Home Page

User Pages

Businesses

Chat

Classifieds

Entertainment

Forums

Restaurants

Sports

Weather

---

In the past six months, George Bethard has undergone surgery to remove a malignant brain tumor, endured weeks of radiation treatments and twice been hospitalized for infections near his brain. But those medical hardships did little damage to Bethard's spirit.

"Even with all the problems, it's turned out to be one of the best years of my life," he said.

That's probably because the Indian River football team he coaches had one of its best years ever and narrowly missed a state Division II tournament berth.

IR's 8-2 record, its first winning campaign since 1991, was the result of a vigorous off-season weight training program by many of the team's starters and their determination to have a successful season for their ailing coach.

"I expected coming into the year ... we'd be a little over .500," Bethard said. "These kids really stepped up and decided they didn't want to lose anymore."

Led by quarterback Shawn Watkins, running back Antoine Stratton and an outstanding defense, the Indians won eight of their first nine games and became the surprise team in the state.

Bethard missed the two biggest victories ­- Sept. 18 at Sussex Central and Oct. 30 at Delmar ­- after being hospitalized with complications from his initial surgery. But word of those wins, the second of which broke Delmar's 20-game Southern Division winning streak, provided a huge lift.

"I about flipped out," he joked. "It was a great pick-me-up, I'll tell you."

A win at Smyrna on the final day of the regular season would have given IR the Henlopen South title and a playoff berth. But a Smyrna field goal with 18 seconds remaining strapped the Indians with a 9-7 loss and killed their postseason hopes.

"I can hardly look at the film (of the game)," Bethard said.

But despite that disappointment, the 1998 team brought respectability back to a program that was one of Delaware's best from the late-1970's until the early-1990's. IR had six First-Team All-Conference selections, including Watkins and tackle Billy Reese, who were also named Second Team All-State.

Bethard also received postseason acclaim. Earlier this month, he was selected as a coach for the annual Blue-Gold All-Star game at the University of Delaware in June. He will be an assistant on the Gold squad coached by Brian Donahue of Cape Henlopen.

It was a positive end to a year full of ups and downs.