UDMessenger

Volume 12, Number 2, 2003


A game to remember

After one of the most exciting UD victories in recent history, the University of Delaware football team beat Navy Oct. 25 and landed at the top of The Washington Post's front page.

UD became 8-0 following a heart pounding 21-17victory over the U.S. Naval Academy before 34,982 fans at Navy Marine Corps Stadium in Annapolis. At press time, the Hens were 5-0 atop the Atlantic 10.

In the game against Navy, UD fell behind by two touchdowns midway through the first quarter but took advantage of three turnovers and rallied to knock off the Midshipmen. The Hens defeated an NCAA Division I-A opponent for the first time since 1992, when they topped Navy 37-21.

"It was just an incredible win, especially when you take a step back and you realize you're losing by 14 points in an environment that is second to none," UD Head Coach K.C. Keeler said the following Monday.

"It was a wild scene. You have 'Top Gun' playing and cannons are going off and sailors are doing pushups and you're losing by 14 points. To get our kids back on track was a great testament to our coaches and it's also a great testament to our kids. We have some incredible kids. We have some decent talent level, but I think what makes us even better is how strong our character is.

"Our kids were definitely excited about playing," Keeler said. "At 1:07 we went off the field after warm-ups and about 8,000 Delaware fans just erupted. Our kids were all screaming in the locker room about how this is a home game. I was one of those screaming. We come out of our locker room and they come out of their locker room and it was kind of like Miami playing Notre Dame. I'm kind of holding our guys back and he's kind of holding his guys back and it was, well, we were ready to go at it. Our kids were very emotionally ready to play."

"The kids were very resilient in terms of fighting through adversity and it was a huge win," Keeler said. ""It's definitely a win Delaware fans will talk about for a long time and I'm sure our kids will talk about for a long time."

UD Defensive Coordinator Dave Cohen added some wrinkles to the defensive playbook on that Saturday, Keeler said. "We put some things in that we didn't do the week before against Rhode Island that we thought we could do after looking at the Navy films. I can't say enough about Dave Cohen and that defensive staff. They did a great job preparing for this game," he said.

Keeler was also very pleased with the effort of the UD players. "How big is it when you are down 14 points and your kids keep playing hard? They are on a mission and are a very focused group. After we got the score back to 14-14, we just tried to slug it out on defense and let the best team win," he said. "Overall, it was a great game all-around. I am so proud of these players and have so much confidence in them."

Keeler said in his postgame comments on WXDR-FM that in the locker room he felt like Dick Vermeil, the head coach of the Kansas City Chiefs who has been known to shed tears after particularly gratifying victories.

"Playing a Division I team, you feel like it's an uphill battle," UD quarterback Andy Hall, who played for big-time football power Georgia Tech before transferring to Delaware, told the Associated Press following the game. "For us to come out of this with a win, it's a really big boost for us."

"Saturday was one of the best experiences of my life. The whole atmosphere.....words just can't describe it," senior offensive guard and co-captain Jason Nerys said. "We had the chance to go down and play a great team and we came out with a victory. The best part is that we didn't panic and we stuck together (after going down 14-0 in the first quarter). We just said, 'Relax and do what we can do.' We got settled down and we got the job done."

UD co-captain Mike Adams, who was injured and unable to play but who cheered on his teammates from the sideline, said, "It was a great experience to be there at a great stadium, so many fans, the planes flying over, all of the atmosphere. It's too bad I wasn't able to play, but I had an adrenalin rush the entire game. We got to experience big-time football and we proved that we can play against anybody, no matter what the division. Our guys bust their tails on every play and the win shows we are a great football team and a great program."

Navy Head Coach Paul Johnson, former head coach at NCAA Division I-AA power Georgia Southern, told the Washington Post that he does not see a major difference between the top teams in Division I-AA and those in Division I. "They've got a good football team," Johnson said. "They didn't need our help. There's a fine line. We can't make mistakes like we made and survive. What'd we have, three turnovers? We can't do that. That's the way we played last year."

Navy, which owns a win over No. 25 Air Force earlier this season, fell to 5-3 with the loss and had its three-game winning streak snapped. The Midshipmen entered the game with the No. 1 rushing offense in NCAA Division I, averaging 321.3 yards per game. However, the Delaware defense held Navy to just 180 yards rushing, 58 of which came on Navy's opening possession.

Navy jumped out to a 14-0 lead on a pair of touchdowns just 68 seconds apart in the first quarter. Tony Lane capped a 10-play, 63-yard drive on the Midshipmen's opening possession to give them a 7-0 lead.

After UD went three-and-out, Navy took over at its own 34-yard line. On the first play, Navy quarterback Craig Candeto hit Eric Roberts on a play-action pass for a 66-yard touchdown to give the Midshipmen a 14-0 lead.

The turning point in the game may have come on the next possession when UD got a first down on a fake punt. Facing fourth-and-two at its own 40, Delaware called a direct snap to Sean Bleiler, who raced for 24 yards to the Navy 36. The play kept alive a 15-play, 79-yard drive that culminated in a one-yard touchdown run by Antawn Jenkins on the first play of the second quarter. Brad Shushman added the point after and Delaware trailed 14-7.

"We liked that fake punt going in," Keeler said. "I told Dave Cohen that I had called it (before it happened) and he wanted to choke me. But we needed a momentum shift and it paid off."

The Hens then took advantage of a Navy turnover to tie the game going into halftime. On third and two, Candeto fumbled and the ball was recovered by Shawn Johnson. Andy Hall, who finished the game 15-of-23 for 84 yards passing, completed three straight passes before calling his own number on a five-yard touchdown run to tie the game.

"On the touchdown run, they blitzed us, so I tucked the ball under," Hall said. "Our wide outs took off up the field and the coverage followed them, which opened things up for me."

Delaware scored on its first possession of the second half to take the lead for good. After Sidney Haugabrook returned a Navy punt 12 yards to the Delaware 49, the Blue Hens marched eight plays in 3:44. Five of the plays on the drive were runs by Germaine Bennett, including a 28-yard touchdown run on fourth down at the Navy 28. Shushman added the point after and Delaware had a 21-14 lead.

The Delaware defense played "bend-but-not-break" from there. Navy drove to the Delaware 23 to open the fourth quarter but had to settle for a 41-yard field goal by Eric Rolfs. After Delaware ran 6:49 off of the clock and turned the ball over on downs at the Navy 30, the Midshipmen drove down to the Delaware 38. However, Candeto's pass that was intended for Tony Lane was incomplete with 1:57 to play.

After Delaware handed the ball to Jenkins on three consecutive plays, Mike Weber's punt placed the ball on the Navy 21 with 1:28 left. Candeto marched the Midshipmen down the field with no timeouts to the Delaware 13.

Navy had one last chance to win in the final seconds. A pass interference penalty on a fourth down play gave Navy a first down at the Delaware 39. Craig Candeto completed a pass to Jason Tomlinson to the Delaware 14 with nine seconds to go then spiked the ball to stop the clock with six seconds remaining. Candeto threw for Tomlinson in the end zone on the next play but UD defensive back Dave Camburn deflected the pass in the end zone as time expired.

Sophomore linebacker John Mulhern had a hand in two of the three Navy turnovers, intercepting a pass and recovering a fumble. Delaware has forced nine turnovers in its last two games and 13 in the last four. Mulhern's interception thwarted a Navy drive to the Delaware 10 midway through the second quarter.

--Neil Thomas AS '76