By Ryan McCord
Don’t tell Hofstra or Delaware that Saturday’s anomalous mid-season, non-conference game at Tubby Raymond Field didn’t share the same level of emotion, intensity or appetite for success that your typical Atlantic-10 battle would have.
The silver lining couldn’t have been more definitive for both teams. For Hofstra and Dave Cohen: go back to your old stomping grounds and beat your most previous employer. For Delaware: protect your turf and send a near capacity homecoming crowd (21,688) off in jubilation.
Spearheaded by the return of some key defensive players, productive play at the quarterback position and a tight end labeled by most as a future NFL product, Delaware was able to labor through a 10-6 victory against the visiting Pride.
“We have not played good defense at all this year and nobody could have anticipated the low scoring,” Blue Hen head coach K.C. Keeler said after snapping a home losing-streak of two games. “We are not a bad team with all our guys. X’s and O’s are nice but when you have linebackers like Erik Johnson and Manny Marshall back, it makes our job a lot easier.”
The loss marked the second in a row for the Pride, who not only dropped to 2-4 on the season, but managed to come up end zone-empty for the seventh straight quarter.
The hard-luck day encountered by Hofstra’s offense turned full-circle after a third quarter, 70-yard drive that had started at their own one-yard line, ending on downs when Anton Clarkson’s sneak on fourth and inches did not make it far enough to move the chains.
“I definitely thought I had it, I didn’t agree with the call,” Clarkson said. “It’s tough, because the defense is doing their part and the offense just can’t get enough plays made to win games.”
Clarkson’s quarterback counterpart, 6-foot-6 junior Joe Flacco, was efficient enough (20-for-29 for 168 yards) to keep his offense on the field long enough to keep the swarming Blue Hen defense fresh throughout.
Flacco dialed up an opening drive score with national sophomore sensation tight end Robbie Agnone (6-foot-6, 250 lbs.), who continues to be under the watchful eye of professional scouts and projects to someday be on an NFL roster.
“Definitely going to be picked in the first day of the NFL draft,” Cohen said. “Tough to defend, but we had answers defensively in the second half.”
The Pride’s defense indeed settled down after giving up score on an 85-yard drive to start the game, allowing only a field goal and forcing two turnovers from that point on.
Even though the Blue Hen defense had been giving up nearly 500 yards a game, and ranked dead last in the Atlantic-10 in rushing defense, the rock solid unit of linebackers made life miserable for Clarkson and the passing attack. Led by Johnson (12 tackles), Delaware sacked the senior quarterback five times and forced him to use his feet a lot more than he wanted to.
Clarkson ended up with 182 yards passing while running back Kareem Huggins amassed 58 yards on just 10 carries. Wide receiver Charles Sullivan led the Pride with 78 receiving yards and Shaine Smith was held to only four catches.
“Nobody’s given up, we know we have a lot to work on,” Clarkson said. “We’re going to give our best efforts because the seniors deserve to go out on a high note and the underclassmen need something to look forward to.” Homecomings have been anything but kind to Hofstra this season, not only losing their own celebratory against Villanova, but also failing in Cohen’s own personal revisit to Newark as well.
To make matters worse, the Pride takes on a conference beaten Maine team that is celebrating its own homecoming festival on Saturday after punishing Villanova 20-7 last week.