DOVER, Delaware -- Delaware State’s 2015 football season at least ended on a high note. The Hornets scored the last 13 points in a wild 32-31 come-from-behind MEAC victory over Howard in the season finale for both teams at Alumni Stadium this afternoon. Delaware State snapped an overall 15-game skid to end the season with a 1-10 overall record and 1-7 mark in the MEAC. The Bison also finished the season at 1-10 and 1-7.The Hornets tied the score at 31-31 on a 64-yard touchdown run by senior Dae-Hon Cheung with 6:09 left to play. Cheung, playing in his final game, led the Hornets with 116 yards rushing on 11 carries, the most by a DSU runner since he tallied 140 vs. Florida A&M as a freshman in 2012. Wisdom Nzidee’s extra point kick provided the winning margin.
Howard had two possessions after the Hornets took the lead. The Bison’s final possession began at their one-yard line with 41-seconds left to play. Howard advanced to its 29-yard line, but DSU end Gabe Sherrod recorded two sacks in the last three plays to seal the win, and set off a joyous celebration by the Hornets.
Delaware State trailed 31-19 after Howard’s Kalen Johnson connected with Matthew Colvin on a 26-yard touchdown pass with 6:59 left in the third quarter.
The Hornets pulled to within 31-25 on a spectacular 32-yard touchdown pass from freshman Kobie Lain to Aris Scott at the 2:56 mark of the third quarter. Scott, draped by a Howard defender, pulled in the ball with one hand and side-stepped into the endzone for his for second career touchdown catch. The score capped off a 10-play, 75-yard drive that also featured a 13-yard connection from Lain to Scott on a third down to keep the drive alive. The Hornets failed on a two-point pass after the touchdown.
Scott had five catches for 104 yards to finish the season with 46 receptions for 683 yards. It was his second 100-yard game of the season.
Lain, making his first career start, completed 14-of-27 passes for 181 yards and two touchdowns. He was also second on the Hornets with 52 yards rushing, highlighted by a 32-yard run.
His first career touchdown pass was a 16-yard strike to tight end Nate Ortiz to give DSU a 19-16 lead with 5:21 remaining in the second quarter. The touchdown catch was the first for Ortiz at Delaware State, and the first by a Hornet tight end since 2008.
Howard answered with a touchdown on a 19-yard run by Johnson with 26 seconds left in the second quarter to hold a 23-19 lead at the half.
The Bison scored on the opening possession of the game, capping off a 15-play, 65-yard drive with a one-yard run by Ricquaz Brannon just 6:52 into the contest. Brannon led all players with 126 yards rushing, highlighted by a 75-yard run in the first quarter.
It took the Hornets just 15 seconds to answer Howard’s opening score. Freshman Brycen Alleyne took the ensuing kickoff at the 12 yard line and proceeded left along the sideline for an 88-yard touchdown. The extra point kick by Nzidee tied the game at 7-7 with 8:03 left in the opening quarter. It was Delaware State’s first kickoff return for a touchdown since Scott’s 98-yard score against Monmouth on the first play of the 2014 season.
Just as Delaware State’s celebration ended, Howard’s Robert Mercer returned the ensuing kickoff 92 yards for a touchdown to put the Bison back in front 14-7.
The Hornets nearly tied the game after a touchdown on the first play of the second quarter when Lain reached the endzone for the first time in his career on a five-yard run to cut the Bison lead to 14-13. The seven-play, 76-yard drive featured a 41-yard pass from Lain to Scott to the Howard 28. DSU’s extra point kick after the touchdown was blocked by Howard’s Jalen Day, who returned the ball to the endzone for two points to stretch the Bison lead to 16-13 with 14:56 left in the second quarter.
The Hornets had season-highs in scoring, rushing yards (217) and total yards (398) in the contest.
Senior defensive back Terrick Colston led DSU with 13 tackles, including seven solo stops. Linebacker Malik Harris had 10 tackles, 2.5 in the Howard backfield. Linebacker Rashawn Barrett contributed nine tackles, including a sack and two other stops behind the line-of-scrimmage.
Sherrod’s seven tackles included 2.5 sacks and 4.5 overall backfield stop (-25 yards). He was No. 1 in the MEAC and fourth among all FCS players in tackles-for-loss entering the contest. The junior standout finished the season with team-highs of 25 tackles-for-loss (-116 yards) and eight sacks.
