the Cafe
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with stunning 14-7 upset
Indian River ended two important streaks Friday night, Oct. 30, 1998, and in the process took control of the Henlopen Conference Southern Division football title race.
With a stunning 14-7 upset of Delmar, IR snapped the Wildcats' streak of 20 consecutive Henlopen South victories and broke its personal streak of six straight non-winning seasons. The win improved the Indians' record to 6-1 overall and guaranteed their first winning season since 1991.
All of the game's points were scored in the first half, as Kendrell Marshall caught a 37-yard touchdown pass from Shawn Watkins in the first quarter before returning a Delmar fumble 26 yards for another score late in the second period. Those were all the points IR would need in defeating the three-time defending Southern Division champions.
"It feels so good," Marshall said. "We came in here knowing coach (George) Bethard couldn't be with us so we decided to dedicate this game to him and I guess it paid off for us tonight. We came up in here thinking they can be beat, so we just had to hit them and take it to them early."
Bethard, the team's head coach, missed the game after being hospitalized with complications from two brain surgeries in the past year. Assistant Pat Kelly ran the team in his absence.
The victory put IR (3-1 in division play) in the Henlopen South lead over Delmar (2-1), Lake Forest (2-1) and Laurel (2-2). The Indians will play Lake Forest at home Nov. 13 with hopes of clinching their first division title since 1988.
IR won Friday despite managing just 155 yard total offense and driving into Delmar territory just once in the final three quarters. Its defense allowed Delmar 266 total yards but kept the Wildcats out of the end zone when it counted. A goal line stand late in the fourth quarter sealed the victory.
"We knew we would be in a dogfight so it was a great game. A great high school football game," Kelly said.
Both teams were sloppy in a scoreless second half, committing costly penalties and dropping passes that could have gone for big gains. IR running backs Antoine Stratton, Buster Belote and Ryan Shelton were held to 46, 27 and 11 yards, respectively, and Delmar's final drive was stalled by a costly holding penalty.
"Somebody said, 'You made mistakes tonight.' Well, we just beat a team that won 20 straight Southern Division games," Kelly said. "You can't be anything but happy about this game. Here we come back and we lost a game (against Laurel) a couple weeks ago that was a big game. But we faced adversity and we came back and we won. It's not hard."
Indian River used a six-play, 62-yard drive to take the lead late in the first quarter. The Indians took possession at their own 38 and got a pair of nine-yard runs from Belote before Watkins fired a long pass down the middle of the field to a wide-open Marshall, who raced into the end zone.
The 37-yard scoring strike and George Cole's extra point gave IR a 7-0 lead with 2:09 left in the quarter.
A crucial Delmar mistake allowed the Indians to pad their lead in the second period. Keith Preston fumbled while attempting a quarterback sneak and Marshall scooped up the loose ball and raced 26 yards for a touchdown, making it 14-0.
"I've got to credit that to Jason Winterling," said Marshall, who recovered an earlier Preston fumble in the first quarter. "He hit him and the ball just happened to bounce up in my hands."
But Delmar's offense awoke after IR's second score. The Wildcats took over at their own 18 and quickly got an 11-yard run from Dewey Griffith and a 16-yard scamper from Preston, who was shaken up on the play and had to leave the game. Backup quarterback Dustin Johnson came on to fire completions of 14 and 17 yards to Lucas Lynch, setting up Griffith's six-yard touchdown run that made it 14-7 at halftime.
Delmar drove into IR territory twice in the second half but came away empty-handed each time.
The Wildcats' most serious threat came after they took over at their own 47 with 5:13 left in the game. A 22-yard screen pass from Preston to Griffith, a 10-yard run by Steven Twilley and Griffith's 13-yard sprint got the Wildcat to the IR 8. Three plays later, on third and goal from the 5, Griffith appeared to score on a sweep to the left side. But the touchdown was negated by a holding penalty, which backed the ball up to the 16.
After an incomplete pass, Preston was sacked by Brandon Reese and Shane Phillips on fourth down.
"That (penalty) call gave us a good break," Marshall said. "We knew we just had to stop them on the next two plays to win this game and Shane and Brandon, that's what they did."
Griffith finished with 84 rushing yards and caught two passes for 62 yards. Preston completed three of seven passes for 67 yards.
Watkins connected on 8 of 15 passes for 103 yards. Three of those passes went to Marshall, who totaled 77 receiving yards.
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