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November 11, 2000
AMHERST, MA -- Dominic Banks raced 27 yards with an interception for a touchdown to cap a second-half rally as No. 4 Delaware defeated No. 21 Massachusetts, 31-19, in a key Atlantic 10 Football Conference game at Amherst Stadium Saturday. The win likely assured the Blue Hens of a berth in the NCAA I-AA playoffs beginning November 19 and moved Delaware (9-1, 6-1 Atlantic 10) closer to a share of the Atlantic 10 title and the conference's automatic bid into the playoffs. With the loss, Massachusetts (6-4, 4-3) is likely eliminated from playoff contention. "This was a big win," said Delaware coach Tubby Raymond, "not only because it is our ninth and probably assures us of a playoff spot and keeps us No. 1 in the conference, but, even more so in the second half, our defense was revived." The Minutemen dominated the first half, running 46 plays to Delaware's 18 and holding the Blue Hen rushing attack to minus-8 yards rushing. That translated into a 13-7 lead for Massachusetts on two field goals by Doug White (40, 30) and a six-yard scoring pass from Richard Lucero to Pete Cariello However, Delaware came out with all pistons firing in the second half. The Blue Hens marched 82 yards in 12 plays on the opening possession of the second half, capped by a Craig Cummings two-yard touchdown run to give Delaware the lead for good, 14-13. Delaware extended that lead when reserve fullback Antawn Jenkins, who rushed for 48 yards on the day, broke through for a score from five yards out. Scott Collins' PAT made it an eight-point lead, 21-13. The score was set up by a Brian McKenna interception. Delaware's next possession stalled at the Massachusetts 1 before Collins booted a 19-yard field goal to make it 24-13. Massachusetts responded by driving 86 yards, capped off by a Marcel Shipp one-yard touchdown run. The two-point conversion was broken up by Mike Furline (13 tackles) and the score held at 24-19. Delaware recoved the on-side kick, but could not record a first down. After a Blue Hen punt, Lucero (25 of 43 for 258 yards passing) was intercepted on the first play by Banks, who raced for a touchdown and put the game away. The Blue Hens, who totaled just 261 yards on the day, ran for 157 yards in the second half and 149 for the day. Delaware threw the ball just four times in the final 30 minutes. However, senior quarterback Matt Nagy did manage to throw for 112 yards and one touchdown to put him over 7,000 yards for his career, making him the 11th quarterback in Atlantic 10 Conference history to achieve the milestone. "We had confidence in (the running game)," said Raymond, "so we just let it go and it made a big difference in the second half." The win was Delaware's 13th straight in New England and also gave Raymond 10 wins in 11 games in Amherst. Delaware will close out the regular season at home Saturday against Villanova. A Blue Hen win will clinch at least a share of the conference title and the Atlantic 10's automatic playoff bid.
AGATE DELAWARE..........................7.......0.....7.....17.....-
31 SCORING First quarter Second quarter Third quarter Fourth quarter TEAM
STATS................UD..............UMass INDIVIDUAL STATS RUSHING: Delaware: O'Neal 13-66, Jenkins 7-48, Patrick 6-27, Pressey 5-22, Cummings 5-20, Veach 2-(-7), Nagy 2-(-27). Massachusetts: Shipp 25-81, Quinlan 4-28, Hardy 1-12, Lockman 1-4, Lucero 6-2. PASSING: Delaware: Nagy 9-13-0-112, Cummings 0-1-1-0. Massachusetts: Lucero 25-43-3-258. RECEIVING: Delaware: Cummings 3-46, Veach 3-24, O'Neal 1-23, Pressey 1-11, Elliott 1-8. Massachusetts: Cariello 5-64, Howard 5-43, Shipp 4-27, Hardy 4-21, Bross 3-42, Kinsley 2-27, Quinlan 1-18, Shabazz 1-16.
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