Delaware cannot alter its recent football results.
But the postseason provides ample opportunity for redemption and the sweet salvation a second chance provides the Blue Hens.
“It’s definitely nice to be able to hit the reset button,” safety Kedrick Whitehead said, “and realize that whatever happened in the past means absolutely nothing.”
It’s happened before.
Fifteen years ago, Delaware closed its regular season with losses at home to Richmond and at Villanova by a combined 12 points. It then surged all the way to the NCAA championship game before losing again.
Now the 2022 Blue Hens will see if they can contrive a similar postseason turnaround after losing at home to Richmond and at Villanova by 11 total points.
It begins Saturday when Delaware (7-4) and Northeast Conference champ St. Francis (9-2) kick off at 2 p.m. at Delaware Stadium in the first round of the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision Tournament.
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St. Francis has won nine straight, all except one by double digits, since falling to FBS Akron 30-23 and Richmond 31-21 to start the season. Delaware beat NEC champ Sacred Heart 19-10 in the first round of the 2021 spring FCS tournament in its only other home playoff game since 2010.
Saturday’s victor visits top-seeded South Dakota State (10-1) on Dec. 3 at 3 p.m. EST in the second round.
“At lift today I feel like there was a whole new different energy. We were revived, really,” quarterback Nolan Henderson said Monday of the playoff invite. “We didn’t think we’d have this opportunity. We were given this opportunity and now we have to make the most of it.”
Henderson, the Smyrna grad and long-time UD football follower, was a big fan of the quarterback, Joe Flacco, who engineered that 2007 postseason drive and won’t limit the 2022 team’s aspirations.
“This team is stacked,” he said. “ . . . This group is very confident in who have, who we are.”
Delaware, now ranked 23rd nationally, was among five Colonial Athletic Association teams chosen for the 24-team field, along with automatic qualifier William & Mary, co-champion New Hampshire, Richmond and Elon.
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The Blue Hens’ inclusion was keyed by its season-opening win at FBS-level Navy, which won 17-14 Saturday at 17th-ranked Central Florida to further enhance Delaware’s postseason qualifications, and a thorough 41-21 Sept. 17 win at Rhode Island. The Rams just missed making the field, their postseason drought now covering 37 years.
“It was a rough finish this season but it’s a new season now and we get a chance to kinda write how we finish,” said first-year Hens coach Ryan Carty.
Delaware’s losses the last two weeks couldn’t have been more excruciating.
Villanova, a 29-26 victor, scored the go-ahead touchdown on quarterback Connor Watkins’ fourth-and-goal 2-yard keeper with 1:11 left after a second straight blocked punt put the Wildcats at the UD 10.
The week before, Richmond kicked the go-ahead field goal, its fifth, with four seconds left and won 21-13. Delaware had been stopped short of a first down on third-and-2 and fourth-and-1 runs, the Spiders took over at their 7 with 1:23 left and hit a long fourth-down pass.
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“It was unfortunate that a pretty great start to a season and just a good season all-around finished the way that it did,” Carty said. “So we get a chance now to kinda put that in the rear view and just attack the next part of this phase of the season and we’re excited about it.”
Among its four losses in the last six games was also a 27-21 setback Oct. 8 at William Mary. There, Delaware had a go-ahead fourth-quarter touchdown erased by a penalty and then gave the ball away on an errant snap from the Tribe 9.
Delaware beat St. Francis 27-10 last year at Delaware Stadium and the Red Flash finished 5-6. They have been much better this year.For Delaware, the disappointment of losing Saturday at Villanova has quickly been replaced by appreciation for another opportunity to prove itself. Delaware will be seeking an eighth win for the first time since 2010 on Saturday.
“We know what we’re capable of,” Whitehead said. “We know a couple games just got away from us and however that happened, that happened . . . Everything that we want to accomplished is still out in front of us, winning a national championship.”
Hen scratch
Starting guard Stevon Brown missed the Villanova game due to illness with former starter Patrick Shupp stepping in . . . A.I. du Pont High graduate Kerry Galloway is a starting St. Francis cornerback with 22 tackles and a team-best seven pass breakups. Red-shirt freshman tight end Daniel Fondong out of Appoquinimink has seen action in two games for the Red Flash . . . The five playoff berths for CAA teams equaled the second most ever. Six teams went in 2018. The CAA also had five qualifiers in 2007 and 2008 for 16-team tournaments and in 2011 for the 20-team field.
Have an idea for a compelling local sports story or is there an issue that needs public scrutiny? Contact Kevin Tresolini at ktresolini@delawareonline.com and follow on Twitter @kevintresolini. Support local journalism by subscribing to delawareonline.com.
