University of Delaware Athletics
Thursday, August 30
Delaware Stadium
7:00 PM
University of Delaware
0-1 , 0-1
19
vs
21
Rhode Island
1-0 , 1-0
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
F
Rhode Island
0
7
14
0
21
DELAWARE
0
10
3
6
19
Photo by: Jordan Burgess
Blue Hens Fall In Opener to Rhode Island, 21-19
8/30/2018 11:26:00 PM | Football
NEWARK, Del. – The third career 100-yard performance of Kani Kane's career wasn't enough as the 15th-ranked University of Delaware football team dropped its season opener, 21-19, to the upstart Rams of Rhode Island.
URI forced three turnovers and used a 57-yard TD pass late in the third quarter to hold on for the victory down the stretch.
In his first career start, redshirt junior Pat Kehoe went 12-for-22 for 202 yards and two touchdowns. Kane finished with 106 yards on 20 carries, while both Charles Scarff and Vinny Papale finished with 50-plus yards receiving on the night.
Senior Ray Jones led the defensive effort with 9.5 tackles on the night, 1.5 for losses, while senior Troy Reeder finished with 7.5. Redshirt sophomore Frank Burton picked up two sacks in his Blue Hen debut.
"We gave up too many opportunities tonight. Offensively, we had too many mistakes, we turned the ball over on a couple of occasions and dropped some passes in critical moments of the game. Defensively, we weren't as sharp as we need to be and gave up too many big plays," Head Coach Danny Rocco said. "I give credit to Rhode Island and Coach Fleming for the effort they put forth tonight. They came down and played the kind of game they needed to and wanted to in order to win the game."
The defenses of both teams stole the show early on with neither team able to do much offensively. URI took advantage of a Blue Hen turnover for their first TD of the night with 10:27 left in the second.
Delaware responded right back with Kehoe finding Scarff from 28-yards out to even things up. Senior Frank Raggo punched it through the uprights with under a minute to play in the first half to send the Blue Hens into the locker room with a 10-7 advantage.
URI would put together two scoring drives in the third quarter to take a 21-13 lead into the fourth.
Kehoe and the offense put together an eight-play, 56 yard drive, ending with a TD pass to senior Joe Walker with 6:45 to play. The two-point conversion would fail and URI would hold a 21-19 lead.
Delaware would get another chance, and would punch it into URI territory, but the third turnover of the night proved costly as the Rams were able to secure the victory down the stretch.
"We have two choices in these situations. We're either going to come together and unite and have each others backs or you can point fingers and make decisions that aren't best for the program. We challenged each other in the locker room to own tonight, come together and unite. Learn from this game and move forward," Rocco added.
The Blue Hens are back in action at home next weekend when they host the Leopards of Lafayette. Game time is set for 3:30 p.m.
URI forced three turnovers and used a 57-yard TD pass late in the third quarter to hold on for the victory down the stretch.
In his first career start, redshirt junior Pat Kehoe went 12-for-22 for 202 yards and two touchdowns. Kane finished with 106 yards on 20 carries, while both Charles Scarff and Vinny Papale finished with 50-plus yards receiving on the night.
Senior Ray Jones led the defensive effort with 9.5 tackles on the night, 1.5 for losses, while senior Troy Reeder finished with 7.5. Redshirt sophomore Frank Burton picked up two sacks in his Blue Hen debut.
"We gave up too many opportunities tonight. Offensively, we had too many mistakes, we turned the ball over on a couple of occasions and dropped some passes in critical moments of the game. Defensively, we weren't as sharp as we need to be and gave up too many big plays," Head Coach Danny Rocco said. "I give credit to Rhode Island and Coach Fleming for the effort they put forth tonight. They came down and played the kind of game they needed to and wanted to in order to win the game."
The defenses of both teams stole the show early on with neither team able to do much offensively. URI took advantage of a Blue Hen turnover for their first TD of the night with 10:27 left in the second.
Delaware responded right back with Kehoe finding Scarff from 28-yards out to even things up. Senior Frank Raggo punched it through the uprights with under a minute to play in the first half to send the Blue Hens into the locker room with a 10-7 advantage.
URI would put together two scoring drives in the third quarter to take a 21-13 lead into the fourth.
Kehoe and the offense put together an eight-play, 56 yard drive, ending with a TD pass to senior Joe Walker with 6:45 to play. The two-point conversion would fail and URI would hold a 21-19 lead.
Delaware would get another chance, and would punch it into URI territory, but the third turnover of the night proved costly as the Rams were able to secure the victory down the stretch.
"We have two choices in these situations. We're either going to come together and unite and have each others backs or you can point fingers and make decisions that aren't best for the program. We challenged each other in the locker room to own tonight, come together and unite. Learn from this game and move forward," Rocco added.
The Blue Hens are back in action at home next weekend when they host the Leopards of Lafayette. Game time is set for 3:30 p.m.
Team Stats
URI
DELAWARE
Total Yards
330
347
Pass Yards
170
202
Rushing Yards
160
145
Penalty Yards
75
35
1st Downs
13
18
3rd Downs
5
5
4th Downs
0
0
TOP
31:03
28:57
2nd Quarter
URI 7, DELAWARE 0
URI - Antrum 2 yd fumble recovery (Carrick kick)
URI 7, DELAWARE 7
DELAWARE - Scarff 28 yd pass from Kehoe, P. (Raggo kick) 7 plays, 80 yards, TOP 3:17
URI 7, DELAWARE 10
DELAWARE - Raggo 26 yd field goal 8 plays, 59 yards, TOP 4:40
3rd Quarter
URI 14, DELAWARE 10
URI - Aa. Parker 1 yd run (Carrick kick), 11 plays, 69 yards, TOP 5:15
URI 14, DELAWARE 13
DELAWARE - Raggo 48 yd field goal 8 plays, 45 yards, TOP 2:42
URI 21, DELAWARE 13
URI - Burke 57 yd pass from Lawson (Carrick kick) 6 plays, 75 yards, TOP 2:56
4th Quarter
URI 21, DELAWARE 19
DELAWARE - Walker 11 yd pass from Kehoe, P. (Kehoe, P. passfailed) 8 plays, 56 yards, TOP 4:21
Game Leaders
Passing Leaders
CMP
12
TD
2
YDS
202
INT
0
Players Mentioned
WR
/ Football
K
/ Football
LB
/ Football
TE
/ Football
WR
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