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Delaware football team drops opener to UNH

9:36 a.m., Sept. 3, 2004--Deflating a boisterous sellout crowd of 22,727 fans, the University of Delaware football team fell 24-21 to the University of New Hampshire on Thursday night at Delaware Stadium.

The Fightin’ Blue Hens lost just their second season opener in the last 10 years.

New Hampshire won with strong line play and gritty performances at quarterback by redshirt freshman Ricky Santos and R.J. Harvey, whose primary position is at running back. Both were pressed into service when starter Mike Granieri went down with a knee injury in the first half.

Santos completed 10 of 11 passes for 146 yards, including a game-clinching 44-yard touchdown pass to David Ball early in the fourth quarter, and Harvey ran for 114 yards on 32 carries and scored two touchdowns.

New Hampshire scored first, getting the ball after UD’s initial drive ended with an interception thrown by starting quarterback Sonny Riccio, and led until early in the fourth quarter when Sean Bleiler scored on a seven-yard touchdown run to give the Hens a 21-17 lead.

New Hampshire came right back on its next possession, capping a 67-yard drive with the touchdown catch by Ball.

“Any loss is a tough loss,” UD Head Coach K.C. Keeler said. “You can't be that inefficient inside the 20-yard line and turn the ball over. They really took it to us up front and that surprised us because we have so many players back on the defensive front and at linebacker. We didn't tackle well and that is a credit to New Hampshire. We come out of this game with a lot of questions. We have to handle adversity and I think we will be fine. We knew this was going to a tough opener and it was.”

Riccio completed 13 of 17 passes for 101 yards and one touchdown, a 29-yard screen pass to running back Lonnie Starks. Backup quarterback Ryan Carty, who came on late in the game when Riccio suffered leg cramps, completed three passes in five attempts for 71 yards.

Bleiler ran for 90 yards on 12 carries and Starks for 74 yards on 11 carries. Starks also was UD’s leading receiver, hauling in four passes for 40 yards.

UD will return to action against Towson University, the newest member of the Atlantic 10 Football Conference, at 7 p.m., Saturday, Sept. 11, at Delaware Stadium.

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