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Unbeaten UD football team prepares for Homecoming

Germaine Bennett

11:26 a.m., Oct. 13, 2003--The University of Delaware football team carries a record of 6-0 into the annual Homecoming Weekend game against the University of Rhode Island.

The game will be played at noon, Saturday, Oct. 18, at Delaware Stadium.

The Fightin’ Blue Hens remained unbeaten after a gritty 22-21 victory Saturday afternoon against a stubborn University of New Hampshire team that was celebrating its own homecoming. UD overcame an 18-point deficit and gained the win only after a 34-yard field goal try by New Hampshire kicker Connor McCormick went slightly wide to the right with just seconds remaining in the contest.

The win gave Delaware Head Coach K.C. Keeler 100 victories for his career, including his nine seasons at Rowan University. Keeler is now 100-27-1 as a head coach and is the second fastest among current NCAA Division I-AA coaches to achieve that milestone, reaching it in 128 career games.

"This was a tremendous football game," Keeler said. "We were a little off today but New Hampshire had a lot to do with that. They are a very good football team. We struggled offensively like we haven't all year. Our timing was off. Our defense was beaten up, but we struggled through it. This was a character building win."

Andy Hall's long run set up a two-yard touchdown dive by Germaine Bennett with 1:58 remaining to give Delaware its first lead since midway through the first quarter.

Hall rushed for 95 yards on the afternoon, but his biggest run of the day came with 3:14 remaining. The senior from Cheraw, S.C., broke loose up the left sideline for a 38-yard gain to the New Hampshire 3-yard line. After a pair of runs by Bennett were stuffed to set up third-and-goal at the New Hampshire 2-yard line, Bennett went high in the air over the pile for what would be the decisive touchdown.

New Hampshire (2-5, 0-4 Atlantic 10) wasn't finished, however. The Wildcats drove down the field on the strength of quarterback Mike Granieri's running and passing. Granieri scrambled for 19 yards and threw for 23 more on the final drive.

A completion from Granieri to R.J. Harvey gave the Wildcats a first down at the Delaware 28 with just under a minute to play, putting New Hampshire in field goal range. A pair of runs by Granieri gave New Hampshire another first down at the Delaware 17 and two more keepers by the quarterback put the ball in the middle of the field at the Delaware 17 to set up McCormick's kick.

However, the decisive kick sailed just outside the right upright, missing by a matter of inches and keeping Delaware's record perfect at 6-0. The Blue Hens stayed in first place in the Atlantic 10, as well, improving to 4-0 in league play.

It was New Hampshire that ruined Delaware's perfect regular season in 2000 when the Wildcats rallied from a 28-point deficit at Delaware Stadium to hand the Hens their only loss of the regular season.

In the early going Saturday, it appeared New Hampshire was going to spoil Delaware’s hopes of a perfect slate again.

New Hampshire jumped all over the Blue Hens in the first quarter, scoring all 21 of their points in the first 13 minutes of the game.

After stuffing New Hampshire for a three-and-out on its opening possession, Delaware drove down the field in 13 plays. The 70-yard drive stalled, however, and Delaware settled for a 30-yard field goal by junior Brad Shushman to give the Hens a 3-0 lead with 9:44 left in the opening quarter.

However, New Hampshire's David Bailey returned the ensuing kickoff 98 yards for a touchdown to give the Wildcats a 7-3 lead. The kickoff return for a touchdown was the first surrendered by Delaware since 1999.

After stuffing Delaware on its next possession, Granieri broke loose on back-to-back plays, the second a 44-yard touchdown run to give the Wildcats a 14-3 advantage.

Delaware contributed to New Hampshire's next score when a bad option pitch was recovered by the UD 28. Five plays later, Paul McKinney scored from the one to give New Hampshire a commanding 21-3 lead.

Delaware began to rally just before halftime, and Shushman connected on a 37-yard field goal with 1:20 left in the half to cut the New Hampshire lead to 21-6.

After the Delaware defense held, Germaine Bennett broke through the left side and blocked the New Hampshire punt, the fourth blocked kick of Bennett's career. Justin LaForgia picked up the loose ball and raced 16 yards to the New Hampshire 4. Hall then found David Boler on a fade to the right corner of the end zone for the touchdown to cut the deficit to eight points at halftime, 21-13.

Boler, a redshirt sophomore from Covina, Calif., had a banner day after the Blue Hens lost top receiver Brian Ingram to a sprained knee on the opening possession of the game. Boler had eight catches for 121 yards.

Entering Saturday's game, Boler had just five catches in the three games he had played, missing two because of a broken thumb. Both his eight catches and the 121 yards receiving were career highs for Boler.

Delaware closed to within five points early in the fourth quarter when Shushman hit another 37-yard field goal to cap a 16-play, 70-yard drive.

Delaware's defense then held New Hampshire twice to give the Hens the ball at their own 35 with four minutes to play. After a seven-yard pass from Hall to junior G.J. Crescione on first down, Antawn Jenkins broke loose for a 17-yard run to move the ball into New Hampshire territory at the Wildcats' 41.

After an incomplete pass, Hall broke loose for 38 yards to set up first-and-goal at the 3. Three plays later, Bennett, a senior from Clinton, Md., who carried 25 times for 96 yards on the day, scored from the 2. The ensuing two-point conversion failed.

It was the seventh straight game that the Blue Hens surpassed the 400-yard mark in total offense. Delaware out-gained New Hampshire 412-282 on the afternoon.

In the game, Hall went over 3,000 yards passing and 4,000 yards in total offense during his two seasons at Delaware. He is the 10th Delaware quarterback to surpass the 3,000-yard passing mark and only the ninth to surpass 4,000 yards of total offense. On the afternoon, Hall was 18-for-35 passing for 186 yards and one touchdown.

Granieri finished the day 13-of-17 passing for 70 yards and ran 17 times for 120 yards. He did not play for most of the first half after getting his bell rung on a hit by Delaware's Mike Adams. Granieri ran for his 44-yard score after that hit, but then was removed from the game until halftime.

Shushman's three field goals tied a school record while the five field goal attempts by the St. Joseph's, Mich., native set a new UD mark.

The Oct. 18 Homecoming game sponsor is TIAA-CREF.

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