STINGERS
The win by the Hornets was their first since a 13-10 overtime victory at Norfolk on Oct. 11, 2014 … DSU honored its 19 senior players before the contest.
POSTGAME COMMENTS (Kenny Carter, Kobie Lain, Dae-Hon Cheung, Gabriel Sherrod and Terrick Colston):
Media: First off, I want to say congratulations. I know it’s been a tough season, but how do you feel finally getting your first win as the head coach?
Carter: I’m excited for the team because it’s not about me, it’s about the team and the coaches. Great effort by everybody. There was a lot of adversity in the game and we had to battle our way back into it. There are several benchmarks that we hit that were significant. We had a freshman quarterback starting his first game, and he played really well, but he did what we expected him to do when we recruited him. So, for him to get to that point and have that kind of pressure on him, said a lot about the future of Delaware State football when it comes to the quarterback position. Aris Scott played exceptionally well, another 100-yard game receiving. And Dae-Hon Cheung, I’m really proud of him, really proud of him. 100-yards rushing in his last game was very significant for him. But, the offensive line, as embattled as they’ve been all year long, that was a tremendous effort by them. And our defenses…love our defense. They’ve just battled. They’ve played short fields all year long. We’ve put them in tough situations and they just go out and they play. We gave up a kickoff return for a touchdown, but then we had one for a touchdown. But, Jeremiah (McGeough)punted really well, and the guys did a really good job in the coverage net down in the ball inside the five, I believe three times. So when you can do that, you create opportunities for you to have a chance to win the game.
Media: It seems like in the first half, like you said, the game was going back and forth with both you guys scoring. At halftime, did you decide to make any adjustments or anything to sustain that or stop that from happening moving forward?
Carter: We knew, as far as offense, the adjustment that we needed to make. They had a lot of movement internally so some of the things we were trying to do, we had to settle down and try to get the ball in the perimeter- which you saw a lot more of in the second half. Offensive line did a good job with really trying to set the edge. But that was really the major adjustment. Defensively, we just settled down and made sure we had to contain the quarterback.
Media: And it seemed like you made crucial stops when you needed to make crucial stops, especially the last 30 seconds. Anything can happen in a football game, so I know you guys had to settle down. But with No. 88 making that final tackle and everybody running on the field, how was that feeling, especially for the seniors that are leaving.
Carter: It was a great feeling when he made the tackle because I was worried about them getting in field goal range because they’ve got probably the best kicker in our league. He’s very, very good. But it all kind of summed it up. It really summed up the season for us to have a defensive stop. It really was the thing that sealed our win. So I was very pleased with that. And I’m just really excited for our guys. We’re starting our off-season with a win. And that’s what we needed. We’re going to roll into recruiting and it’s going really well already. We’ve got a bunch of recruits right there behind you that are excited about what we’re doing. We’re looking forward to moving forward.
Media: Even with the quarterback situation, how would you assess that moving forward?
Carter: Well, Kobie (Lain) showed that he’s earned the right to go into the spring and into the next year, the starter. Now, we’re going to sign probably two or three quarterbacks, we have to do that because of what our situation is. We go into spring practice with two. And then we have a junior college guy that we’re recruiting that could potentially be here; and if that happens, then we’ll be in good shape. But we have to address that and we have to address the offensive line. We know where the deficiencies are, just like everybody else does but we’re actively doing the things we need to do in the recruiting to make that happen.
Media: I know it’s early to think about next year, but using the momentum that you guys just had, moving forward, how will that help starting off next year?
Carter: Anytime that your last game was a win, it’s a positive, so that’s what we’re going to fuel. And like Terrick Colston said, whom I love, I’m going to miss him big time, but he said we’re 1-0. Right now we’re 1-0, and that’s how we went into this game and how we’re rolling into the next year. Next year, the dynamics of the team and the makeup of the team will be totally different, as it is for every team every year but we’re very excited about the direction that we’re going in.
Media: Starting with the quarterback, it was your first official start being out there. How did you feel being out there? How would you rate your performance?
Lain: Dating back to last week, I did pretty well and I just wanted to continue on that streak I was on. Coach showed a lot of faith in me, he had faith in me since I came here and I just wanted to carry on from where I started.
Media: I know you sustained an injury, you were carried off the field in the game. Was there a reason for you to come back just to end the game?
