By Tim Mastro

DOVER — Trey Gross pointed toward his quarterback Jared Lewis.

Gross was aware of the numbers. Lewis rewrote his list of personal bests on Saturday.

“The boy good, ain’t he?” Gross said. “You see the stats. He trusts his players, doesn’t overthink and just goes out there and plays.”

And Lewis helped take the Delaware State University football team to a place where it hasn’t been in nearly a decade.

Lewis tossed a career-high four touchdowns to lead the Hornets to a 30-23 victory over Howard University in a Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference contest Saturday in Dover. Delaware State improved to 1-1 in MEAC play and 4-4 overall.

The four wins are the most in a single season for the Delaware State football program since it went 5-6 in 2013. The Hornets still have three games remaining to improve on that record.

“It’s progress, the proof is in the pudding,” said Gross, one of the few seniors on the Hornet roster. “That’s the most wins since I’ve been here and the season isn’t over yet. It’s not like we’ve won some games late to get there, we still have three more. We could have seven at the end. It’s a dramatic change and you’ve seen our progress.”

Lewis, making his sixth consecutive start after taking over for an injured Tylik Bethea in the second game of the season, finished 14-of-22 passing. He threw for a career-high 246 yards.

“Jared stepped out of his comfort zone and everyone got to see what we see in practice every day,” said DSU coach Rod Milstead. “Jared Lewis was the weapon with all the touchdowns he threw. That’s his best college game since he’s been here.”

Lewis put the Hornets on top for good with 8:26 left in the fourth quarter.

The decisive play started with a fake handoff to running back Sy’Veon Wilkerson. Lewis sold the run before taking a step back and firing the ball across the middle to Gross.

The throw led Gross past his defender where he was able to snag the 14-yard touchdown.

“I was reading the safety and he came up on the run,” Lewis said. “Once he did that, I just held it for a bit and waited for Trey to get open.”

Gross also caught a 59-yard touchdown from Lewis on a flea-flicker in the first quarter. Bizzett Woodley and Jerrish Halsey were also on the receiving end of Lewis’ touchdowns while Matt Noll added a 25-yard field goal for the Hornets.

Halsey’s touchdown came right before halftime to give the Hornets a 20-10 lead. It almost didn’t happen as the Hornets were lined up to punt on fourth-and-six at Howard’s 35 with 17 seconds until halftime.

But Milstead called timeout after hearing his assistant coaches discussing going for it in his headset.

“That’s called Coach Milstead listening to his assistant coaches,” Milstead said. “I got conservative. I heard the coaches in my ear talking amongst themselves that we should go for it. I called timeout and told them I heard the conversation and asked what we should do. They said, ‘Coach, go for it.’ So we went for it and the players ran it to perfection.”

Halsey ran a slug-and-go route as Lewis found him in the corner of the end zone. The play call was the idea of Gross and Halsey, Lewis said.

“Jerrish and Trey called that play,” Lewis said. “They believed we were going to get it done and it’s all about trust.”

Gross had seven receptions for 124 yards while Halsey, a Wesley College transfer, recorded 160 all-purpose yards, including a 75-yard kickoff return.

Brooks Parker, a Delmar High product, led the Hornet defense with nine tackles. Charles Peeler contributed five tackles, two pass breakups and blocked an extra point.

Howard, which out-gained the Hornets 422-338, had a chance to tie on its final possession until the Hornet defense buckled down just outside the red zone.

The Bison drove 64 yards to the Delaware State 23 but defensive back Andrew Reese sacked Howard quarterback Quinton Williams for a nine-yard loss with nine seconds left. Williams scrambled out of pressure on fourth down before his desperation heave toward Matthew McDonald in the end zone was incomplete as time ran out.

“The guys kept saying all week long, ‘Coach we’re going to win this game,’ and they did it,” Milstead said. “They found a way.”