Photos Courtesy of Bob Burleigh (Thaxton) and Mark Campbell (Duncan)

NEWARK, DE -- National scoring leader Omar Cuff scored all four of his touchdowns in the first half, freshman Phillip Thaxton (top right) rushed for 177 yards in his collegiate debut, and Joe Flacco threw for 305 yards as 13th-ranked University of Delaware dominated on offense and posted a 41-14 non-league football victory over West Chester Saturday night at Delaware Stadium.

Delaware (2-0), playing its home opener in front of a sellout crowd of 22,495 fans, piled up 599 yards of total offense and took advantage of three turnovers to down the neighboring rival Rams (1-1) for the 14th straight time in the long-time rivalry.

West Chester, which got two second half touchdowns from Lee Hopkins, entered the game as the 15th ranked team in NCAA Division II and is coming off three straight NCAA playoff appearances.

Cuff, coming off a record-breaking season opener last week vs. William & Mary where he rushed for 244 yards and scored an NCAA I-AA record tying seven touchdowns, didn’t let up this week as he rushed for 93 yards on 21 carries and scored four touchdown in the first half, including three in the opening stanza as the Hens jumped out to a 21-0 lead and never looked back. Cuff moved into second place all-time at Delaware for career touchdowns as he upped his season total to 11 and his career production to 45.

Thaxton, who spelled Cuff with Delaware up by a comfortable 34-0 halftime margin, did all of his damage in the second half. He romped 62 yards for a touchdown on his first career carry with 8:14 left in the third quarter and later went 63 yards before fumbling at the WCU three-yard line. His 177 yards on 12 carries was the most ever by a Delaware player in his collegiate debut.

Flacco hit on 17 of 22 passes for 305 yards for his fifth career 300-yard effort in 13 career games and his seventh straight game of 200 or more yards. Mark Duncan (bottom right) caught five passes for a career-high 121 yards while Cuff added five catches for 56 yards.

“We really had a dominating offensive performance tonight,” said Delaware head coach K.C. Keeler, who improved to 6-0 all-time vs. West Chester with an average winning margin of 27 points. “We knew how special Phillip was coming in and we are excited about him and we all know what Omar is capable of. I thought we did a good job defensively and really put some pressure on the quarterback. We are really coming along. This was a big deal with 22,000 screaming fans here for our home opener and our kids reacted well.”

The Blue Hens jumped out to a 21-0 first quarter lead and never looked back in posting the easy victory. Cuff scored on a seven-yard run on just fifth place of the night to give the Hens a 7-0 lead less than three minutes into the game. Delaware defensive end Ronald Talley intercepted a tipped pass on West Chester’s first possession and the Hens quickly capitalized.

Flacco hit Duncan on a 28-yard pass to the one-yard line and Cuff followed with a one-yard burst on the next play for a 14-0 lead. Cuff scored again with just three seconds left in the opening quarter on a one-yard run.

The lead expanded to 34-0 at the half as Jon Striefsky converted a pair of 26-yard field goals and Cuff scored his fourth touchdown of the night - and the half - on a one-yard burst with just 1:09 left before the break.

Delaware’s hopes for its first home shutout since 2000 were dashed midway through the third quarter as the Rams finally got on the board when Hopkins took a screen pass from Bill Zwaan and eluded several tackles for a 28-yard score with 8:32 left in the stanza. The score was set up when Mike Dell intercepted Flacco at the Blue Hen 32-yard line.

But the Hens came right back as Thaxton took his first career hand-off and burst through the line and down the left sideline for a 62-yard touchdown run. It was the longest run by a Delaware runner on his first career carry since John Key romped 76 yards for a score vs. West Chester back in 1995.

West Chester then capped the scoring when Hopkins finished off a 14-play, 82-yard drive with a six-yard run with 1:42 left to play.

Delaware recorded four sacks and collected three turnovers on the night as Talley, Anthony Walters, and Fred Andrew each picked off a pass. Walters, a redshirt freshman cornerback, collected seven tackles to lead the Blue Hens.

Zwaan hit on 15 of 23 passes for 148 yards for West Chester with Steve Miller catching seven passes for 53 yards. The Rams managed just 42 yards on 32 carries on the ground. Lateef Ferguson had 12 tackles and Dell added 11 stops for the Ram defense.

Delaware will try to move out to a 3-0 record for the third time in five years next Saturday when the Hens host Colonial Athletic Association foe Rhode Island (0-2) at 3:30 p.m. at Delaware Stadium.

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