By Andy Walter

NEWARK — Things were getting a little chaotic there in the second half.

Delaware couldn’t quite put away winless Albany and both the Blue Hens’ two top quarterbacks were banged up.

Coach Danny Rocco just wanted his team to take a deep breath and remember that it was still in a pretty good spot.

“I was almost laughing as I stepped back,” said Rocco. “I wanted our players to understand that we have the lead and we’re getting the ball. And if we extend our lead, it’s going to be very difficult for Albany to come back and win the game.”

So the ninth-ranked Hens did just that, calmly marching down the field on a nine-play, 68-yard touchdown drive that ended up being the difference in their 20-15 CAA football victory over the Great Danes before a sellout crowd of 18,080 on a picture-perfect Parents Day at Delaware Stadium.

Quarterback Anthony Paoletti’s three-yard touchdown run with 3:37 remaining put Delaware (2-0 CAA, 3-1 overall) ahead, 20-9. Somebody forgot to tell Albany (0-2, 0-4) that the game was supposed to be over at that point, though.

On the next play from scrimmage, Great Dane QB Jeff Undercuffler found receiver Tyler Oedekoven alone behind the Blue Hen secondary for a stunning 75-yard pass.

But Delaware stopped Albany’s two-point conversion try and then recovered the onsides kick attempt. With the Great Danes down to one timeout, the Hens picked up a total of 29 yards on six running plays to kill off the last 3:25.

Delaware ran the ball on its final 15 offensive plays. As impressive as Albany’s defensive front had been earlier in the contest. Rocco thought the Hens simply wore the Great Danes down by the end.

“As a matter of fact, when we called the last play on the goal line, Jared (Ambrose) said to me, ‘They won’t touch Anthony on this play,’” said Rocco, referring to UD’s offensive coordinator. “They were tired. It was just one of those things where there really was no one that was able to step into that moment.

“This is no disgrace against them, it’s just football. It’s a physical game.”

Delaware needed to rely on its running game so much in part because its quarterback situation was in state of flux much of the day.

Nolan Henderson, whose status was up in the air all week because of a core injury, did start the game and completed 4-of-7 passes for 33 yards. But the Smyrna High grad was slow to get up, and visibly upset, after getting sacked early in the second quarter.

Backup Zach Gwynn came in and played fairly well. He completed 9-of-15 passes for 81 yards.

As they usually do, the Hens also used Paoletti as their wildcat QB. He ran for 53 yards and the TD on 10 carries.

Early in the fourth quarter, with Delaware leading 13-6, cornerback Nijuel Hill made a big interception on a jump ball at the Albany eight.

On the Hens’ first play from scrimmage, Gwynn fired a 20-yard strike to Thyrick Pitts. On the following play, however, Gwynn forced a pass that was intercepted.

The turnover not only led to an Albany field goal but it left Gwynn limping on the sidelines.

So it was actually Henderson who came back in for most of the last two series.

It was a situation where Delaware was glad it could also turn to Paoletti to pick up some tough yards on the ground.

“There’s a lot more we can do with Anthony than meets the eye,” said Rocco. “He could go out there and run 12 plays and put a drive together — and run it and throw it.

“It’s a very interesting reality when you’re trying to work through all those variables,” he said about the quarterback situation. “But, when you can hand the ball off and run it down hill with a pretty good stable of backs, it’s always going to be the best starting point.”

“It kind of came to fruition today,” said Paoletti. “I finally got to go out there and kind of have some drives to myself, kind of get a little momentum.

“The guys enjoy it, they really do,” he said about the wildcat offense. “It brings a lot of energy to our team and I’m very thankful for it. ... If that’s what my team needs me to do, I’m more than happy to do it.”

Delaware finished with 208 of its 322 total yards on the ground. Dejoun Lee (19 carries-112 yards) had his second-straight 100-yard rushing game, scoring on an 11-yard run with 5:08 left in the second quarter.

Lee’s TD was set up on a nice 38-yard punt return to the Albany 25 by Jourdan Townsend. With an open date last weekend, Rocco said Delaware changed some things on its punt return “to try to do just that — give us one big play.

“He almost scored on that play,” said Rocco. “

Defensively, the Hens limited the Great Danes to 270 yards — only 195 yards before the 75-yard TD pass. Delaware had 23 first downs to just 11 for Albany.

The Hens clearly got a spark from the return of safety Noah Plack, who missed the first three games with an injury. Plack broke up two third-down passes with big hits on receivers.

“I’ve been anxious to get back for weeks now,” said Plack. “I’ve felt fine for a good amount of time but there was just a couple things holding me back. I’m just glad to be back on the field finally.

“You know me, I like to hit people. To be able to do that with the whole defense around me — and the crowd was awesome by the way — just being able to hear all of them, it was great.”

If it weren’t for giving up the long TD pass, it would be a really good showing by the Delaware defense as a whole. The Hens limited Albany to three field goals otherwise.

Delaware, which lost to Albany, 21-17, on a fourth-quarter TD pass in 2019, is just glad that last TD didn’t cost it this time.

“Overall, we got the job done,” said Plack. “But we definitely, definitely can be way better.”

Extra points

Kicker Ryan Coe hit field goals of 44 and 21 yards to make him 8-for-8 on the season. ... Rocco said after the game that he didn’t have any updates on Henderson’s or Gwynn’s injuries. Henderson did throw the ball on the sidelines without any apparent issues. ... The Hens have won their last six home games. ... Eight different Delaware players caught passes with Gene Coleman pulling in a team-high five receptions for 50 yards. ... Undercuffler completed only 12-of-30 passes for 193 yards. Running back Karl Mofor finished with 69 yards on 16 carries after running for 132 yards against the Hens in 2019. ... Delaware is on the road next Saturday for a 1 p.m. CAA game at Rhode Island, which is 4-0.