As the sun set on another season of Delaware State football, the appearance of darkest before the dawn was fitting as Campbell University brought the curtain down on the Hornets with a 34-7 decision Saturday at Alumni Stadium.
The loss dropped the Hornets to 5-6, leaving them under the .500 mark for the 10th consecutive season.
“There’s a lot of things we could point to,” head coach Rod Milstead said regarding the Hornets’ 1-4 finish to the season, “but we have to go to work this offseason and find some more pieces to the puzzle so we can be successful.”
The Fighting Camels seized control on the opening drive as running back NaQuari Rogers kept his balance after being thrown forward by a DelState defender and scampered 35 yards for a touchdown with just over five minutes gone in the first quarter.
In between two field goals from kicker Caleb Dowden, Lamagea McDowell ran for a five-yard touchdown and Hajj-Malik Williams linked up with receiver Austin Hite on a 27-yard touchdown pass for a 27-0 Campbell advantage at the half.
The Hornets avoided a shutout when senior fullback Thomas Bertrand-Hudon, the game’s leading rusher with 139 yards on 29 carries, powered in from five yards out with 13:59 to go in the game.
Milstead summarized DSU’s season as one of setbacks, the untimely passing of beloved offensive coordinator Bryan Bossard being the biggest hit and it showed on the field, especially on the offensive side of the ball.“Coach Bo, that was his offense,” Milstead said. “Nobody knew it the way he did, so we’re going to have to try to bring in another offensive coordinator that can fit our team.”
Milstead lauded his defense for their efforts to keep DelState in games this year. The Hornet defense before Saturday ranked in the top half of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference in all important categories (points allowed, yards allowed, turnovers forced).
“There’s a lot of leadership on that side,” he said. “They’re the most mature group on our football team. We’ve got some defensive players graduating, so our goal is to have the offense catch up to the defense and then we can have a complete football team.”Milstead, one of the anchors of an offensive line that paved the way for three Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference titles at DSU between 1988 and 1991, is committed to getting the program back to those glory years, even with this disappointing end to the season.
“We’ve been through a lot of adversity this year, but we’re Hornets. We’re not going to roll over and die,” he said. “We’ll find a way to overcome. We’re going to have a great offseason and be ready for 2023.”
