By Andy Walter

NEWARK — Winning NCAA football playoff games used to be fairly commonplace for the Delaware football program.

But the fact is, the Blue Hens hadn’t won a post-season contest in over a decade.

Fifth-ranked Delaware finally ended that drought but not before Sacred Heart made the Hens earn a gritty 19-10 victory on Saturday night in the first round of the NCAA FCS Division I playoffs at Delaware Stadium.

It was the program’s first playoff win since Dec. 18, 2010 when the Hens beat Georgia Southern, 27-10, in the FCS semifinals.

Delaware (6-0) now faces what should be an even bigger challenge when it goes to No. 4 Jacksonville State (10-2) next Saturday in the FCS spring quarterfinals. The Gamecocks dumped Davidson, 49-14, in their first-round game on Saturday.

“It’s a football town,” said running back Khory Spruill. “This is what we came here for. ... It was an amazing opportunity. When we were recruited, we were shown a bunch of pictures back in the day and the early 2000s. We finally got that moment today. We rose to the occasion.

“It wasn’t the greatest win but we got the win. That’s what’s most important.”

“It means everything really,” said safety Noah Plack. “The playoffs are what you come here to play for. You want to come here and win championships. You want to leave a legacy. You want to have Delaware football be the pinnacle of FCS football like it once was.”

Delaware didn’t really have the game under control until there was only 6:13 remaining in the contest. That’s when backup QB Anthony Paoletti bulled his way in for a touchdown from the three to give the Hens their 19-10 advantage.

The play capped off an 11-play, 65-yard march. The drive was kept alive on a fourth-and-two when Spruill (12 carries-52 yards) had his helmet ripped off while running the ball up the middle.

“I was kind of waiting all game for our offense to get a spark,” said UD coach Danny Rocco. “And that was kind of the moment they got a spark. ... It was the only memorable time in the game we had momentum, energy and enthusiasm offensively.”

The Pioneers (3-2) limited Delaware to just 198 yards of offense while gaining 236 themselves. Sacred Heart’s star running back, Julius Chestnut, finished with 138 yards on 31 carries and Sacred Heart finished with a five-minute advantage in time of possession.

The Hens had to lean on their defense to win this one. Plack led the way with 11 tackles and an interception as Delaware finished with four sacks and two takeaways.

The Pioneers were also hurt by a few big penalties.

After a safety on a high punt snap just before halftime gave Delaware a 9-7 lead at intermission, the Hens’ special teams added to that advantage late in the third quarter.

Delaware’s Ryan Coe boomed a 53-yard field goal — that bounced off the crossbar and over — to put the Hens ahead 12-7. It was the longest field goal in UD playoff history and tied for the third-longest ever for the Hens.

Delaware got off to a fast start in its first home playoff game since 2010 when, on Sacred Heart’s opening possession, safety Kedrick Whitehead stepped in front of a pass for an interception. After a penalty on the play, the Hens ended up with the ball at the Pioneers’ seven.

Three plays later, QB Nolan Henderson rolled out and found tight end Braden Brose for a five-yard scoring pass.

But Sacred Heart shut down the Hens’ offense for the rest of the half.

The Pioneers, on the other hand, put together a 12-play, 80-yard scoring drive to tie the contest at 7-7 with 2:21 remaining in the first quarter.

Delaware had a chance to go ahead just before halftime but Sacred Heart’s Arsheen Jiles intercepted a Henderson pass at the Hens’ three.

Delaware, however, was able to force the Pioneers to punt from the back of their own end zone with 32 seconds left before intermission. The snap was high and the safety gave the Hens a 9-7 lead at halftime.

Sacred Heart out-gained Delaware, 133 yards to 97 in the first half, and held a seven-minute advantage in time of possession. The Pioneers also ran 40 plays to 29 while Chestnut already had 93 yards on 21 carries.

“Give them a lot of credit,” said Rocco. “Sacred Heart played really hard and played really well on defense. Both defenses played really well. I thought our defense played like a championship defense out there tonight.

“I really feel that a lot happened last week with our football team,” he said about the Hens’ 27-20 win over Villanova.
“Obviously winning up at Villanova, the emotion of all that. ... There was a probably a high probability that our team was not going to play its best today. And we certainly did not play our best game.”

Extra points

The limited crowd was announced at 3,175 ... Delaware’s Dejoun Lee finished with just 34 yards on 12 carries while Henderson completed only 17-of-24 passes for 113 yards and was sacked twice. ... Receiver Thyrick Pitts had four catches for 50 yards while Gene Coleman added 32 yards on five receptions. .. Former UD standout linebacker Troy Reeder, now with the L.A. Rams, was on hand to watch little brother Colby play.