By Dave Willauer
The Capital Sports Report Contributor
Newark, DE — Senior Delaware running back Andrew Pierce is one of several Blue Hens football players, who have never lost to Delaware State in their college careers. Pierce, who faced the Hornets for the final time on Saturday afternoon, has been a pivotal player for the home team against their in-state rivals in three of the five career meetings.
All five of the meetings have been won by the Blue Hens by 20-plus points.
Pierce and the Blue Hens seniors went out with a 42-21 win yesterday afternoon at Delaware Stadium. There were 19,316 fans in attendance to see the two Delaware schools face off.
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“It’s hard to win so I’m very pleased that our players had the opportunity to win and we played well enough to win,” Delaware head coach Dave Brock said. “It was another tale of halves. We didn’t play the way we wanted to in the second half, but part of it was that we felt we had the game in hand and we didn’t take a lot of chances. I thought Trent did a terrific job and managed the game well. He made the throws he needed to make and we have guys on the outside who can make plays.”
Pierce has rushed for 256 yards in his three games all at home against Delaware State. However, in the past two games, he has not scored a touchdown.
In his first game against the Hornets, he had three touchdowns to go with 106 rushing yards. He nearly broke the 100 rushing-yard plateau in his final game, as he finished with 95 yards.
But he would rather have the Route 1 Rivalry Cup on the Delaware side like it has been since the Series started in 2007. Besides rushing, he also had 4 receptions for 41 yards.
Trent Hurley also did his part, as he went 24 of 31 for 328 yards and four touchdown passes. He was also named the game MVP for his performance.
Wide receiver Michael Johnson had four receptions for 100 yards and a touchdown. Nick Boyle would add three receptions for 55 yards and a touchdown.
Rob Jones also added three receptions for 43 yards and two touchdowns.
Malcolm Williams had a game-high 112 yards on 10 receptions for the Hornets. Malik Golson would add nine receptions for 70 yards and two touchdowns.
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Cory Murphy went 30 of 45 yards for 302 yards and two touchdowns. He would also lead the Hornets with 44 rushing yards on 10 attempts.
Both teams would split touchdowns in the fourth quarter. Esayah Obado scored a Del State touchdown on an 18-yard fumble recovery.
Nick Boyle would catch a 25-yard touchdown from Tim Hurley, as the Blue Hens scored with 9:49 left in the game.
But Delaware would not score in the third quarter. Golson would catch a Murphy pass for 7-yards. It was one of their two touchdowns in the game, as Golson also caught a 4-yard touchdown from Murphy in the second quarter.
Jones would catch a 33-yard touchdown reception from Hurley, in addition to returning a 62-yard punt for a touchdown in the second quarter. Julian Laing would contribute a 9-yard run as the other Blue Hens had three touchdowns second quarter.
Delaware was up 14-0 before the Hornets even started to score.
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