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When coach George Glenn and his top assistant, Brian Donahue, arrived at Cape Henlopen in 1993, they inherited a football program that had gone just 1-9 the previous year.

They're ultimate goal was to create a program that would contend for the Henlopen Conference Northern Division title every year, and the Vikings have not had a losing season since their arrival.

"Basically, what it takes is a big commitment and a lot of hard work," Donahue said. "It certainly was a challenge."

Not even Glenn's resignation following the 1996 season could derail Cape's climb back to respectability. Donahue took over as head coach in 1997 and has since led the Vikings to two consecutive North titles.

This season, Cape won nine straight games after dropping its opener 7-6 to St. Mark's and boasted a defense that gave up just 28 points in the entire regular season. The Vikings were a perfect 6-0 in conference play and their nine victories came by an average margin of more than 34 points.

Cape is 43-19 in six seasons under the guidance of either Glenn or Donahue.

"That's the mark of a good program," Donahue said. "I think we're as proud of that (consistency) as winning two conference championships in a row."

At season's end, Cape had five players receive First Team All-State honors. They were center Matt Graviet, running back Elijah Worthy, linebacker Mark Moore and defensive backs Malik Lopez and O.J. Wilson.

Worthy, who rushed for 1,357 yards and scored 29 touchdowns, shared the state Offensive Player of the Year award with Middletown's Brandon Brown. Graviet was named state Lineman of the Year.

But the season ended on a sour note, as the Vikings suffered a heartbreaking 27-26 loss to Caesar Rodney in the state Division I semifinals. CR scored the winning touchdown with just 44.1 seconds left in the game.

It marked the second straight year the Vikings were eliminated in the semifinals.

"Certainly, that was a let-down," Donahue said. "But overall, we're pretty happy with the season." For his efforts, Donahue was named Henlopen Conference Coach of the Year and selected to coach the Gold squad in the annual Blue-Gold All-Star game in June at the University of Delaware.

"It should be a great experience," he said. "It should be a lot of fun."

Much like his coaching career at Cape has been for the past six years.