Newark, Del. (Sep. 7, 2014) --- The Delaware State University football team continued its troubles against First State rival Delaware, falling to the Hens 27-9 at Tubby Raymond Field this afternoon. The Hornets (0-2) have dropped all six games since the series between the state's two Division I football programs began in 2007.
Jalen Randolph rushed for 118 yards and two touchdowns for Delaware, which improved to 1-1 this season.
UD quarterback Trent Hurley completed 17-of-21 passes for 172 yards, while the Blue Hen defense contributed four sacks to the win.
Delaware State's Malcolm Williams rushed for 100 yards and a touchdown on 18 carries, his third career 100-yard game.
Hornet wide receiver Milton Williams III had four receptions for 90 yards, highlighted by spectacular 38-and-41 yard catches.
"I thought our guys played hard on both sides of the ball although we came up short on execution at some critical times, said Delaware State head coach Kermit Blount, who fell to 0-4 against the Hens. "Of course, Delaware made plays that disrupted some of what we wanted to do."
Delaware scored on the opening possession of the game to score first for the sixth time in the six meetings between the teams.
After Michael Johnson returned the opening kickoff 38 yards to the UD 40, the Hens ran off 11 plays, capped off by a one-yard touchdown run by Wes Hills. The extra point kick by Garrett Greenway gave Delaware a 7-0 lead with 11:07 left in the first quarter.
Delaware State's defense kept the Hens off the board on the next two UD series, including a fourth down stop at the Delaware 19 with 1:16 left in the opening quarter.
The Hornet offense responded with an impressive drive on the ensuing possession, marching 72 yards on 11 plays. The big play in the drive was a 38-yard pass from Gilbert Rivera to Milton Williams III to the UD 16. Williams outplayed a UD defender for the acrobatic catch. The drive stalled at the Delaware 9. Mitchell Ward came on to kick a 26-yard field goal to cut the Hens' lead to 7-3 with 11:29 remaining in the second quarter. It was Ward's first field goal attempt of the season. He missed last week's season opener at Monmouth due to an injury.
It took Delaware just 36 seconds to answer the DSU score with its second touchdown of the game.
Johnson returned the ensuing kickoff 46 yards to the DSU 44. Two plays later, Randolph ran untouched 24 yards to the endzone for the Delaware touchdown. Greenway's extra point kick stretched UD's lead to 14-3 with 10:53 to go in the second quarter.
Greenway kicked 34 and 26-yard field goals later in the quarter, the second with 1.5 seconds to go before halftime to give Delaware a 20-3 lead at the break.
After Delaware State was forced to punt on the opening possession of the second half, Randolph struck again to put the Hornets further in the hole.
He capped off a three-play, 60-yard drive with a 46-yard touchdown run with 12:06 left in the third quarter. The extra point kick gave the Hens a 27-3 lead.
Delaware State put together a solid fourth quarter drive for the final touchdown of the game. The Hornets marched 77 yards on eight plays, sealed by a 14-yard run to the endzone by Malcolm Williams to cut Delaware's lead to 27-9 with 5:16 left to play. Williams has a touchdown run in each of the Hornets two games this season. The big play in the drive was another highlight reception by Milton Williams III, who outleaped UD defensive back Roman Tatum for a 41-yard catch along the sideline to the Delaware 14.
Malcolm Williams had 30 yards on four carries during the march.
The extra point kick after the touchdown was unsuccessful.
Rivera, a junior college transfer (E. Los Angles College) starting in his second game in place of injured DSU quarterback Esayah Obado, completed-15-of-22 passes for 171 yards.
Three players, defensive backs Davon Moore and Terrick Colston, along with linebacker Kareem Leaver led the Hornets with seven tackles each.
Leaver, a freshman, was also credited with a tackle-for-loss and a pass break-up.
Freshman linebacker Malik Harris had six tackles, five solo, including two behind the line-of-scrimmage.
Delaware won the total yardage battle, 450-325. The Hens rushed for 278 yards and tallied 172 passing.
The Hornets had 171 passing yards and totaled 154 on the ground, its best single-game effort since rushing for 221 yards vs. Hampton in 2012.
Delaware State had the advantage in time of possession 35:27-to-24:33.
STINGERS
The Hornets committed their first penalty of the season when Rodney Gunter was flagged for roughing the passer with 3:04 left in the first quarter … DSU was penalty-free in its season opening loss to Monmouth on Aug. 30 … The Hornets had three penalties for 33 yards, while Delaware was flagged three times for 15 yards in the contest ...The Hornets will return to action next Saturday (Sep. 13) for the 2014 home opener against Towson University; game time is 2 p.m. at Alumni Stadium … Today's game was originally scheduled for Saturday, but was postponed due to severe thunderstorms.