Lain: Yes, when the injury originally happened, I thought it was worse than what it was. It was kind of an awkward fall and when I went off the field, it was hurting really bad. I just waited a little while and I tried to walk it off and eventually recovered and I was able to go back out there.
Media: Moving forward, thinking about next year how will you take some of the things you learned these past two games to help moving forward?
Lain: The motto for this season has been “Always forward” and Coach Carter has preached that since day one and I just want to build off of what we have done and continue to encourage my teammates to be successful.
Media: Dae-Hon, what happened on that touchdown?
Cheung: Well, I knew coming out, I had in my mind I was going to get in the box because you know it’s my last game, my senior game and that’s all I had in my head. I was thinking, I know if I think I’m going to do it, I’m going to do it and I just had to make it work.
Media: During that play, when it happened you were there by yourself. Were you thinking “I finally got there, that’s what you envisioned earlier?”
Cheung: Yeah, once I got through the hole, I saw I had gotten a miss and I had made a move, I had to get in the box.
Media: With this being your last game, is it kind of bittersweet in a sense? Doing all of the things you said you wanted to do and it being your last game as well?
Cheung: Yeah, I’m definitely going to miss all my players, all my seniors I came in with. It was a pleasure to meet the new coaches and I’m just going to miss everybody.
Media: Especially to go out with a win, I know it’s been a tough season, your last game you guys get the win and essentially kind of scored the game with the touchdown. How does that feel?
Cheung: It feels like a championship game because we are setting the tone for next year’s future upcoming team. We basically 1-0.
Media: Kobe, how can you build off this game headed into the next season?
Lain: I am a freshman and building off of this game going into the offseason, I know that I still have a lot to learn and I am going to give myself a two-week break and then I am going to get in the office with Coach (John) Allen and try to build off of this so we can be successful in the future.
Media: Just open up with some opening statements about today’s game starting with you Gabe.
Sherrod: We knew the game was going to be a back and forth battle, they wanted to make sure we didn’t have any wins coming in finishing the season. We wanted to make sure we got a win. We knew it was going to be a pretty tough environment trying to get a W to finish out the season and it was a real credit to our team in all three phases of the game that we stayed strong and played throughout the entire game and finished it with a win.
Colston: We just wanted to come in, try to fight, and get the win because both of us have a losing record. Whoever is going to come out fighting the most will come out and get the win. This was an emotional game for me because I am a senior and it was my last one. I really had fun and I’m glad we went out with a bang.
Media: Like you said earlier, it was a back and forth battle between you guys, but it seems like you guys needed to make the stops you needed to make and did that. How were you able to do that?
Colston: Staying with the scheme, listening to what the coach told us to do and it didn’t come out any different. That’s how we did that.
Sherrod: Staying with the scheme, staying focused on our assignment and not messing up on any assignments to give up big plays at the end of the game. We did give up some explosive plays, but towards the end of the game. we minimized that and that was a key to a big part of the victory.
Media: Especially the last play of the game, like you said “Anything can happen in football”, and you didn’t give up many big plays, what was you guys’ mindset the last 20 seconds of the game?
Sherrod: I mean, our coach’s motto and our motto is “Anywhere they put the ball down, stop them.” So, I mean there was no worry about where the ball was down, how much time was left, we just had a job to go do to finish the game out and we did that today and I am very proud of our defense and offense, and kicking game for finishing the game.
Colston: Like he said, wherever they put the ball, the defense line they stepped up a lot this game, I liked how they played this game. We didn’t have to do too much in the secondary other than when he gave us the touchdown.
Media: Like you said, it’s your senior year and I know it’s kind of a bittersweet ending, but do you feel excited for the players next year and what you have accomplished since you won a 1-0?
Colston: I like that because that was the whole thing we were talking about, the whole day, the whole week, 1-0. Why not? We are going to 1-0. We are not 0-10, that’s not what we are worried about. So we 1-0 to start the season and I hope they do well next year.
Media: Gabe what are you going to do offseason to get better after having such a spectacular season?
Sherrod: Just work on the things I need to work on, my pass-rushing needs to get better, bending the corners. Just really focusing on the team, we have a lot of young guys with a lot of good talent in Logan Wescott, Keyjaun Selby and guys that have to fill T.C and JR’s (Robinson) role. It’s important for me to not only perfect my craft but help everybody else around me so that our defense can elevate to another level next season.
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