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Delaware 29, UNH 25

NEWARK, Del. – Junior quarterback Max Brosmer (Roswell, Ga.) set career highs with 34 completions and 58 attempts, and senior Dylan Laube (Westhampton, N.Y.) registered the second 100-yard kickoff return of his career, but the No. 11/12 UNH football team was defeated 29-25 by No. 19/16 Delaware on Saturday night at Delaware Stadium.

GAME STATISTICS

The Blue Hens (3-1, 2-0 CAA) rallied from an early 18-0 deficit and held off UNH (2-2, 0-1 CAA) to give former Wildcat offensive coordinator and Delaware head coach Ryan Carty a victory against his former team.

Brosmer went 34-for-58 for 392 yards, two touchdowns and no turnovers. He completed passes to eight receivers. Sophomore D.J. Linkins (District Heights, Md.) made five catches for a career-high 110 yards, senior Kyle Lepkowski (Adamstown, Md.) reeled in five catches for 83 yards and a TD, and graduate student Logan Tomlinson (Manchester, Conn.) snared six receptions for 49 yards and a touchdown.

Senior Joe Eichman (Merrimack, N.H.) led the defense with a career-high 11 tackles and a forced fumble. Senior Max Oxendine (Chester, Va.) chipped in with nine tackles and a forced fumble.

Delaware quarterback Ryan O’Connor completed 24 of 37 passes for 335 yards and three touchdowns. Marcus Yarns carried 16 times for 105 yards and a rushing touchdown, and he made five receptions for 74 yards and a TD. Jourdan Townsend paced the Blue Hens’ air attack with five catches for 122 yards and a touchdown.

FIRST QUARTER

  • Special teams got the scoring started for UNH when junior Jonathan Collins, Jr. (Williamstown, Md.) blocked Ryan Kost’s punt at the 24-yard line, and the ball bounced out of the back of the end zone for a safety and a 2-0 lead at 11:37 of the first.
  • UNH bumped the lead to 5-0 at 9:51 when sophomore Nick Mazzie (Boxford, Mass.) capped a six-play, 42-yard drive with a 23-yard field goal.
  • Brosmer’s 16-yard touchdown pass to Tomlinson at 4:24 increased the lead to 12-0. 

SECOND QUARTER

  • The Wildcat lead ballooned to 18-0 at 13:17 of the second on Brosmer’s 2-yard TD pass to Lepkowski that put a bow on a nine-play, 75-yard drive. The PAT failed.
  • The Blue Hens began their comeback at 10:41 when O’Connor converted a 4th-and-4 pass to Townsend for a 32-yard touchdown that trimmed the deficit to 18-7.
  • Delaware cut it to 18-15 at 1:56 on a 29-yard TD pass from O’Connor to Yarns followed by a 2-point conversion pitch and sweep by Kyron Cumby.

THIRD QUARTER

  • The Blue Hens captured their first lead, 22-18, on O’Connor’s 8-yard TD pass to Chandler Harvin with 13:44 to go in the third.
  • UNH snapped Delaware’s 22-0 run on Laube’s 100-yard kickoff return for a score on the ensuing kickoff to regain the lead, 25-22, at 13:29.
  • The Blue Hens appeared destined to move back in front on Joshua Youngblood’s 17-yard scamper toward the end zone, but senior Oxendine forced a fumble at the 1-yard line, and the ball rolled out of the end zone for a touchback at 9:02.
  • The effects of Tropical Storm Ophelia took hold as heavy rains and winds picked up in the third quarter.
  • Delaware would go back on top, 29-25, at 3:33 courtesy of Yarns’ 30-yard scoring rush.

FOURTH QUARTER

  • UNH threatened to regain the lead by embarking on a 14-play, 67-yard drive that took more than six minutes off the clock, but the Blue Hens defense stopped the ‘Cats on downs at the UD 5 with 12:30 remaining.
  • Delaware drove to the UNH 25 on its next possession, but on 4th-and-3, Townsend was wrestled down one yard shy of the marker on his reception when senior Bryce Shaw (Raynham, Mass.) made the drive-halting tackle at 8:43.
  • The Wildcats marched down the field again, only to be turned away on downs at the Delaware 15 when Brosmer’s pass intended for Tomlinson in the end zone was broken up.

GAME NOTEBOOK

  • Laube registered the second 100-yard kickoff return of his career; he accomplished the feat at Richmond on Nov. 5, 2022.
  • Only three other UNH players have ever returned a kickoff 100 yards: Dan Losano (1973), Andre Garron (1983), and R.J. Harvey (2001).
  • Collins’ blocked punt was the fourth blocked kick for the Wildcats in the first four games of the season.
  • UNH entered the week tied for No. 1 nationally in blocked kicks (Morgan State).
  • Brosmer went 19 of 30 for 270 yards and two touchdowns in the first half.
  • The 19 completions were spread among seven different receivers.
  • Linkins was the leading receiver of the half with a career-high 93 receiving yards (on four catches) in the first quarter alone.
  • Linkins’ career-long 56-yard reception moved the ball from UNH’s 15 to UD’s 29 and set the table for the Brosmer-to-Tomlinson TD.
  • Linkins had two catches for 42 yards on the game’s initial drive but was stripped by Delaware’s Khalil Dawsey at the Blue Hens’ 2-yard line. UD recovered the fumble in the end zone for a touchback that kept the game scoreless.

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