Boxscore

Photo Courtesy of Mark Campbell

NEWARK, Del. -- The offensive woes continued for the University of Delaware football team Saturday afternoon as the Blue Hens managed just 145 total yards on the day and dropped a 27-3 Colonial Athletic Association football decision to William & Mary before a Homecoming crowd of 21,949 at Delaware Stadium.

William & Mary senior quarterback Jake Phillips threw for 338 yards and a touchdown and scored one himself as the Tribe (4-2, 2-1 CAA) won their second straight game and snapped a five-game regular season losing streak to the Blue Hens.

Delaware (2-5, 0-3 CAA), which managed just 12 first downs, 45 passing yards, and 100 yards rushing on 45 carries, lost its third straight game and remained winless in conference play. The Hens have started out 0-3 in league play for the first time since the 2005 season and for only the second time since 1988.

The Blue Hens, who have scored 10 or less points in three straight games for the first time since 1983, failed to score a touchdown in a home game for the first time since a 17-3 loss to Massachusetts in 1990, snapping a streak of 116 games. The 145 total yards was the fifth lowest total ever by the Hens in the 56-year history of Delaware Stadium.

However, the Hens did set a school record as they scored for the 155th straight game since 1996, breaking the previous mark set in 1983-96. Delaware also scored at home for the 166th straight time since 1983.

“It all starts with the offense and we did not run the ball well and that put a lot of pressure on our quarterback,” said Delaware head coach K.C. Keeler. “We didn’t protect well and (quarterback) Robby (Schoenhoft) did not play well. We just have a lot of dysfunction on the offense right now and we have to get better. We had good field position, but just didn’t do anything with it and that’s frustrating. We squandered a pretty good defensive effort against a very good offense. We just wore down at the end.”

Phillips, coming off a 310-yard passing effort in a 38-34 upset road win over No. 4 ranked New Hampshire last Saturday, led the Tribe to another big win on the road as he completed 26 of 38 passes for 338 yards and directed an offense that piled up 456 total yards, including two scoring drives that covered 90 and 93 yards.

Freshman tailback Jonathan Grimes ran for 92 yards and a touchdown for William & Mary while Elliott Mack caught eight passes for 119 yards and Chase Hill snared seven balls for 105 yard, including a 44-yard catch and run for a touchdown in the fourth quarter. The Tribe defense, which posted four sacks, got eight tackles, three tackles for loss, and an interception from linebacker Josh Rutter.

Schoenhoft, who suffered a concussion in the fourth quarter and did not return for Delaware’s final possession, hit on 10 of 23 passes for 45 yards and an interception. His status for next week’s CAA road game at Hofstra is uncertain.

Junior Mark Duncan caught six passes for 22 yards for the Blue Hens while senior and first-year Notre Dame transfer Junior Jabbie, seeing significant action for just the second time this season because of a pre-season ankle injury, ran for a team-high 44 yards. Duncan upped his career reception total to 127 to move into sixth place on the all-time UD career list.

The injury-riddled Delaware defense was led by linebacker Andrew Harrison (#40 at right) with 12 tackles while safety Anthony Walters had five tackles, picked off his team-high fourth interception of the season, and recovered a fumble. All-American defensive end Matt Marcorelle (#11 at right) got his first career start at middle linebacker in place of ailing senior Erik Johnson and recorded eight stops.

“Playing two straight weeks on the road in this conference is tough,” said William & Mary head coach Jimmye Laycock. “But our players were well- prepared and handled the situation well. This is a good win for us. It’s been a while since we got one here. We played a solid game and a smart game and our defense played extremely well.”

While Delaware could manage just 62 total yards in the first half, the William & Mary offense was clicking, piling up 233 total yards and jumping out to a 13-0 advantage at the break. Brian Pate connected on his first of two field goals with a 32-yarder to open the scoring with 7:13 left in the opening quarter and Phillips capped a 12-play, 93-yard drive that consumed 5:33 minutes with a one-yard leap over the pile and into the end zone with 4:54 left in the half.

William & Mary upped the lead to 13-0 when Pate split the uprights with a 33-yard field goal on the final play of the first half to cap a 71-yard march.

Delaware finally got on the board early in the fourth quarter thanks to a William & Mary miscue on special teams. After driving to the Tribe 36-yard line, the Hens were forced to punt. But the ball caromed off Tribe returner David Caldwell and Delaware’s Johnathon Smith recovered at the 18-yard line.

Four plays later, All-American kicker Jon Striefsky connected on a 32-yard field goal with 10:50 left to play. Striefsky was wide right on a 35-yard attempt in the first quarter.

William & Mary closed out the win from there as Phillips threaded the needle between three Delaware defenders and found Hill at the Delaware 27-yard line. Hill then outran three other Blue Hens into the end zone to up the Tribe lead to 20-3 with 8:59 left. The Tribe then closed out the win, marching 93-yard on nine plays with Grimes scoring from two-yards out with 2:33 left to play.