Delaware rally falls brief at William & Mary in FCS High 25 showdown as Blue Hens undergo first loss

WILLIAMSBURG, Va. – The Blue Hens had alternatives.

They have been left, as an alternative, with regrets.

Delaware appeared poised to beat a dreadful first half and 17-point third-quarter deficit Saturday at Zable Stadium.

However a turnover and foiled possibilities left beforehand unbeaten Delaware a 27-21 loser to William & Mary in a battle of FCS High 25 groups in entrance of 12,506 on the Tribe’s Homecoming Day.

UD’s Carty: ‘We have now to scrub some issues up’

Delaware head coach Ryan Carty mentioned following his group’s first lack of the season that his Hens fought however did not play as cleanly as wanted for a highway convention win.

William Bretzger, Delaware Information Journal

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“We did not play as clear as we wanted to to beat a very good group on the highway,” Delaware coach Ryan Carty mentioned.

GAME STATS: William & Mary 27, Delaware 21

The sport ended with No. 6-ranked Delaware desperately lateraling the soccer quite a few instances after a brief completion from the William & Mary 34 earlier than the Tribe recovered a unfastened ball. Ethan Chang’s 41-yard discipline aim with 1:45 left gave the Tribe its six-point margin but in addition meant the Blue Hens nonetheless had an opportunity to win, which appeared fairly unbelievable earlier.

A number of minutes earlier than that, Justis Henley had blocked Chang’s 49-yard try however Delaware was then stopped on downs at its personal 43-yard line.

Having reduce a 24-7 William & Mary result in 24-21 within the third quarter, Delaware’s finest likelihood to go forward truly got here earlier within the fourth interval.

However a 33-yard TD scamper by Marcus Yarns off a direct snap was erased by an offensive face-mask penalty. Then, on third-and-6 on the 9, the ball bought unfastened on a low snap and William & Mary recovered.

Delaware quarterback Nolan Henderson, who had reached for the ball whereas on the bottom with defenders piling in, was harm on the play. Henderson had 20- and 23-yard runs on that sequence. He did return.

“It was an enormous play and he knew he needed to go dive on that ball,” mentioned Carty, who added Delaware would have tried a game-tying discipline aim on fourth down. “Two unhealthy issues occurred. We did not get the ball and Nolan bought harm a bit of bit so hopefully he is OK.”

Henderson was 21-for-35 passing for 203 yards and two touchdowns.

No. 16-ranked William & Mary outgained Delaware 423-331 in whole yards with Bronson Yoder speeding for 114 yards on 20 carries. The Tribe had 266 floor yards.

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It was Delaware’s first recreation right here since 2016 and the Blue Hens (5-1 general, 3-1 CAA) havenow misplaced in 5 of their final six visits. William & Mary improved to 5-1, 2-1.

Delaware has its open date subsequent Saturday earlier than resuming motion with an Oct. 22 Homecoming recreation versus nonconference customer Morgan State. The Bears (2-3) misplaced to MEAC rival Norfolk State 24-21 Saturday.

The CAA slate resumes the next week with a troublesome journey to Elon (5-1, 3-0), a 27-10 winner over Towson Saturday.

“Momentum was going their method for some time,” Carty mentioned. “We simply saved persevering with to combat, constructive vibes on the sidelines. I feel these issues are good, and a very good signal of who we expect we’re and who we wish to be. However, clearly, the end result is not what we wished so now we have to scrub some issues up.”

William & Mary went forward 24-7 with 10:11 left within the third quarter on quarterback Darius Wilson’s 1-yard keeper after the Tribe recovered Zane Lewis’ fumbled punt on the 23.

However the Blue Hens, who’d gained simply 75 first-half yards, scored on their subsequent two possessions, Henderson passing 4 yards to Jourdan Townsend and three yards to Chandler Harvin for touchdowns. After a missed extra-point kick on the primary, Henderson handed to Townsend for 2 factors on the second because the Hens bought inside 24-21 with 2:43 left within the third quarter.

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“I do know that was a very good soccer group and we performed rather well tonight,” William & Mary coach Mike London mentioned.

Delaware was three-and-out on its first 4 possessions Saturday, definitely a priority for the Blue Hens, who had two whole yards by that stretch.

They have been then boosted by a well timed takeaway, as Drew Nickles picked off Wilson’s third-and-13 go from the Tribe 30. On Delaware’s first subsequent play, Henderson ran left and flipped the soccer again to Cumby, sprinting to his proper. He went 38 yards for a landing as Delaware tied it 7-7 with 10:14 left within the second quarter.

Delaware did attain the Tribe 39 on its subsequent sequence, electing to punt. However that was sandwiched by two William & Mary scoring possessions, the second of which demonstrated the hosts’ superiority.

The Hens did first restrict Chang to a 44-yard discipline aim that put William & Mary again up 10-7. However after Ben Dinkel’s punt put William & Mary again at its 9-yard line, it promptly marched 91 yards on 12 performs to take a 17-7 lead 22 second earlier than halftime.

What made it so alarming was that William & Mary gained all that yardage on the bottom, with six runs of seven yards or longer, earlier than operating again Malachi Ihoh threw 13 yards to tight finish Lachlan Pitts for the landing.

William & Mary had gone forward 7-0 on Yoder’s 4-yard run early within the second quarter after Delaware had thwarted Chang’s 39-yard field-goal attempt — Justis Henley practically blocking it — on the Tribe’s second possession.

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