Delaware State turned the ball over five times as the Hornets slumped to a 35-21 defeat to Savannah State on the road in MEAC football contest on Saturday night.

The Hornets dropped to 1-6 in the MEAC and 1-8 overall. Savannah State moved to 2-4 in conference play (2-7 overall).

Savannah State jumped on top 14-0 after on quarter and kept the Hornets at bay for most of the game. D’Vonn Gibbons open the scoring with a nine-yard run before Cameron White caught a 39-yard touchdown reception on a pass by Gibbons for the two-score lead.

Freshman Trey Gross had another big game for Delaware State. The wide receiver caught a pair of touchdown passes on the day. He finished with three catches and 48 yards.

Taronn Selby caught the other touchdown for the Hornets. He was their leading receiver with 63 yards on four catches while Kwannah Kollie had three catches for 60 yards.

Gibbons added another rushing touchdown for Savannah State in the second half. The Tigers scored twice on special teams with Elijah Shah capitalizing on a mistake on a punt and Jamichael Baldwin returning a kickoff 70 yards for a touchdown.

Baldwin’s kickoff return touchdown came right after Selby caught a 40-yard score to make it a one-possession game with 4:19 remaining.

Keenan Black started his third game for DelState at quarterback and threw all three touchdowns but also had four interceptions and lost a fumble. Black threw for 216 yards with a completion percentage of .444 (12-of-27).

Jack McDaniels did play a few series at quarterback for the Hornets. He completed three of his six passing attempts and gained 21 yards.

Devin Adams was the leading tackler for Delaware State with 14. Devin Smith followed with 11 and Brian Cavicante had eight.

Savannah State out-gained DelState 306 yards to 254. The Tigers held a significant edge in rushing yards with 144 to just 17 by the Hornets.

Black was sacked six times by the Savannah State defense and McDaniels went down twice which hurt DSU’s rushing total. Nyfease West was DelState’s top rusher with 72 yards in the game.