Hens punch ticket to national championship game with win over Georgia Southern

A phalanx of police officers and security guards stopped the Delaware students from storming the field after the Hens' semifinal victory on Saturday, but that did not stop some of the players from celebrating with them.

Tyrone Grant, Anthony Walters, Anthony Bratton and others sprinted over to the student section after the final whistle and climbed the fence into the stands.

"We just wanted to let them know we appreciate everything they've done for us, coming to the games when school's over with," Bratton said.

The Hens' next destination? Frisco, Texas to play for a national championship on Jan. 7 against Eastern Washington at Pizza Hut Park.

The Hens head to the title game for the third time in eight years after defeating Georgia Southern 27-10 before a home crowd of 10,317 Saturday afternoon.

Freshman running back Andrew Pierce rushed for 186 yards, his second-highest total of his career and the sixth time he rushed for more than 100 yards this season. Senior All-American Pat Devlin threw for 137 yards and two touchdowns, one to Mark Schenauer and the other to Phil Thaxton.

The defense also stepped up against Georgia Southern's heralded triple-option offense, forcing the Eagles into five turnovers.

Junior defensive end Chris Morales recovered two fumbles and sophomore linebacker Paul Worrilow forced two fumbles of his own. Grant added a late interception on Georgia Southern's final drive to clinch the title berth.

"Getting turnovers was something that we really focused on," Head Coach K.C. Keeler said. "We thought we would have some chances. We knew that they averaged two fumbles a game, and we wanted to be ready."

One of those fumbles came on Georgia Southern's first drive, setting the tone for the afternoon. The Eagles had driven 71 yards, but on third-and-goal, quarterback Jaybo Shaw fumbled a snap at the Delaware one-yard line. Morales recovered it and returned the ball 18 yards.

"Getting that ball was huge," Morales said. "We knew we needed to stop them because we didn't want to fall behind. It was a really big play for us."

Delaware's offense sputtered out of the gate. It had back-to-back three-and-outs on its first two drives, and Pierce was held to just six yards rushing in the first quarter.

But Devlin finally got the Hens on the board with 13:29 left in the first half when he picked out an open Schenauer in the back of the end zone for a six-yard score.

"We had a slow start, but we righted the ship eventually," Devlin said. "We realized we needed to stay away from negative plays, so we tried to get four, five yards on first down. We scored 27 points in this game, and that is pretty close to our goal."

Late in the first half, a 38-yard rush by Pierce, followed by a 15-yard catch by White put the Hens in the redzone with a chance to double their lead. But they had to settle for a 21-yard field goal from junior kicker Mike Perry.

On the first drive of the second half, Eagles' freshman Jerick McKinnon scampered for 53 yards before he was finally brought down deep in Delaware territory. However, the Delaware defense held the Eagles to a field goal.

A fumble recovery by defensive tackle Siddiq Haynes late in the third quarter set up Delaware's second touchdown drive. Thaxton caught a screen pass from Devlin and ran it 24 yards for the touchdown, giving the Hens a 17-3 lead.

Georgia Southern was able to answer on its next drive to pull back within a touchdown. On fourth-and-goal Robert Brown received a pitch from Shaw and made it six yards into the end zone.

The Hens responded instantly. Pierce rushed for 18 yards on the first play from scrimmage and for 35 yards on the second play. David Hayes took the next handoff and ran seven yards for another Delaware score.

"After they scored, we had the ball at the 40-yard line, and I told Jim [Hofher, offensive coordinator], 'Don't get too conservative,'" Keeler said. "Three plays later, we were in the end zone. We did a good job of mixing our formations, and that kept them off balance."

Morales recovered his second fumble a few minutes later to seal the victory and punch Delaware's ticket to Frisco. He stole a pitch from Shaw in midair, leaving the Hens to do nothing but run the clock out.

Perry added another field goal, this time from 20 yards, to round out the scoring. Grant then picked up an interception with 2:43 left in the game to put a capper on the defense's performance.

The defense only had one week to prepare for the Eagles' flexbone and wishbone offense, but it wound up forcing five fumbles, recovering four of them.

Bratton, playing the "pointman" position, had a career-high 14 tackles. Worrilow, playing "rambo" posted 12 tackles on the afternoon, and Grant had seven .

Keeler said the team did a phenomenal job of getting ready for this game and getting used to the new positions needed to defend the triple option.

"The practices this week were tough," he said. "We were in full pads, and it was cold, and the wind was blowing. But it took a great team effort to get this win, and our scout team did a tremendous job of helping us get ready. You don't play a triple option team very often, and it is difficult when you only have one week of preparation."

Delaware suffered a scary moment in the third quarter. Senior wide receiver Tommy Crosby temporarily lost consciousness on the field. After a lengthy delay, Crosby was carried off the field in a stretcher and taken to Christiana Hospital for further observation. He is being kept overnight at the hospital as a precaution but all tests came back negative, officials said after the game.

Keeler said the Hens will meet tomorrow and then have 10 days off. They will begin practice again with a light workout on Dec. 28 and then begin to prepare for Eastern Washington, which beat Villanova Friday night, preventing the Hens from getting a rematch against the Wildcats.

"This is why I came to Delaware," Devlin said. "I came here to win championships and play in big games. We have already won our conference, and now we are looking for more."