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Blue Hen football hosts William & Mary Oct. 4

Andy Hall rushed for 159 yards and two touchdowns.
4:02 p.m., Sept. 29, 2003--Following a hard-fought 24-14 victory at Hofstra, the undefeated University of Delaware football team will play the College of William & Mary at 7 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 4, at Delaware Stadium.

William & Mary is coming off a bye week, having had to cancel its home game against the University of Maine because of damage caused by Hurricane Isabel. The Tribe is 1-2, with a victory over Virginia Military Institute and losses to Western Michigan and Northeastern.

Against Hofstra, UD raised its record to 4-0 overall and 2-0 in Atlantic 10 Football Conference play. The Fightin’ Blue Hens are 4-0 for the first time since the 2000 season and for just the fifth time since 1986.

Hen quarterback Andy Hall scored two touchdowns in the game. His second scoring run, an 85-yard scamper, came with 1:29 left in the third quarter and gave Delaware a comfortable 10-point lead. It also put Hall over 100 yards for the day.

The Cheraw, S.C., native, who came into the game as the No. 3 rated passer in NCAA Division I-AA, rushed 14 times for a career-high 159 yards. It was the second-highest single-game rushing total by a UD quarterback, falling short of Bill Vergantino's 175 yards against Connecticut in 1990. The 85-yard run by Hall was the longest by a Blue Hen quarterback and the fifth longest run in school history.

"That was the longest run I've ever had," said Hall. "I saw a hole and I hit it. I thought a couple of times I was going to get caught. I think that run put the nail in them and broke their backs."

In the game, Hall also went over 1,000 yards rushing for his tenure at Delaware. After transferring from Georgia Tech, Hall rushed for 863 yards in 2002. The senior quarterback now has 1,123 yards rushing in 14 games at Delaware and is only the fourth quarterback in UD history to run for more than 1,000 yards in a career and the 51st player overall. He joins Rich Gannon, Vergantino and Leo Hamlett as the only Delaware quarterbacks to rush for 1,000 career yards.

"We knew we needed to get tested and today we were," Delaware coach K.C. Keeler, who won his 98th game as a college head coach, said. "Today we had to rely on Andy in a different way. Today it was with his feet.

"I think we used up all of our penalties (10 for 70 yards) and fumbles (four, including three by the special teams) in one game," Keeler said. "The defense stepped up and made some critical stops. When we turned the ball over, they had to keep coming back on the field. They could've folded, but they dug us out all day long."

Running back Germaine Bennett also went over the 100-yard mark for the third time in four games. Bennett, who rushed for 71 yards last week in just two and one-half quarters of action against West Chester, ran for 124 yards on 25 carries on Saturday. The senior now has 425 yards rushing through the first four games of the season.

On Delaware's first drive of the game, Bennett picked up 55 of his yards, including the final 27 on a touchdown run. The ensuing point-after kick failed, but Delaware had a 6-0 lead just 4:23 into the game.

Hofstra took a 7-6 lead in the second quarter when Trevor Dimmie caught a 75-yard touchdown pass from Andrew English with 10:41 left. However, Delaware regained the lead before intermission. Andy Hall capped a nine-play, 79-yard drive when he dove over from a yard out with 1:11 left in the half. Hall then followed that with a run for the two-point conversion to give the Blue Hens a 14-7 halftime lead.

Delaware took advantage of a poor Hofstra punt on its first possession of the third quarter. Gaining the ball at the Hofstra 37 after a 22-yard punt into a stiff wind, the Blue Hens marched inside the Pride 10. Brad Shushman connected on a 25-yard field goal to give Delaware a 17-7 lead.

Hofstra, however, took advantage of a Delaware mistake to close the gap to 17-14 less than three minutes later. After another punt was knocked down by the wind, giving Delaware the ball at the Hofstra 49, Hall was intercepted by Prentice James when a Delaware receiver fell down. James returned the interception back to the Delaware 42. Two plays later, Andrew English hit Marques Colston for a 35-yard touchdown pass.

However, Hall's 85-yard burst gave Delaware a 10-point lead and the defense held on from there.

The Delaware defense recorded four sacks on the afternoon, including one by leading tackler John Mulhern.

Mulhern had nine tackles on the afternoon, including three for minus-yardage, and Brian Jennings had two sacks. Delaware held Hofstra to just 43 yards rushing.

Delaware outgained Hofstra, 433 yards to 370, marking the fifth straight game that Delaware has surpassed the 400-yard total offense mark.

The Oct. 4 game will be Youth Day, and the game sponsor will be Delaware College Investment Plan and Fidelity Investments.

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