By Andy Walter

NEWARK — A couple weeks ago, Delaware’s football season looked like it was going nowhere but downhill.

Even last Saturday’s seven-point win over winless Dixie State didn’t do anything to pump any life into the Blue Hens’ season.

Finally, though, Delaware’s decisive 24-3 victory over No. 20 William & Mary on Saturday afternoon at Delaware Stadium gave UD fans reason to think the Hens might still accomplish some more good things this fall after all.

“I think we kind of dealt ourselves back into relevance here,” is the way Delaware coach Danny Rocco put it.

While the Tribe (4-2 CAA, 6-3 overall) are hardly the league’s best team, they did just topple No. 4 Villanova a week ago. William & Mary had also scored at least 31 points in four of its last five games.

But Delaware (3-3 CAA, 5-4 overall) limited the Tribe to three points, the first time they been held without a touchdown by an FCS program since 2018. William & Mary finished with only 228 yards, including just 105 on the ground — less than half of its league-leading average 214.4 rushing yards per game.

The Hens also stopped the Tribe on four out of five fourth-down tries.

“I said it three weeks ago and I was criticized for it,” said Rocco. “I basically said I am not going to allow these kids to get discouraged. I can’t let that happen. We’ve had moments where that would be almost the human thing to do — is just be discouraged and get down.

“But we fought through it. Next week is next week, tomorrow is tomorrow. ... but today is a good feeling for all of us. They represented, I think, at a really high level.”

On a day when the Hens’ offense took advantage of some short fields, safety Noah Plack turned in two of the biggest plays of the sunny afternoon.

First, Plack helped force a fumble with a big hit on a punt return and then recovered the loose ball himself at the William & Mary 12 yard line. Two plays later, running back DeJoun Lee (19 carries-46 yards) swept into the end zone on a 12-yard run that gave Delaware a 7-3 lead with 3:32 left in the first quarter.

Then, on its next series, the Tribe decided to go for it on a fourth-and-one despite being at their own 34.

That’s when Plack charged up and knocked ball carrier Bronson Yoder off his feet short of the first down. The stop, which came with some help from linebacker Liam Trainer, set up Delaware again.

This time quarterback Zach Gwynn lobbed a 25-yard TD pass to receiver James Collins (6 catches-73 yards), who made a juggling catch to give the Hens a 14-3 advantage early in the second quarter.

“I just feel like Coach (Manny) Rojas puts us in the right spot at the right time,” said Plack, referring to UD’s defensive coordinator. “A bunch of people, we play a lot of different positions at different times. I just feel like we are a very versatile group on defense and we are able to do all those things at a high level.”

In part because of its good field position, Delaware finished with only 201 yards of offense. But Gwynn had another efficient day, completing 17-of-21 passes for 157 yards and two touchdowns.

Most importantly, Gwynn didn’t throw any interceptions for the second straight game — and against a William & Mary defense that had a remarkable eight interceptions in its last two games.

Gwynn’s second TD pass came with 13:58 remaining in the game when he drilled an eight-yard pass to Jourdan Townsend at the front pylon. Gwynn had completions to nine different receivers.

The Hens were playing without starting receiver Thyrick Pitts and tight end Bryce DeMaille, who were both added to Delaware’s long list of injured players. But Delaware’s makeshift offensive line gave Gwynn a lot of time on a few of his throws.

“I think Coach (Jared) Ambrose mixed it up well, moving me around,” said Gwynn, referring to UD’s offensive coordinator. “It kept them off balance a little bit I think. Also, the offensive line played awesome today. They gave me all the time in the world. ... They wanted to keep me upright. That was something they really wanted to do this week.”

That last touchdown came after Delaware cornerback Amonte Strothers hit Tribe quarterback Darius Wilson on a blitz. The ball popped up in the air where linebacker Johnny Buchanan intercepted it and returned it 24 yards.

Buchanan and Trainer were both in on a game-high 12 tackles each.

“Those two guys are just fun to watch,” said Rocco. “If you like watching football, just watch those two guys. ... They are non-stop all game long and they want more. It’s extraordinary.”

The Hens still face an uphill climb to even be considered for an NCAA FCS playoff berth. They’d still have to win at Richmond next Saturday and then beat Villanova at home in their season finale.

But at least beating William & Mary kept Delaware in the running.

“Any kind of momentum we can get, we’ll take,” said Gwynn. “We have two more games left that we’ve got to win. There’s a lot of things to fix still. but we’ll use this momentum to keep getting better next week.”

Rocco said he talked to his players on Friday about coming up with a “defining moment” for their season.

“Maybe, in some way, that’s what we were able to establish today,” he said. “But again, you start over tomorrow.”

Extra points

Delaware converted just 1-of-11 third-down opportunities. ... William & Mary’s Wilson completed 12-of-24 passes for 123 yards with the one interception and three sacks. The true freshman was limited to negative-12 yards on 10 carries. ... UD cornerback Justis Henley made a nice interception along the sidelines but it was wiped out by a roughing-the-passer penalty. ... Kicker Ryan Coe made a 48-yard field goal but missed one from 39. ... Long snapper Jake Reed was also credited with forcing the fumble on the punt return. ... Saturday’s game drew 10,021 fans.