Hens pull away to win opener over Maine 34-24

By Andy Walter
Posted 9/2/21

ORONO, Maine — Forget what Delaware did to Maine back in March.

Not that the Black Bears did.

With Maine intent on avenging a 37-point rout by the Blue Hens in the spring, No. 5 …

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Hens pull away to win opener over Maine 34-24

Posted

ORONO, Maine — Forget what Delaware did to Maine back in March.

Not that the Black Bears did.

With Maine intent on avenging a 37-point rout by the Blue Hens in the spring, No. 5 Delaware needed a big second half to hold off Maine, 34-24, in their season opener at Alfond Stadium on Thursday night.

The Hens scored the first 17 points of the CAA matchup and the final 17 points to pull out the hard-earned road victory.

In between, the Black Bears reeled off 24 straight points of their own — in a span of just nine second-quarter minutes — to go up 24-17 at halftime.

“I told the team here just a few minutes ago, this is hard to do,” said Delaware coach Danny Rocco. “What we did tonight is hard to do — on the road, reeling at halftime, on our heels.

“Our coaches did a great job. We were pretty cool, pretty calm, pretty poised with our thoughts moving forward. We didn’t dramatically change who we were.”

Delaware shut out the Bears in the second half, but it wasn’t easy.

Trailing by three on the last play of the third quarter, Maine completed a pass to the Hens’ three. Cornerback Nijuel Hill, however, knocked the ball loose and it rolled out of the end zone to give Delaware possession.

“That was certainly the most significant play of the game and the biggest momentum play,” said Rocco. “They had seven points right in front of them and we took them away and got the ball back.”

Finally, running back Khoury Spruill fought his way into the end zone on a two-yard run to give the Hens a more-comfortable 34-24 lead with only 8:01 remaining. The touchdown capped off an eight-play, 77-yard drive.

Quarterback Nolan Henderson completed 14-of-29 passes for 262 yards with a pair of scoring passes while also running for a TD. Gene Coleman caught five passes for 120 yards and a touchdown with Thyrick Pitts also pulling in five passes for 116 yards a TD.

Delaware tied the game early in the third quarter when Pitts caught a short pass over the middle, broke some arm tackles and turned it into a 66-yard touchdown catch.

“He just ran out of two tackles,” said Rocco. “That to me was really the biggest momentum play of the game as it got us right back to even.”

The Hens took the lead for good at 27-24 on a 20-yard field goal by Ryan Coe with 4:41 remaining in the third quarter. The kick finished off a 10-play, 54-yard march.

An interception by linebacker Colby Reeder helped seal the victory. The Hens capped off Maine’s final possession on a sack by linebacker Anthony Toro.

Maine was its own worst enemy at times, committing nine penalties for 73 yards with at least a couple of them wiping out good offensive plays. Delaware was called for only one penalty for eight yards — and it came on the first play of the night.
Black Bear QB Joe Fagnano completed 24-of-41 passes for 280 yards with two TDs and a pair of interceptions.

For over a quarter on Thursday night, it looked like Delaware would pick up where it left off in its 37-0 win over Maine in the spring.

Henderson bolted 15 yards up the middle for the Hens’ first touchdown of the season. The Smyrna High grad then found Coleman behind the Maine defense on a 55-yard toss as Delaware’s advantage grew to 17-0.

At that point, the Hens had scored 68 straight points over its last three games against the Black Bears.

So there was no reason to think Maine would explode for 24 unanswered points in the final 8:29 of the second quarter.

Fagnono twice found open receivers for touchdown passes of 28 and 59 yards.

But the back-breaker was a blocked punt that the Black Bears recovered for a TD with 2:07 left before intermission. Maine added a short field goal to stretch its lead to 24-17 at halftime.

It didn’t help that the Hens’ offense went silent, punting its last four possessions of the first half — and going three-and-out on the last three. Maine out-gained Delaware, 219-192, in the first half.

“We did do the things that make you hard to beat,” said Rocco. “We protected the football. And we didn’t have penalties and they did. There’s a lot of positives.

“We’ll celebrate this tonight and then we’re going to focus on the things we need to do better.”

Extra points

Delaware was playing without starting safety Noah Plack, who reportedly suffered some injuries in a car accident over the weekend. ... The Hens also didn’t have starting center Mickey Henry and linebacker Drew Nickles, who both had been bothered injuries in preseason, didn’t play on Thursday... Dover High grad Bradly Anyanwu saw time at left tackle. ... Delaware hosts St. Francis on Sept. 11 at 6 p.m.

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