NEWARK, Del. (AP) — Ryan O’Connor passed for 309 yards and three touchdowns and Delaware came from behind to beat Pennsylvania 29-22 on Saturday night in the Quakers’ season opener.
O’Connor ended a nine-play, 73-yard drive with an 8-yard touchdown toss to Jake Thaw, giving the Blue Hens (3-0) their first lead at 21-16 with 12:55 left to play. Aidan Sayin ran it in from a yard out on fourth-and-goal and the Quakers led 22-21 after the two-point conversion failed with 6:02 remaining.
O’Connor completed seven straight passes in a 10-play, 75-yard drive and Jo’Nathan Silver capped it with a 13-yard touchdown run. O’Connor passed to Thaw for the two-point conversion to complete the comeback. Ty Davis picked off Sayin on first down, allowing the Blue Hens to run out the clock.
Sayin connected with Jared Richardson for an 18-yard touchdown for the lone score of the first quarter and Pennsylvania led 6-0 after the point-after kick was blocked.
Sam Smith’s 30-yard field goal pushed the Quakers’ lead to 9-0 early in the second quarter. O’Connor capped an 80-yard drive with a 41-yard scoring strike to Phil Lutz, but Delaware missed the extra-point kick and trailed 9-6. Sayin passed to Bisi Owens for a 9-yard touchdown and Penn took a 16-6 lead into halftime.
O’Connor and Lutz teamed up again for a 39-yard score two minutes into the third quarter, but the two-point try failed and the Fightin’ Blue Hens trailed by four. Nate Reed followed with a 35-yard field goal to get Delaware within a point heading to the final quarter.
O’Connor completed 25 of 43 passes. Lutz had seven catches for 144 yards.
Sayin finished with 228 yards on 17-for-28 passing with two touchdowns and two interceptions. Malachi Hosley carried 26 times for 176 yards with a long run of 43.
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