Facing DSU in Dover, Hens still get same results

By Andy Walter

DOVER — Nolan Henderson may be a Kent County kid.

But even the Smyrna High grad had to admit that he hadn’t set foot in Alumni Stadium before Saturday night.

“I always ride by this place,” joked Henderson, the Delaware junior quarterback. “Seeing it from the Dover Mall is a lot different than being here. It was cool as a Kent County guy being able to play here.”

Henderson’s teammates didn’t seem to mind their first visit to Dover, either, as the No. 8 Blue Hens came away with a 34-14 victory over Delaware State on Saturday evening.

The decisive victory makes Delaware (4-0) now 10-0 in the all-time Route One Rivalry between the state’s only two Division I FCS football programs.

With only Villanova left on the Hens’ spring schedule next Saturday, they knew they had no margin for error if they want to be one of the 16 schools to make the 16-team NCAA playoff field.

That being said, Delaware’s players credited the Hornets (2-2) with making them earn some tough yards on Saturday.

Blue Hen senior running back Dejoun Lee ran for a game-high 109 yards and a pair of touchdowns on 14 carries.

“They did a great job of wrapping up,” said Lee, who did have a 53-yard run. “That defense, they’re good.”

“We knew coming in that they had a good defensive front, a good defensive unit,” said Henderson, who completed 11-of-19 passes for 167 yards and a touchdown. “Give credit to them. But we shot ourselves in the foot and had a lot of miscues.

“We didn’t play a good, full 60-minute game and there’s a little sour taste in my mouth because of that. It’s unlike us. Usually we’re able to sustain drives and control the ball. ... We didn’t do enough things to play the game we wanted to play. Obviously, it’s a win. But I’m not too happy about it.”

Delaware did finish with an advantage of 361-186 in total yards. As UD coach Danny Rocco pointed out, though, the Hens seemed to make some big plays when they needed them but had trouble sustaining drives.

Delaware’s defense also forced three first-half turnovers. A fumble recovery by safety Kedrick Whitehead set up a seven-yard scoring run by Lee in the first quarter that gave Delaware the lead for good.

DelState turned the ball over four times in the contest

“You can’t give a good team that many opportunities,” said DSU coach Rod Milstead. “UD played a very good football game and capitalized on our mistakes. I thought we had a good game plan for them but our mistakes and turnovers really were our Achilles heel.”

The Hens stretched their lead to 24-0 by halftime. More impressively, they had outgained the Hornets, 223 yards to 35, by intermission.

“I liked our defense,” said Rocco. “We were dominant in the first half. But they’ve got some talented players. Those two blocked punts makes it not feel as good as it should.”

Those two blocked punts by DelState set up the Hornets’ only two touchdowns in the second half.

With Delaware punting out of its own end zone in the third quarter, DSU’s Daniel Douglas blocked the kick and teammate Trey Gross recovered it for a touchdown.

Then, in the fourth quarter, the two reversed roles with Gross blocking a punt and Douglas recovered it. That set up a seven-yard scoring run by QB Jared Lewis with 7:58 remaining.

In the end, though, playing in Dover for the first time wasn’t enough to change the result in the series.

After the game, Delaware’s players happily posed for pictures as they passed around the silver Route One Rivalry trophy under the Alumni Stadium stands.

Delaware’s FCS playoff hopes will now come down to next Saturday’s CAA showdown at Villanova. The Hens, of course, have struggled mightily against the Wildcats in recent years.

One of the brightest spots for the Hens on Saturday was the return of linebacker Colby Reeder to the field. The standout hadn’t played in a game since 2018 — a span of 869 days — because of various injuries. He finished with three tackles.

Reeder is well aware that Delaware has lost nine games in a row to the rival Wildcats.

“No one here has beaten them,” he said. “I think we should have a chip on our shoulders the size of a boulder or a mountain for this game.”

Extra points

The two teams aren’t slated to play again until the fall of 2024. ... Riah Burton, Nijuel Hill and Jack Dinicola all had interceptions for the Hens. ... Ryan Coe kicked a pair of field goals for Delaware, from 38 and 24 yards. ... Thyrick Pitts had five catches for 87 yards, including a nine-yard TD pass from Henderson with 19 seconds left before halftime. ... Safety Noah Plack had a team-high eight tackles for UD.