NEWARK, DE -- Quarterback Liam Coen completed 21 of 26 passes for 318 yards and a touchdown and scored another on the ground as No. 8 ranked University of Massachusetts spoiled Senior Day for the University of Delaware with a 35-7 Atlantic 10 Football Conference victory at Delaware Stadium Saturday afternoon.

Massachusetts, which won for the sixth time in the last seven games, improved to 7-2 (6-1 A-10) as the Minutemen took advantage of five Delaware turnovers, including four interceptions, and put together four scoring drives of 74 or more yards on the afternoon.

Delaware, which honored its 13 seniors who were playing in their final home game at Delaware Stadium, dropped its second straight game to fall to 4-5 (1-5 Atlantic 10). The loss was the most lopsided in head coach K.C. Keeler’s four-year tenure at Delaware and was just his fourth setback in 29 home games. The loss was the worst for the Hens since a
38-7 setback to Georgia Southern in 2001 and its most lopsided at home since a 55-14 loss to Arkansas State in the 1986 NCAA I-AA quarterfinals.

“We are very disappointed, especially for our seniors,” said Keeler, whose previous three home losses were by a combined 11 points. “We didn’t want their last game at home to be like this. UMass just converted too many third downs and made too many big plays. We felt we had to make a lot of plays today and we just didn’t. UMass is a very, very good team and they have a tremendous offense that is moving on all cylinders.”

UMass scored twice in a span of 20 seconds in the final minute of the first half to take a 21-0 lead into intermission and built the lead to 28-0 early in the fourth quarter before the Hens scored their only touchdown of the day on 20-yard scoring pass across the middle from Sonny Riccio to freshman wide receiver Armand Cauthen (above).

Coen recorded his second straight 300-yard scoring effort for UMass while tailback Steve Baylark added his third straight 100-yard rushing effort and the 16th of his career as he carried 26 times for 109 yards. Wide receiver Rasheed Rancher caught three passes for 126 yards and one touchdown and also added a two-point conversion.

Delaware’s Riccio struggled against the Atlantic 10’s top-rated defense, completing just 12 of 23 passes for 95 yards and one touchdown with three interceptions. Sophomore Omar Cuff, the nation’s leading scorer and the secondl leading rusher in the Atlantic 10, rushed for 95 yards on 16 carries, upping his season total to 979 yards on the ground.

Despite committing four penalties on their first five offensive plays of the game, the Minutemen marched 81 yards on 17 plays on their initial drive of the day and went up 7-0 when Coen scored on a three-yard run with 5:43 left in the opening quarter. Baylark made it 13-0 when he scored from one-yard out with 50 seconds left before intermission. The
Hens tried to get on the board in the closing seconds but Tracy Belton intercepted a pass by Riccio - snapping a streak of 134 straight passes without a pick - and returned it 45 yards for a touchdown with 20 seconds left to send UMass into halftime up 21-0.

Massachusetts upped the lead to 28-0 just under three minutes into the second half when Coen found Rancher over the middle and the sophomore sprinted 84 yards for the touchdown - completing the second longest pass play in school history.

Delaware finally got on the board with 5:32 left in the third quarter when the Blue Hens drove 74 yards on 15 plays and scored their only touchdown when Ricci hit Cauthen for a 20-yard touchdown pass - the touchdown of Cauthen’s career. UMass capped the scoring on Justin Montgomery nine-yard scoring run with 7:06 left to play.

In addition to Belton’s interception return, Riccio was picked off two other times with Steve Costello intercepting on the last play of the first half and Shannon James picking one off at the Massachusetts 29-yard line with 29 seconds left in the third quarter. Delaware backup Ryan Carty was also intercepted by Jason Hill at the Delaware 48-yard line with seven seconds left.

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