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Delaware tops Spiders in Atlantic 10 football
9:50 a.m., Oct. 23, 2006--Freshman running back Jared Bradley scored with just 43 seconds left to play as the University of Delaware defeated the No. 10 ranked University of Richmond 28-24 in an important Atlantic 10 Conference football game played Saturday night at Richmond Stadium. The Fightin' Blue Hens dominated early in the game and took a 14-0 lead before Richmond came to life and scored 24 unanswered points for a seemingly insurmountable 24-14 lead early in the fourth quarter. Facing one of the nation's best NCAA Division I-AA defenses, UD battled back and scored two late touchdowns, including the last on Bradley's 1-yard run, for the victory. The Hens are now 4-3 overall and 2-2 in the Atlantic 10. They will return home to face Towson University at 1 p.m., Saturday, at Tubby Raymond Field at Delaware Stadium. Towson is 5-2 overall and 2-2 in the conference. “This was a heck of a win against a team that is ranked 10th in the country at their place,” UD Head Coach K.C. Keeler said. “That's a difficult thing to do. A lot of guys came up huge against an outstanding defense tonight. It's a big accomplishment. Our kids came back after Richmond scored 24 straight points and that says a lot about the way our kids battled. It was a gutty performance. It would be easy for our kids being 3-3 to come down here and not play well, but that's not our kids. We are playing as if it's a one-game season. That has to be our approach. We'll enjoy this win.” “If you give our defense a 10-point lead in the fourth quarter, you figure you're going to win the game,” Richmond Head Coach Dave Clawson said. “All year we've been able to run the ball and drain the clock and find a way to win. We couldn't stop them when it counted and we couldn't move the ball and drain the clock when we needed to. And the two turnovers killed us.” One of those turnovers resulted from a huge play by UD defensive back Garrett Schultz, who stripped the ball from Richmond running back Josh Vaughan as he appeared to be heading for a sure touchdown. Schultz tracked Vaughan far down the sideline and ripped out the ball, which bounced out of the UD end zone for a touchback and possession by the Hens. UD quarterback Joe Flacco had a big game, completing 31 of 45 passes for 305 yards and two touchdowns. Wide receiver Aaron Love caught seven of those passes for 160 yards and two touchdowns. Kervin Michaud had eight catches for 61 yards and Ben Patrick six catches for 35 yards. Bradley carried the ball eight times for 50 yards, spelling an injured Omar Cuff, who carried 11 times for 33 yards and caught three passes for nine yards before leaving the game. In addition to the forced fumble, Schultz also had six tackles and an interception, which he returned 22 yards. Linebacker Erik Johnson led the Hens with nine tackles. UD is tied for second place in the Atlantic 10 South with Towson and Richmond. James Madison University leads the division at 6-1 overall and 4-0 in the conference. Maine and Massachusetts are 4-0 atop the North standings, followed by New Hampshire and Northeastern, both at 2-2. UMass is 6-1 overall and Maine is 5-2 overall. |
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