On a dark and stormy night, a Delaware football win
The University of Delaware Blue Hens scored the most points and won the game 38-14. The Delaware State Hornets gained the most yards, but it might be the security teams at the University of Delaware who were the big winners Saturday.
The Route 1 rivalry was put on hold for almost an hour Saturday when both teams went to their locker rooms at half time. Those heavy storms that hit most of the northeast U.S. hard were right over Newark at half time.
The stadium was order evacuated and spectators were told to stay in their cars until the storms passed. Officials went on the NBC sport channel, which was televising the game nationally; to say they were watching the number of lightning strikes that were seen on weather radar. That was enough they said to convince them to err on the side of caution.
As the game began at 3:30 the skies looked good and there was hope that this could be the year the Hornets would be competitive or even score an upset over Coach K.C. Keeler’s crew. But it was turnovers and redshirt freshman Jerel Harrison who scored his first two touchdowns of his collegiate career.
Delaware State did put up 353 total yards in the game. 298 of them came through the play of Nick Elko. The Blue Hen’s 282 yardage and 11 less minutes in possession time could be explained by UD having a short field for many of its scoring drives.
When play resumed Delaware State did score a touchdown and kept UD to a field goal until the Blue Hen’s scored for the final time in the 4th quarter. Not many were there to see it. Of the over 18,000 who were there at the start of the game, officials say there were only about 1,000 who came back to watch the second half. Even national television left the game with less than a minute to go and Delaware State driving for another score that fell short.
Many of the tailgaters before the game were excited that the rivalry was continuing. One long supporter did have his doubts. He wondered whether UD was missing out on more significant opponents by keeping a team like DSU on the schedule.
Here are NewsWorks photographer Gene Ashley’s first half highlights. Here’s the football story from boxscorenews.com.
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