By Andy Walter

NEWARK — Danny Rocco had a message for his players on Saturday afternoon.

Two games into this unique spring football season, it’s becoming clear that some teams are more ready to play than others.

After handling Stony Brook, 31-3, at Delaware Stadium, No. 19 Delaware certainly is playing like one of the FCS squads that has its act together right now.

The Blue Hens (2-0) have out-scored their first two CAA opponents by a combined 68-3.

Against the Seawolves (0-2), Delaware forced five turnovers, got three touchdown passes from quarterback Nolan Henderson and was never seriously challenged after the first quarter.

But Rocco’s message to the Hens was that, as good as things have gone so far, they need to play better if they’re serious about accomplishing some big things this spring.

“When we all started this spring, people were looking at this spring season from a lot of different vantage points,” said Rocco. “Our mindset was, we’re all in.

“I didn’t want to kill their joy but I wanted them to understand that we were going to have to play better. The thing that’s neat is that we’re one of the good teams. I’m not saying we’re the best or we’re at the top, or anything like that. But, when you just look around, what you’re noticing is that — because of a lot of different factors — some teams are just going to have a hard time being good this spring.

“We’re not one of those teams,” the veteran coach concluded. “We’re going to have a chance to be good this spring — as evidenced by our two games. So, to be good, we’re going to have to be better than we’ve been here the last two weeks.”

Maybe the scariest thing to happen to Delaware on Saturday was seeing quarterback Nolan Henderson stay down on the ground after taking a hard hit to the leg after throwing a pass in the first quarter. But the Smyrna High grad only missed a couple plays before looking fine the rest of the afternoon.

Henderson completed 18-of-27 passes for 215 yards with the three TDs and no interceptions. The junior QB said he took a helmet to his shin, not his knee, as it looked like it might have been.

“Any time you get hit below the knee, it shocks you a little bit,” said Henderson. “But I tried to stay moving and I was able to push through it.”

Actually one of Henderson’s scoring passes didn’t even end up in the hands of his original target.

With Delaware already leading 17-3 in the third quarter, Henderson hit Gene Coleman with a short pass and the receiver made one defender miss but then fumbled as he tried to gain more yards.

Teammate Mateo Vandamia scooped up the loose ball and returned it the remaining 21 yards for the touchdown. The whole play covered 37 yards,

A sophomore, Vandamia is a tight end who converted to running back because the Hens are short-handed there right now. Rocco said the 6-foot-1, 225-pounder also has played his share of rugby.

“I was just trying to get downfield and block for Gene,” said Vandamia. “And the ball landed in my lap.”

It was a big day for Vandamia. In the second quarter, he was left wide open coming out of the backfield and Henderson found him for a 21-yard completion and his first collegiate TD.

“It is one of those moments where the ball is in the air and you don’t want to be the guy who drops the wide-open pass,” said Vandamia. “But I just wanted to execute and finish and that’s what we did.”

Defensively, linebacker Dae’Lun Darien recovered a fumble and then intercepted a tipped pass a few plays later. The former Penn State transfer was a wide receiver for the Hens a year ago.

Four of the Sea Wolves’ turnovers came in the fourth quarter.

Sophomore safety Joe Zubillaga made a nice leaping interception in the closing minutes when it looked like Stony Brook had a chance to score the first touchdown against Delaware this spring.

“That’s always the best feeling,” said senior linebacker Andrew Pawlowski, who collected a game-high nine tackles. “We had our No. 2 defense in there, but guys made plays. We talk about, we’ve got to be able to bend and not break. That’s definitely what we did at the end there.”

The Hens finished with only a 318-272 edge in total yards and an 18-15 advantage in first downs.

Clearly, there’s still plenty of room for improvement from the Hens, who go to New Hampshire next Saturday. But they also say they’re determined to accomplish something this spring.

Already the Hens are the only squad in the seven-team CAA North without a league loss.

“We’re just treating it like another season,” said Henderson. “There’s playoffs and championships to be awarded and that’s what we want. Obviously it’s different with the protocols and all the rules you’ve got to follow.

“But at the end of the day, when you’re on the field, it’s just football.”

Extra points

Thyrick Pitts, who had six catches for 95 yards, also caught a 21-yard scoring pass from Henderson. ... Tight end Bryce DeMaille scored a TD on a one-yard sweep. It was his first career carry. ... UD leading rusher Dejoun Lee had only 35 yards on eight carries as eight players ran the ball for the Hens. ... Ryan Coe hit a 43-yard field goal for his for his fourth field goal of the season.