Missed Scoring Chances in FAMU Territory Cost the Hornets the Game

This game frustrates the Hornets football team and the fans during the Hornets 17-14 lost to Florida A&M. Think about the Hornets had four chances to score in FAMU's territory and come up with 0 points and two turnovers.

Whats worst is that the Hornets didn't have their place kicker Mario Diaz-Aviles on the field because he injured his leg back on September 5 vs Southern.

Lets break down the Hornets four missed opportunities to scored in FAMU Territory:

• Back in the 1st quarter the Hornets couldn't convert on a 4th down and turned the ball over on downs at the FAMU 19 yard line.
• Then in the 2nd quarter Jaashawn Jones fumbled the ball at the FAMU 16 yard line giving FAMU the football back.
• In the 3rd quarter Anthony Glaud threw a interception at the FAMU 6 to John Ojo
• Last but not least the 4th quarter jitters. With under 4 minutes left, the Hornets had the ball at the FAMU 31. Instead of going for it on 4th and 6 they decided to punt the ball.
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  In the final drive of the fourth quarter, on a 4th and 2 at the FAMU 38, Anthony Glaud was sacked by the Rattlers defense that allowed them to win the game.

The Hornets was in a disadvantage and it hurt them in the long run on special teams and offense.

I have to give the Hornets defense credit they prevent FAMU from doing anymore damage in the game. As for the Hornets offense, they almost had everything right, getting 1st downs, running the ball well, and throwing the ball (except for a some drop, penalties, and overthrown passes).

The Hornets did better than their last game vs Southern but once again the little things and  4th quarter jitters came back to haunt the Hornets again. Delaware State would've been 2-0 instead they are 0-2.

Hornets Just Couldn't Finished the Job they Started

Back on Sunday I was watching the MEAC/SWAC Challenge between Delaware State University and Southern University on ESPN and I was so excited for the season to start. When the game started, I knew right away that the Hornets were ready for the challenge after having a strong spring practice in April and a hard working training camp back in August.

Even though the Hornets was doing good there were plenty of game changers that lead Southern to a 37-27 victory.

The 1st game changer happened in the 2nd quarter after the hornets scored two touchdowns. After the 1st touchdown Larrone Morre was the holder for kicker Mario Diaz-Aviles to make the extra point. Instead Morre fumbled the snap and tried to run but Southern's defense tackled both of them.

Game changer number two: After the 2nd touchdown the Hornets had a new place holder, Hornets punter Martin Kano. Just like Lerrone Morre's fumbled the result was the same as Kano fumbled the snap and once again Southern's defense held them at bay but this one was different because Southern's returned the blocked extra point and took it downfield to cut the Hornets lead to 19-16.

The third game changer occurred after the Hornets score a touchdown on the 2nd drive of the third quarter, everything went upside down. The Hornets defense were on the field for too long allowing Southern University to drive down the field and scoring points especially the 4th quarter. The Hornets defense were on the field for over 10 minutes in the 3rd quarter and almost six minutes in the 4th quarter. Not only was the defense was on the field too long they were Hornets players (both offense and defense) were getting hurt due to heat cramps because of the new turf that was made in the Florida Citrus Bowl. The temperature on the turf was 95 degrees and rising and I'm not talking about the weather forecast either.

The 4th game changer occurred in the 4th quarter when the Hornets offense running game was out of sync and poor time management because the Hornets would've have time to throw the ball down field and scored a touchdown then get a onside kick to tried to get the ball back. Instead time played against them. Then the Hornets defense didn't get mature in the fourth quarter to allowed Southern to scored 21 points in the final period to win the game.

I knew this is a young team but the Hornets did not need to blow a 11 point lead to lose the game. Al Lavan and the Hornets will use this game as a learning tool and prepared for Joe Taylor and Florida A&M in their home opener this Saturday night in Dover. I checked the weather forecast and the field will not be as hot as Orlando because the game time temperature will be anywhere between the 70s and 60s. This Saturday night will be no excuse for the Hornets. This season the Hornets football season theme will be to start strong and finished the job.

Not a Fun Labor Day Weekend for Hornets Sports

I hope everyone had a wonderful labor day weekend spending time with family & friends playing games, watching TV, hanging out, having good conversations, and throwing the best bar-b-que's ever.

Unfortunately, the Hornets football, soccer, and volleyball teams went through a very tough labor day weekend that ended in defeats.

Let's start off with the Lady Hornets soccer team.  They were trying to get their first win of season and just like last year, the lady hornets couldn't get a lot of offensive help as they lost two road games to Binghamton 1-0 on September 3 and Cornell 6-0 on September 5. Whats more bad news is that not only did the lady hornets lose their first four games of the season, but they where shutout for three straight games. Ouch.

The Lady Hornets volleyball team had a one day stay at the Buffalo Invitational losing a tough match to Central Connecticut State 3-2 and Buffalo 3-0. During the lady hornets lost to Central Connecticut State, the lady hornets had chances to put the lady Devils away but Central Connecticut State rallied and won the the last two matches to secure the win. The host Buffalo took the lady hornets to the limit and couldn't let DSU get any wins in three straight matches.

Now on the Hornets football team. Everyone was hyped to see the Hornets football team return to their winning ways. Instead they blew a 11 point lead in the second half as Southern University took advantage of the Hornets fatigue and beat DSU in the MEAC/SWAC Challenge 37-27. The two highlights of the game belong to Larrone Morre and Andre Carrol. Larrone was great on offense and special teams posting 186 all purpose yards and two touchdowns. He scored a 90 yard touchdown return and a 86 yard kickoff return for a touchdown. Plus Andre Carrol made a career high of 13 tackles for the Hornets defense that stayed out on the field for a long period of time. I will have more on the MEAC/SWAC game between Delaware State and Southern on my next blog.

