Blue Hens don't let Bryant, weather delay slow them down

NEWARK — A late-summer thunderstorm was really the only thing that stopped the Delaware football team on Thursday night.

The Blue Hens scored five first-half touchdowns, waited through a lightning delay of over an hour and then put away a 48-17 victory over Bryant in their season opener at Delaware Stadium.

The contest, which kicked off at 7 p.m., didn’t finish until 11:07 after being delayed for an hour and 15 minutes at halftime.

The stands were cleared because of lightning within 10 miles of the stadium with only a few hundred people coming back for the second half. The crowd was announced at 17,244.

Even after the lengthy delay, Delaware coach Ryan Carty said his players were ready to play some more football.

“I tell you what, if you were in the locker room in the last 15 to 20 minutes (before the game resumed), you would have felt OK going out with that team,” he said.

“We let them turn the music back on — which is normally not a halftime thing. All of a sudden, I went back in there and it was ‘Club Tub,’ before ‘the dub.’”

With all that in mind, Carty said he couldn’t complain about his team’s performance on Thursday. While the defense gave up 319 yards, the Hens’ offense put up 428.

Of Bryant’s total, 130 yards came on its last two drives. Delaware led 48-10 before the Bulldogs scored with only 1:53 remaining.

“We did a lot of good things today,” said Carty. “There’s a lot of things that we need to coach and get better at if we want to continue to win.

“I felt good about going into this week because of how well we practiced in camp,” he added. “We have to continue to do that because we’re going to continue to get CAA opponents.”

Ryan O’Connor looked liked the veteran quarterback he is, completing 29-of-41 passes for 245 yards with four touchdowns and no interceptions. His four scoring passes went to four different receivers.

All told, six different players had TDs for Delaware, which is starting its final season at the FCS level.

Running back Marcus Yarns finished with 62 yards on 12 carries while adding 34 yards on four catches. He scored a pair of touchdowns.

“I think we’ve got guys who can make plays all over the place,” said O’Connor. “They made plays when they got opportunities tonight. It was really good.”

“He does not get out-worked,” Carty said about O’Connor. “It shows out there.

“If we can continue to protect him well, and we can continue to run the ball well, and have receivers who go make plays, we have one of the best quarterbacks in the CAA.”

Trailing 3-0 in the first quarter, Delaware scored back-to-back touchdowns to take the lead for good.

First, receiver Phil Lutz took a short pass from O’Connor and went the rest of the 16 yards down the sideline for the Hens’ first TD of the season.

Safety K.T. Seay then intercepted a Bryant pass and returned it 38 yards to the Bulldogs’ one. Yarns then took it in from there to stretch Delaware’s advantage to 14-3 before the end of the first quarter.

The Hens opened the second quarter with a third-straight touchdown. This time Yarns caught a three-yard scoring pass from O’Connor to make it 21-3 in Delaware’s favor.

Bryant, which was playing the Hens for the first time, did answer with a second-quarter TD.

But Delaware came back with two more touchdowns in the final six minutes of the half to build a commanding 34-10 lead at intermission.

Backup running back Jo’Nathan Silver scored one TD before Cornell transfer Nick Laboy pulled in an 11-yard scoring pass from O’Connor with just 43 seconds left before halftime. The play came on a fourth and short.

O’Connor completed 20-of-26 passes for 151 yards and three touchdowns in the first half.

The Hens did lose veteran center Brock Gingrich to a right knee injury on the final play of the first half. The team co-captain spent the second half on crutches.

Carty said it’s too soon to tell the severity of Gingrich’s injury but he said junior Steven Demboski played well after taking over at center in the second half.

“He’s good enough to be a starter in this league,” said Carty. “He’s proven that over the course of practice.”

Extra points

Anwar O’Neal, the second-year lineman from Middletown High, started at right tackle. ... Bryant is playing its first season as a member of the CAA. But the game was a non-conference contest that was scheduled a few years ago. ... QB Zach Marker, who had off-season knee surgery, did not suit up for the game. ... Delaware has an open date next weekend before going to North Carolina A&T on Sept. 14.