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UD football team wins Atlantic 10 championship 9:10 a.m., Nov. 24, 2003--The University of Delaware earned a share of the Atlantic 10 Football Conference title with a hard-fought 20-17 victory at Villanova University on Saturday. With the win, the Fightin’ Blue Hens (11-1 overall and 8-1 in conference) split the Atlantic 10 title with the University of Massachusetts and received the automatic conference bid to the NCAA Division I-AA playoffs, having earlier defeated the Minutemen in a triple overtime thriller. It is UD’s seventh title since joining the conference in 1986. UD will host Southern Illinois University in the opening round of the playoffs at 1 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 29, at Delaware Stadium. (See related stories on the playoff game and on ticket information.) “When I got here, we talked about winning championships,” UD Head Coach K.C. Keeler said. “This is our first championship and it is a tremendous honor and very gratifying. This was an unbelievable ball game. To beat a team like Villanova on their home field for a conference title is unbelievable. This was a classic football game.” Although the game did not start out like the typical high scoring Delaware-Villanova shootout, it ended that way as the teams combined for 24 points in the final 10:55 of action.
To open the second half, however, UD marched down the field to score the game's first touchdown. The Hens went 65 yards and took nearly six minutes off the clock as Antawn Jenkins completed the drive with a two-yard touchdown run to give Delaware a 10-3 lead. Villanova tied the game with 10:55 to play when it capped a 16-play, 93-yard drive with a three-yard touchdown run by Terry Butler, the first of two touchdowns by Butler in the fourth quarter. UD regained the lead at 13-10 after a brilliant goal-line stand by Villanova. Delaware had first-and-goal at the 1-yard line but was denied three times and had to settle for a 20-yard field goal by Brad Shushman. Villanova took its first and only lead of the afternoon with 5:51 to play when Butler scored again, this time on a seven-yard scoring run. The score gave the Wildcats a 17-13 lead and for the fourth time in seven weeks, the Hens were faced with having to come from behind to win. UD quarterback Andy Hall, who left the game for a good portion of the first half because of a partially separated left shoulder, marched the Hens down the field. He led a 13-play, 79-yard drive that included a completed pass to David Boler at Villanova the 1-yard line. Again, the Villanova defense stood tall, stuffing Hall on a pair of keepers. However, on third and goal, Hall ran to his right on an option play and went into the end zone for the touchdown to give UD a three-point lead at 20-17. Hall finished the game 22-of-30 passing for 217 yards and ran 11 times for 35 yards. “Andy said he wanted to stay out on the field, even though he had the injury,” Keeler said. “We got a little conservative with him in the second half. But on that last play, we had to put the ball in his hands and he made a big time play.” Villanova had one last shot and the Wildcats marched to the Delaware 43-yard line with 24 seconds left. However, four straight passes by Villanova quarterback Joe Casamento fell incomplete, the last as he was hit by Hen defensive linemen Chris Mooney and Shawn Johnson. Casamento was 20-of-37 for 191 yards and was sacked four times. UD’s Germaine Bennett had his fourth 100-yard rushing game of the season. Bennett, who went over the 1,000-yard mark for the season last week, carried 21 times for 109 yards. Boler also reached a milestone as he surpassed 1,000 career receiving yards in only his second season. Delaware out-gained Villanova 410 yards to 299, and the Hens had the ball for 35:14, including nearly 20 of the 30 minutes in the second half. To learn how to subscribe to UDaily, click here. |
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