the Cafe
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Indian River Football Team
In darkness, players gathered on the front lawn of Laurel Middle School, while a few hundred yards away, spectators poured into the lighted football stadium for one of the biggest Henlopen Conference Southern Division football games of the season.
Passers-by shot curious glances toward the group and the headlights of cars turning into the parking lot provided the only illumination.
In the previous eight years, Indian River had stepped onto the football field with Laurel nine times and lost every single game. But the Indians were entering this contest 4-0 and breaking the losing streak against their Western Sussex rival would put them in contention for the Henlopen South title and their first playoff berth since 1991.
It was the biggest game of the year, and coach George Bethard had pulled his team together for a final pep talk.
"It's time for Indian River to get it back. It's time for Indian River to be the champs. This is the step and you know that," Bethard said. "You need to be intense, you need to be ferocious and you need to play with emotion. But you don't need to play stiff. I know you guys are ready ... you just have to go do it."
The week started on Sunday when the coaching staff spent nearly five hours dissecting game film. Four days of intense practice sessions followed, and now the moment of truth had arrived.
It was time to see if five days of preparation would pay off ...
After a short weightlifting session, about 15 varsity players head out to the practice field in the valley beyond the football stadium and baseball field.
On the way, they pass a bus containing the Laurel junior varsity team, which will play Indian River's JV that afternoon. There are a few inquisitive glances but no comments made.
Quarterback Shawn Watkins, trailing slightly behind the main group, creates a mild uproar by jogging into the valley wearing red sweat pants and a white T-shirt.
"Take those Laurel colors off boy," running back Ryan Shelton shouts with laughter.
"I'm just letting them know I'm thinking about them," Watkins replies.
After running wind sprints with coach Pat Kelly, the players head to the Butler Building to watch game film the rest of the afternoon. While waiting for the doors to be unlocked, Watkins reminds his teammates of the importance of Fridayıs game.
"You guys know this is our season, make-or-break right here," he said.
Once inside, Bethard, slowly working his way back into the routine after taking a leave of absence in September to recover from complications from surgery last spring to remove a malignant brain tumor, compliments the team on its 42-19 victory over Woodbridge the previous week and issues a reminder that the last IR team to start 4-0 won the state championship in 1988.
After breaking down film from the Woodbridge game, the coaching staff pulls out tapes of Laurel's games against Smyrna and Delmar.
But before those tapes are placed in the VCR, Bethard stands at the front of the room and hammers home the challenge that awaits Friday night.
"We are a good football team, but we cannot play right now with Middletown," he says, referring to the defending Division II state champion, which has opened the season 5-0. "Middletown beat Delmar 56-7. There are certain ways that we can improve to be a better football team.
"You're sitting here 4-0 right now. Who wants to be a state champion?," he asks, prompting a room full of raised hands. "Then you need to improve. You're not good enough right now. You're good, but you're not good enough. Nobody here is. Now how do you do that? You do that with self-discipline. You do that through doing the things that you need to do - everything from keeping the locker room clean, to jogging out to practice when you need to, to working hard every play that you're out there. That's how you become a champion."
When the Laurel film is played, it takes 10 seconds to determine what IR must do - stop quarterback Mike Moore. Moore, who threw for more than 1,400 yards and 17 touchdowns last season, doesn't have a pretty throwing motion but consistently finds his receivers for big plays.
"When you look at this kid, he's going to look bad. But he's thrown 12 touchdown passes," offensive coordinator Phil DiSabatino says. "So let's make sure we give him the respect he's due."
On film, coaches notice Moore often throws while leaping off his back foot and usually gets plenty of air under the ball, making interceptions possible. He also loves the quarterback sneak.
When one player snidely suggests Moore's success is attributed to luck, Bethard shouts from the back of the room, "It's not luck, he does it all the time."The coaches notice other Laurel tendencies: frequent unbalanced line formations, receivers and ends in motion and large but fundamentally-flawed linemen. This leaves plenty to prepare for in the next three days.
"You are going to get tested and drilled this week," Bethard says.
