Photos Courtesy of Mark Campbell & Bob Burleigh

NEWARK, DE -- Delaware Stadium has seen its share of wild games over the years, but the University of Delaware’s top 10 showdown against Richmond for supremacy in the Colonial Athletic Association South Division Saturday afternoon will always rank right up there with the best of them.

After four and half hours, 118 points, and 1,044 total yards, No. 9 ranked Richmond (8-2, 6-1 CAA) finally survived with a 62-56 victory when Josh Vaughan scored on a 13-yard run to open the fifth overtime period and the Spiders then held the No. 6 Blue Hens on downs to win their fifth straight game and capture the CAA South Division title. The Spiders snapped an eight-game losing streak at Delaware Stadium that dated back to 1987.

Delaware (8-2, 5-2 CAA), which had a three-game win streak snapped, had sent the game into overtime at 38-38 when quarterback Joe Flacco (#5 at right) snuck in from one-yard out on a controversial final play of regulation. The Blue Hens lost despite piling up 30 first downs and 585 total yards.

The game was the longest in school history for Delaware and the second longest in CAA history. The 62 points allowed were the most by a Delaware team since the 1921 season and the 118 total points marked the highest combined scoring game in Delaware Stadium history and the second highest scoring game in CAA annals. A total of 347 games have been played at Delaware Stadium since it opened in 1952.

"We are all disappointed, but I was very proud of how we battled,” said Delaware head coach K.C. Keeler, who was denied his 50th career victory for the Blue Hens. “It's disappointing for our seniors to go out (in their final regular season home game) with a loss, but Richmond did a great job on both sides of the ball. It didn't come down to one play. It was the whole body of work. We just didn't make enough plays and didn't take advantage of our opportunities. We had an emotional win at Navy, an emotional win over James Madison, and now this emotional loss. We have to get over it quickly."

Delaware, which will close out the regular season next Saturday at rival Villanova, should secure one of 16 NCAA Football Championship Subdivision Tournament berths with a victory. Richmond virtually assured itself of a post-season berth with the win and could capture the outright CAA title and the automatic playoff berth with a win next week over William & Mary and a loss by Massachusetts to Hofstra.

The offensive heroes were plenty on a day when the two teams combined to score on 19 of 34 possessions and convert 22 of 38 third down opportunities.

Delaware’s Flacco completed 26 of 38 passes for 375 yards and three touchdowns and also scored twice, Mark Duncan (#21 at top right) caught nine passes for 157 yards and two touchdowns, including an 84-yard catch and run from Flacco for a touchdown in the second quarter, and All-American running back Omar Cuff (#28 at right) set a school record with 48 carries and finished with 189 yards rushing and two touchdowns.

For Richmond, quarterback Eric Ward hit on 16 of 29 passes for 199 yards and four touchdowns and also ran for 81 yards, CAA leading rusher Tim Hightower added 113 yards rushing and one touchdown, Vaughan finished with 66 yards and two touchdowns on the ground, and Kevin Grayson hauled in 11 passes for 111 yards and two scores.

"It was an emotional roller coaster, back and forth,” said Richmond head coach Dave Clawson. “Both teams played hard, both teams competed, but we were fortunate to make one more play than they did. In the fifth overtime, we finally got a pass rush going and made some plays. Nobody's going stop them (Delaware). You just have to do your best to get a few stops on them. They're a juggernaut."

The overtime alone featured seven scores, including Vaughan’s eventual game-winner. In the first extra session, Grayson caught a three-yard touchdown from Ward and Delaware countered with a 21-yard scoring strike from Flacco to Aaron Love to send the game into a second overtime.

Delaware took a 48-45 lead on a career-long 42-yard field goal by Jon Striefsky, his 15th straight successful field goal, but Richmond’s Andrew Howard countered with a 41-yarder of his own to extend the game.

In the third extra period, Delaware had the chance to win the game but fell short when Striefsky's 22-yard field goal sailed left after a bad snap, ending the sophomore’s impressive streak. The Hens had earlier stopped the Spiders on a fourth and one situation on the Delaware five-yard line.

Delaware went up 56-48 on the first play of its fourth quarter possession when Flacco tossed a 25-yard touchdown pass to Duncan and then followed with a two-point conversion pass to Love. But Richmond came back to tie things up again at 56-56 when Ward hit Jordan Mitchell on a 25-yard scoring pass and then hit Grayson for the two-yard pass in the back of the end zone.

The game finally ended in the fifth extra session when Vaughan scored on a 13-yard run up the middle on Richmond’s fourth play. Delaware got one more chance to tie, but Flacco was stopped for no gain and then completed a one-yard pass to Cuff. Flacco’s next two passes fell incomplete with Richmond linebacker Michael Ireland providing the coverage, spoiling the afternoon for the Hens.

The teams had played to a 7-7 tie after the first quarter when Cuff opened with a four-yard scoring run just five minutes into the game, his NCAA-leading 32nd touchdown of the season that broke Kevin Richardson’s division record of 31 set last season at Appalachian State.

Richmond countered with a seven-yard scoring pass from Ward to Joe Stewart with 4:27 left in the stanza. A 32-yard field goal by Howard gave UR a 10-7, but the Hen re-took the lead on Flacco’s 84-yard bomb to Duncan, who outran the coverage and cruised into the end zone with the fourth longest pass play in school history.

Hightower gave Richmond the lead back with a five-yard run with 8:10 remaining in the half, but Flacco followed with a one-yard dive three minutes later to put the Hens back up 21-17.

Delaware was hoping to extend its lead going into halftime, but the tables were turned when Richmond defensive back Seth Williams stepped in front of a Flacco pass and returned it 44 yards for a touchdown with just 16 seconds left in the stanza, sending the Spiders up 24-21 at halftime.

The teams traded touchdowns and leads on a five-yard scoring run by Cuff and on a 28-yard scoring pass from Ward to Grayson before Striefky sent the game into the final quarter tied at 31-31 with a 20-yard field goal on the last play of the third stanza. Vaughan’s 30-yard scoring run with 10:37 left gave the Spiders the lead again at 38-31, but neither team could score again until the final play of regulation.

After Cuff was stopped on a fourth and one play at the Richmond two-yard line with 1:43 left, all the Spiders had to do was pick up a first down to run out the clock and pick up the win. But Delaware held the Spiders to just nine yards and forced them to punt. Delaware got the ball at the Richmond 47-yard line with 45 seconds left and drove quickly as Flacco fired two strikes to Love and one to Agnone to put the ball at the one-yard line.

Flacco spiked the ball on first down to stop the clock and then hit Duncan across the middle but just short of the goal line with only a few seconds remaining. Both teams scrambled to get into position and Delaware snapped the ball just before the clock ran out with Flacco pushing his way into the end zone for the touchdown.

While Delaware celebrated, Clawson and the rest of the Richmond coaching staff argued vehemently. After a discussion among the officials, the play stood as a touchdown. Striefsky followed with the extra point to tie the game at 38-38 and send the game into overtime.

Linebacker Walter Blair led Delaware with 11 tackles while Manny Marshall (#92 at right) had six stops, including a tackle for loss.

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