UD alumnus Joe Flacco has led the Baltimore Ravens to the Super Bowl.

Super Hens

UD alums Flacco, Gradkowski to compete in Super Bowl XLVII

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2:07 p.m., Jan. 21, 2013--Two former University of Delaware football standouts are headed to the Super Bowl.

Quarterback Joe Flacco and offensive lineman Gino Gradkowski, who both earned All-American honors for the Blue Hens during their stellar  playing careers in Newark, helped lead the Baltimore Ravens to a 28-13  victory over the New England Patriots Sunday in National Football  League's AFC Championship Game at Gillette Stadium.

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With the victory, the Ravens are headed to Super Bowl XLVII where they will meet the San Francisco 49ers Feb. 3 at the Superdome in New Orleans.

Flacco and Gradkowski will be the fourth and fifth former Blue Hen players to compete in one of the world's most-watched sporting events.  Ivory Sully played special teams for the Los Angeles Rams against the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1980, former NFL Most Valuable Player Rich Gannon started at quarterback for the Oakland Raiders against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2003, and tight end Ben Patrick caught a touchdown pass for the Arizona Cardinals in 2009 against the Steelers.

Delaware will become the first NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision school to have two different players start at quarterback (Gannon and Flacco) in the Super Bowl and is one of only 10 schools nationally to accomplish that feat, joining Alabama, Purdue, Notre Dame, California, UCLA, Stanford, Brigham Young, Maryland and Washington State.

Since Sully, Gannon, and Patrick all played on teams that lost, Flacco and Gradkowski will be looking to become the first former Delaware players to earn a Super Bowl ring.

Flacco continued his outstanding playoff performance as he hit on 21 of 36 passes for 240 yards and three touchdowns and no interceptions. He helped the Ravens rally from a 13-7 halftime deficit as he threw a five-yard scoring strike to Dennis Pitta in the third quarter and scoring tosses of 3 and 11 yards to Anquan Boldin the fourth quarter.

Flacco, a fifth-year NFL pro, had led Baltimore to the post-season for the fifth straight season, becoming the first player in NFL history to accomplish that feat.

Sunday's victory was his sixth career playoff road victory, more than any quarterback in the history of the NFL.

Gradkowski, a fourth round draft pick in April 2012, has been a backup offensive lineman and special teams player for Ravens throughout his  rookie season.

Flacco and Gradkowski both enjoyed outstanding careers at Delaware under former head coach K.C. Keeler as each earned All-American honors, with Flacco leading the Hens to the 2007 NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision national title game and Gradkowski leading the 2010 squad to the national title game.

The Ravens will head to the Super Bowl for the first time since defeating the New York Giants 34-7 in Super Bowl XXXV in 2001.

Photo by Mark Campbell

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