With practice slated to begin in 10 minutes, Bethard is busy in the trainer's room taping Watkins' ankle and handing out belts, chin straps and mouth pieces to players who have forgotten theirs. The visibly-annoyed Bethard will address the topic before and after practice, promising extra wind sprints to players who forget their equipment.
When the team assembles in the valley moments later, Bethard, who lives in Laurel, explains the treatment he has received from his neighbors in the football-mad town.
"The people in Laurel are heckling the crap out of me," he says. "My neighbors won't talk to me."
Then he gets practice started on a personal note: "Let's have a great day. It feels good to be out here with a whole brain."
It was just last spring that Bethard, suffering from severe headaches, was diagnosed with a cancerous brain tumor. After surgery to remove part of the tumor and six weeks of subsequent radiation treatments, Bethard returned to coaching this summer.
However, the week before the Sept. 11 opener against Sussex Central, Bethard again developed headaches and was forced to undergo a second surgery to remove a fluid-filled cyst near the original tumor.
"I just got sick man,² he says. "I slept for like a week straight."
He estimates it will be two weeks before he's back at full strength but his trademark enthusiasm hasn't waned. This is evident as he and Kelly spend more than an hour working with linemen on blocking fundamentals.
On this day, it's Shelton who serves as the team's class clown. The senior fullback keeps a running dialogue throughout practice, trades spirited barbs with assistant coach Todd Fritchman and trainer Jerry Sodano and performs a loud singing routine during the teamıs water break.
His vocal talents even rub off on his teammates, namely fellow running back Antoine Stratton.
After calling a play and exiting the huddle during a live scrimmage, DiSabatino turns and asks Shelton, "When Antoine goes out there and starts singing, is that a give-away that heıs getting the ball?"
At one point, while swapping insults with Sodano, Shelton turns around to find a straight-faced Bethard standing behind him.
"Alright coach, I'm ready," says Shelton, who jumps in the huddle, catches a pass in the flat and gets tackled by a swarm of teammates.
One person not having as much fun was Watkins.
During a live scrimmage in which a series of new pass plays are being drilled, a frustrated Watkins says to DiSabatino, "Man, I'm just not throwing today. I'm throwing weak."
The Laurel game will have special meaning to Watkins, who will go head-to-head with Moore Friday in a battle of two top-flight quarterbacks. Both are four-year starters, but so far Moore's team has been more successful.
It's a pattern Watkins desperately wants to break.
This year, I want to beat him, I don't care how I do," he says. "I'm looking to come out of the shadows."
Bethard returned home Tuesday night to find a gift from an anonymous Laurel enthusiast waiting at his house. When the team assembles in the valley Wednesday afternoon, Bethard is wearing that gift -- a bright red Laurel baseball cap. He then reads the accompanying note:
"COACH BETHARD, YOU NEED TO LEARN TO WEAR THE RIGHT COLORS."
"They think they're going to kill you, but they're not. We're going to go over there and smash the Dog Pound," Bethard tells the team. "You better get your heads right, you better be ready for a war, you better be ready to play four quarters."
It's all business the rest of the afternoon as the defense prepares for perhaps its stiffest challenge of the season. There is little joking around as the starting units get a look at nearly every formation in the Laurel playbook.
Defensive coordinator Jim Leyh spends a large block of time schooling the defensive backs on pass coverage, which must be at its best against Moore. Kelly, meanwhile, after dissecting Laurel's game film and charting its tendencies, uses the junior varsity offense to recreate the oppositionıs formations and pass plays.
At Monday's meeting, Bethard admitted he was concerned about the defense, which will see more pass plays Friday than it has all season.
That anxiety was still evident even after Wednesday's crisp and focused practice.
"I'm very concerned. I haven't slept all week," Bethard says. "I think we've had a good week of practice. Iım hoping we can shut down the passing game though interceptions."
The defensive back with the most responsibility is Stratton, who patrols the right side to which Laurel frequently throws. It is the coaching staff's hope that IR's quick secondary can run under and intercept the passes that Moore tends to float.
"We're faster than them," Stratton says. "Thatıs all they do is pass. We're prepared. We put some new defenses in."
