DAGSBORO — The table was set for the Indian River High School football team. To claim their first Henlopen Conference Southern Division championship, they only needed to remain undefeated in division play, with Milford being the only team that could prove problematic.

“We didn’t think it would be (a let-down game),” coach Jim Bunting said. “We have a tendency to be business like. It was a very somber bus ride up, so you figure that part of it was good. When they run a 95-yard kickoff back in the first 12 seconds of the ball game, that kind of sets you on your heels and I don’t think they ever recovered.”

Now, IR has to hope for the best and win their remaining Southern Division games in order to secure a spot in the Division II state tournament. They still also have an outside chance at claiming the division championship.

If Delmar tops the Bucs in their Friday, Oct. 24 matchup, a three-way tie atop the Southern Division standings will be created. In that case, the Indians will have to win a tiebreaker, which, according to Bunting, is determined by the score margin in the head-to-head games between the opponents.

But for that to happen, the Indians will have to take care of business in their three remaining games against Southern opponents.

First up is Lake Forest. In the midst of a year-long struggle to stay in games, the Spartans find themselves with an overall record of 1-5 and are still searching for their first win the Henlopen South.

“I think we’ve got to demonstrate our dominance,” Bunting said. “We’ve got to go out and play like the contenders that we are and believe we are.”

In their favor, the IR team will be at home for Friday’s game. Already in the midst of spirit week, the Indians will have plenty of time to get hyped for the game.

Cooke, on the other hand, sees the homecoming festivities as a potential outside distraction that may work against the team.

“Homecoming is always a big game,” he said. “You always want to win, but we’ve got to look at like it’s just any other game. We need to do everything we can to win and not worry about the fans or anything like that.”

Preparation, he said, will remain the same.

“We know that we’ve got to come back strong,” he said. “But we also know that we lost the game and there’s nothing we can do about that now. We’re just going to come out to practice and work hard in order to get ready for the game.”

If there is anything the players can hang their hats on following last week’s loss to Milford, Bunting said it should be the way the team finished the game. Down 24-7 with more than one minute remaining, the Indians defense forced Milford to take an intentional safety. On the ensuing offensive drive, the team drove down the field for a touchdown, which was capped off by a 19-yard run by quarterback Jamie Jarmon.

“I thought they finished the game in a way we expected Indian River players to, and that’s playing hard,” Bunting said. “I’m not going to say that they didn’t have flat spots in the game because they did, but they finished strong.”

The Indians’ homecoming game against the Spartans of Lake Forest High School is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 10, at Indian River High School.

nroth@dmg.gannett.com 302-537-1881, Ext. 206