Boxscore
Photos Courtesy of Mark Campbell

ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- Ricky Dobbs’ five-touchdown performance was too much to handle for the University of Delaware football team Saturday afternoon at Navy-Marine Corps Stadium as the Blue Hens missed on several prime opportunities in the first half and fell to Navy 35-18 in a game much closer than the final score indicated.

Delaware kicker Jon Striefsky (top right) converted a school-record four field goals, including three in the first half to stake the Hens to a 9-7 lead at the break, but the Hens could not hold off the high-powered Midshipmen offense in the second half and dropped the non-league verdict.

The No. 23 ranked Blue Hens (6-4), who had won four of their last five games, will try to keep their post-season playoff hopes alive next Saturday when Delaware travels to No. 3 ranked and league-leading Villanova for a 3:30 p.m. Colonial Athletic Association clash. Villanova (9-1, 6-1 CAA) defeated Towson 49-7 Saturday.

“We had opportunities today that we just could not take advantage of,” said Delaware head coach K.C. Keeler, who coached his 100th career game in his eighth season at Delaware. “We needed sevens (touchdowns) but got threes (field goals). Navy is too good of a team to let opportunities slip away. We were up at halftime, but we should have had two touchdowns and that hurt us.”

Navy, who the Hens had defeated 59-52 in their last visit here in 2007, won for the second straight game and for the seventh time in its last eight outings, improved to 8-3. The Mids, coming off a 23-21 win over No. 19 Notre Dame last week and ranked No. 30 in the latest NCAA Division I FBS Associated Press poll, have already secured a bid to the Texas Bowl in December.

Dobbs dominated the game with his adept running as he carried 26 times for 100 yards and scored five touchdown, one shy of the Navy single game record. He increased his season touchdown total to an NCAA-leading 22, setting a new Navy single season record and moving into third place on the NCAA single season list in that category.

He also completed 4 of 6 passes for 78 yards, including his 31-yard pass down the middle to Bobby Doyle that put the ball on the Delaware three-yard line and set up his final touchdown of the day with 46 seconds left.

Dobbs scored on runs of three, two, and three yards in the fourth quarter alone as Navy pulled away from a 14-12 lead in the final quarter. His one-yard dive with 9:12 left in the third stanza put the Mids ahead for good at 14-9.

“Delaware is a very good football team,” said Navy head coach Ken Niumatalolo. “We emphasized that all week but it took until well into the first half to really determine that. We were in a battle. The win was a credit to our guys. We were fortunate to come away with the win.”

Striefsky’s four field goals, which broke the school record of three that was set 18 times earlier, just weren’t enough. Two of his field goals in the first half came after the Hens had wasted two solid opportunities to score touchdowns.

Delaware’s defense put in an outstanding effort, holding the high-powered Navy triple-option attack to just 320 total yards, including 242 on the ground, and forcing just the 10th Midshipmen turnover of the season. Navy entered the game averaging 286.0 yards rushing per game, the third highest total in the nation, but was held to its fourth lowest total offensive effort of the season.

Delaware’s 370 total yards were 50 more than Navy and Hens held a 22-16 advantage in first downs and two-minute advantage in time of possession. The Hens also converted 10 of 16 three-point conversions. David Hayes (65 yards rushing), Jerry Butler (55 yards), and Phillip Thaxton (46 yards) led a UD ground attack that gained 176 yards, 64 more than the Hens’ season average.

“When we get down into the red zone, we can’t settle for field goals,” said Delaware quarterback Pat Devlin (middle right), who completed 17 of 26 passes for 194 yards but was held without a touchdown for just the third time this season. “We have to come away with more, especially against a team like Navy. We had some mistakes and missed assignments and that hurt us. We wanted to run the ball today, we just weren’t as successful in the second half.”

Navy made it look easy on their first drive of the day as the Mids went 80 yards on 10 plays and went up 7-0 on Dobbs’ one-yard dive with 7:14 let in left in the opening stanza.

But the rest of the scoring in the first half belonged to the Hens. Striefsky nailed a career-high tying 47-yarder with 2:12 left in the first quarter to cut the lead to 7-3 and then gave the Hens the lead with a 39-yarder with 14:51 left in the second quarter and a 25-yard conversion on the last play of the half.

But the Hens were expecting more. Navy running back Marcus Curry fumbled at the Mids’ 39-yard line after a big hit by Delaware cornerback Tyrone Grant and John Higginson (bottom right) picked up the fumble and rambled 16 yards before falling. That gave Delaware the ball at the Navy 19-yard line but the Hens could not gain any ground on three plays and settled for Striefsky’s 39-yarder.

After stopping Navy again, the Hens got the ball back and put together one of their best drives of the season. Delaware put together an 18-play, 84-yard drive and used up 8:39 to close the half and go up on Striefsky’s 25-yarder. The 18 plays and 8:39 time of possession were both season highs with the 84 yards the second best mark this season.

But the Hens lost a big opportunity when a four-yard scoring pass from Devlin to Tommy Crosby was nullified due to an offensive pass interference call against UD wide receiver Mark Duncan away from the play.

Navy came out and scored on its first drive again in the second half to take the lead for good at 14-9 as Dobbs capped a 64-yard march with a one-yard dive with 9:12 left in the third quarter.

Delaware cut the lead to 14-12 on Striefsky’s fourth field goal, a 21-yarder with 3:33 left in the stanza, but Dobbs answered with scoring runs of three-yards with 12:26 left and two-yards just 1:47 later at the 10:39 mark to up the lead to 28-12. He set up the three-yard scoring run with his own career-high 46-yard burst down the left sideline two plays earlier. Navy needed to go just 37 yards for its next score when Mids’ defensive lineman Jabaree Tuani sacked Devlin and recovered the fumble.

The Hens came back to cut the lead to 28-18 when Butler capped a 78-yard drive with a one-yard scoring run with 6:29 left, but Navy used up most of the clock on its next drive, going 67 yards in 5:43 and capping the scoring on a three-yard Dobbs run to go up 35-18 in the final minute.

“We played well enough on both sides of the ball,” said Keeler. “Our offense did a phenomenal job of playing defense in that we ate a lot of the clock, controlled the ball, and did a good job of execution. We were patient to a fault. But give Navy credit. They have beaten some pretty good teams this year. We just didn’t get it done today.”

Notes....Attendance was 34,223 on an overcast afternoon as Navy celebrated Senior Day...Delaware had defeated Navy 21-17 in 2003 and 59-52 in 2007 in two of its previous three trips but the win gave Navy an overall 8-7 advantage in the series which dates back to 1931...Delaware’s Mark Duncan caught six passes for 76 yards - moving to within 31 yards of No. 5 on the all-time UD receiving yardage list - and extended his pass-catching streak to 35 games...Delaware extended its streak to 170 straight game since 1996 in which it has scored a point...Delaware has now converted ...Hens are outscoring opponents 148-65 in the first half this season...Delaware junior DT Demitrius Hester returned from a four-game suspension and had two tackles....senior DT Brandon Gilbeaux moved over to defensive end and recorded a season-high 11 tackles, including a tackle for loss...Striefsky has now converted 11 of 12 field goals this season and extended his UD career record for field goals to 39.