When asked how many interceptions he thinks he might get, Stratton laughs and replies, "I see two."
Bethard isn't sugar-coating the task at hand but still likes his team's chances.
"It's going to be a tough test," he says. "I think this team is the most prepared I've ever had."
Thursday is normally a light work day and practice is upbeat and loose from the beginning. With the heavy preparations for Laurel now complete, it's time for a quick refresher course on the offensive and defensive game plans.
"Tuesday and Wednesday is when you win the ballgame, you don't win the ballgame on Monday and Thursday," Bethard said earlier in the week.
But when players are slow to take the field for a kickoff drill, Bethard issues a boisterous reality check.
"This is the biggest day of your life tomorrow night, you better start thinking like it is," he shouts.
Bethard issues another admonishment when the first-team offense gets off to a sluggish start in its final walkthrough. The players respond, executing plays with precision and quickness.
DiSabatino believes sweeps to the strong side, counter plays to the weak side and passes to the flats are the keys to attacking the Laurel defense. If the Indians can spread that defense, they should be successful.
"We can pass as good as anybody in the league, we just havenıt had to," he says.
When the offense is finished, the defense gets a final look at Laurel's formations and tendencies.
Before dismissing the team for the day, Bethard offers another pep talk and a reminder that three or four big plays usually decide a football game.
"Talk is cheap. Talk is nothing. We've got to step up tomorrow night," he says. "We've got to do it on the field."
The atmosphere in the locker room is still upbeat as game jerseys and pants are handed out and lockers are inspected by the coaching staff. The red Laurel cap worn by Bethard the day before was now being kicked across the floor.
"I think we're ready," senior linebacker and offensive lineman Shane Phillips says. "I want to go in there, play my best and come out with a win. I want it bad. This is our Southern Division rival."
Junior center Matt Mitchell, who has started since his freshman year, shared those sentiments.
"I think we're ready personally," he says. "I'm not nervous. I was nervous the first game of this year and the first game my freshman year."
Mitchell has another reason for wanting to defeat Laurel for the first time in his career. His brother, Paris, was a quarterback on the 1991 IR team that lost to the Bulldogs 29-2 in the Division II state championship game. Now Mitchell sees the chance for revenge.
Team chemistry will likely be a major factor in achieving that goal.
"I think we get along better than any other team I've been on,² he says. "That makes a big difference."
In the gym, Bethard is briefing junior varsity players on team rules and handing out T-shirts and shorts. He's asked if he's ready for the biggest game of the year.
"I'm ready, I just hope they (players) are," he replies.
Few words were spoken as shoulder pads and jerseys were stripped off and the team bus boarded almost before the bleachers had cleared. Not a single player made an effort to hide the disappointment of the previous two hours. The losing streak had reached 10 games with a 20-7 loss.
After driving 66 yards for a touchdown and a 7-0 lead on the game's opening series, the Indians fell apart. The offense entered Laurel territory just once the remainder of the game, managing a mere five first downs. The defense was powerless to stop Moore and the Bulldogsı balanced rushing attack.
"Just mass confusion," a soft-soften Watkins says afterwards. "We weren't in the right formations, we weren't getting plays off in a rhythm. After the first touchdown we had no rhythm."
Watkins heaps much of the blame on himself for throwing three interceptions after an early touchdown pass to Stratton.
But Bethard and the coaching staff accept responsibility for the confusion that often led to wrong formations on both sides of the ball and remind the players that, with Delmar ahead in weeks, the team's playoff hopes are still alive.
Perhaps most frustrated is DiSabatino.
"There was just no momentum after that (touchdown). You're just trying to find something you can build on," he says as players quietly file onto the bus for the ride home. "I feel terrible right now. I don't know if I helped the kids out or not. It just seemed like there was nothing we could really get going."
The defense was also caught back on its heels all evening and not even a series of frantic defensive adjustments at halftime could slow the Bulldogs, who piled up 311 yards of offense.
"They're devastated. We just hope that Monday they all show up and everybody's in a good frame of mind and can put this behind them," DiSabatino said.
Perhaps Watkins sums it up best: "It hurts a lot to lose."
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