Lafayette at Delaware football: Blue Hens prevail in FCS thriller

Delaware needed one miraculous comeback and then a smaller but equally important rally.

The Blue Hens got them both Saturday at Delaware Stadium, where they survived a wicked test from Lafayette in the first round of the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision playoffs and prevailed 36-34 in front of 4,039.

Alex Schmoke's 23-yard field goal with 1:37 left accounted for the final margin. Schmoke had earlier missed his first PAT of the season.

Jackson Taylor then forced a Lafayette fumble recovered by UD teammate Christian Pierce at midfield with 44 seconds to go to secure the win.

"Just trying to make a play," Taylor said after Delaware had three second-half takeaways. "We were down. Gotta step up to the plate. A lot of our guys were able to do that."

Tenth-ranked Delaware (9-3) will visit No. 2 Montana (10-1) in the round of 16 next Saturday at 9 p.m. EST (ESPN+).

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"Everything worth doing is gonna be hard and it's gonna have challenges and we're gonna have to persevere through them in order to have the outcome that we want and the success that we want," Delaware coach Ryan Carty said. "We just need to take it one snap at a time because that's all we're guaranteed now."

Patriot League co-champ Lafayette (9-3) lost its 15th straight to Delaware and fell to 0-5 all-time in the NCAA playoffs.

Delaware rallied from a turnover-infused 28-7 second-quarter deficit and gained its first lead 33-28 after Nick Minicucci's 18-yard TD pass to Braden Brose with 12:18 to go. Jack Hall forced a fumble that Taylor recovered to give Delaware possession at the Lafayette 12.

The Leopards regained the lead 34-33 with 7:25 left on Jamar Curtis' 1-yard run on fourth down and their third quarterback, Ah-Shaun Davis, at the helm.

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Curtis had 127 yards on 29 carries. Lafayette starting quarterback Dean DeNobile was hurt early in the third quarter.

"The way that we believed in it and believed in each other," Carty said, "that we were just gonna make the next play, is culture-defining and -confirming."

Delaware's ability to, as Carty said, "score points fast and to stop people," came through.

Delaware trailed Lafayette 28-26 after Minicucci's 7-yard TD pass to Brose on the first play of the fourth quarter. Quincy Watson's 6-yard TD run with 4:35 left in the third period had made it 28-19, though a 2-point pass failed.

Minicucci's 36-yard TD pass to Joshua Youngblood with 38 seconds left in the second quarter made it 28-13, though Schmoke's extra-point kick hit the upright and fluttered away. It gave Delaware confidence.

Minicucci, the first true freshman to start at quarterback for Delaware in 22 years, completed 16 of 25 passes for 198 yards, three touchdowns and three early interceptions. Injuries to Ryan O'Connor and Zach Marker elevated Minicucci into the role.

"Once Nick settled down a little bit," Carty said, "he just played an unbelievable game."

Delaware allowed only two sacks against a Lafayette defense that entered the game with 35, fifth most in FCS.

Jo'Nathan Silver's 76 yards on seven carries led UD rushers.

"It's awesome," Brose said of the win. "It could've been my last game. We've played in games where we've been down and we came back. It's nothing new for us, we can work through anything."

Leopards benefit from 4 UD turnovers

The Leopards turned three Delaware turnovers into quick touchdowns and led 28-7 with 14:34 left in the second period.

Neriyan Brown intercepted a tipped pass and returned it to the UD 21. That set up Curtis' third TD of the game on a 2-yard run as the Leopards went up 28-7.

DeNobile had thrown a 47-yard TD pass to Elijah Steward with 27 seconds left in the first period one play after Marcus Yarns' fumble gave Lafayette possession.

The Leopards had just gone up 14-7 after Curtis' 19-yard run that closed a six-play, 75-yard drive. It was set up by Taylor Smallwood's interception.

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It could have been worse for Delaware as a fourth straight turnover led to a missed 33-yard field goal by Lafayette.

Jourdan Townsend kickoff return key

Lafayette struck first at Delaware Stadium but the Blue Hens had a quick response.

Jourdan Townsend's 88-yard kickoff return to the Lafayette 2 led to Yarns' 1-yard TD run. Yarns took a direct snap that sailed over his head but he picked up the loose ball and ran for the TD. Schmoke added the PAT to make it 7-7.

The Leopards had taken a 7-0 lead on their first series, going 58 yards on six plays, the last a 16-yard TD pass from DeNobile to Curtis.

Delaware had been stopped on downs at the Lafayette 42 on the game's first series.

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This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: Lafayette at Delaware in FCS playoffs: Blue Hens rally to win