, Cape travels to Caesar Rodney Nov. 6 in a game that will likely determine the Northern Division championship. They close out the regular season Nov. 13 at Dover.
"The North title and getting back into the state tournament, that's our motivation all year and we're sticking with that," Graviet said. "I'm real excited."
Added Worthy: "We had a couple tough games with the defense and shut people out. So that's a lot of confidence for us. Everybody's got to step it up and everybody's got to come prepared to practice."
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