Now that the long tough Labor Day weekend is over let see if the Hornets fall sports can get back on the winning track throughout the rest of September.

Hornets Football Season Preview

Well, well, well Hornets fans its time for the 2010 Delaware State Football season to begin starting this Sunday vs Southern University in the MEAC/SWAC Challenge.

Now everyone knows that I'm so hyped up about the upcoming season but most Hornets fans already at a cause for concern because the Hornets football team are having trouble winning games ever since they won the MEAC Championship back in 2007.

Ever since the Hornets won the MEAC title, the Hornets arehave a combine record of  9-13, plus there are some games the Hornets should've been won but end up in losses.

This season the Hornets only have eight starters returning on offense & defense and a whole lot of young players who will either start or be back up for the first time this season.

After last year's toughest schedule the Hornets still have a challenging year this year by playing FAMU, Coastal Carolina, Hampton, Morgan State, North Carolina A&T at homecoming and two time defending MEAC Champion South Carolina State.

Hornets head coach Al Lavan knows what kind of season his football team will get into thats why he had selected five captians to lead the Hornets this year.

On offense it will quarterback Anthony Glaud, who threw over 1,200 yards last year and ran for five touchdowns, offensive lineman Darryl Hicks, and wide receiver Lerrone Moore.

On the defensive side of the ball it will be defensive tackle Andre Carrol and cornerback Francis Adjei.

With a whole lot of young players on this team, the Hornets will face adversary once again. Even though the Hornets won't win the MEAC chmapionship this year, I'm pretty sure the Hornets will finished the season with a winning record of either five or six wins this season.

Hornets Summer Wrap-Up 2K10

It was a quiet off season for Delaware state hornets athletics. There were some new recruiting regarding Equestrian, Soccer, and Volleyball. We have Hornets athletes that have honored by the MEAC and of course football, football, football.

Lets begin with Lady Hornets Equestrian, they were the main story of the summer since Delaware State decided to cut Equestrian last year. According to the July 28 article of The News Journal, after cutting the sport in January, DSU pledged to honor the scholarships of the affected athletes. 15 of the 20 women (including lead plaintiff Caroline Foltz of Dover, Delaware) decided to sue to save the team. The university later agreed to fund equestrian for one more season this coming academic year. Experts says that it will be its last is becoming more unlikely since the school is letting the sport Equestrian stay for one more year.

Now Delaware State is faced with not only budject problems for women sports, but Title IX violations. The University wanted to add competitive cheerleading but the court wouldn't allowed it.

Here is the main problem, Delaware State University female population is 60% but the female athletes are only 44% while the male athletes are 56%. That's a big deference. Can Delaware State University find a way add more women's sports to recruit more females to play sports and cut equestrian without any budject problems? This story between Delaware State University and the Equestrian team is far from over.
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Meanwhile back on June 14 the Lady Hornets equestrian team had recruited six new riders (three English and three to compete for the Western squad): Taylor Scuse, Victoria Keen, Brittany Good, Erin Engard, Brooke Mazjuin, and Lauren Voss. These riders are highly skilled and proved to be a great asset to the Lady Hornets equestrian team.
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Also there was more recruitment in Lady Hornets Volleyball. On June 21, Hornets recruited three new freshmen for the 2010 volleyball season: Middle blocker Brooke Redmon, Sonya Inderbitzen, and Jessica Brocher. These ladies has great skills and have what it takes to help the Lady Hornets Volleyball to another winning season.
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Finally, the Lady hornets soccer team has recruited seven new soccer players from high school: Alexandra Broksy, Kathryn Marie Melore, Elizabeth Olivier, Darcy & Kelly Pelz Butler, and Kaitlyn Schech. These players will provide dept, skill, and knowledge to help the hornets win some good games this season.
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Football season is about to start and the MEAC is expecting the Hornets to finish 7th in the MEAC. The Hornets are a pretty young team this year and might finished with six or seven wins this year. I will explain later on my next blog.

So without further let the 2010-2011 Delaware State Hornets sports season begin. HORNETS!!!

Lady Hornets Softball Season Wrap-Up

The Delaware State Lady Hornets softball team finished the season with a winning record despite losing to Florida A&M in the MEAC Tournament back on May 14th to end the season.

None the less, the lady hornets were picking up some impressive numbers during the 2010 season.

At the plate, Delaware State finished 2nd in the MEAC in batting average (.319), 2nd in hits (410), tied for 1st with Howard in doubles (82), and tied for 2nd with Florida A&M in walks (131).

The Lady Hornets knew what head coach Jeff Savage main goals, get runners on base and scoring runs. Why do you think Delaware State is tied in Howard in runs scored per game (6.17) and 2nd in the MEAC in hits per game (8.54)?

That answer is simple clutch hits equals clutch runs by clutch players. Jeff Savage has seven Hornets batting .300 or better:
-Jo Jo Shields (.306)

-Sherelle Sheppard (.310)

-Andrea Waters (.314)

-Breanne Parr & Janelle Lukens (.328)

-Tawny Reeger (.340)

-Rachel Carroll (.342)

-Chelsea Stern (.354)

-Jordan Reid (.456)

Plus the lady hornets have made 94 stolen bases to lead the MEAC. The reason for that success to apply runners in scoring position to score runs even it mean making sacrifice flies and bunts.

Also the lady hornets pitching staff has improve from the last two season finishing 5th in Earned Run Average (3.44) and find ways to make outs with a fielding percentage of .948 (5th in the MEAC).

I know the lady hornets will be back better than ever and bring home another MEAC Championship next spring.

Hornets Track & Field April/May Wrap-Up

Five April and May events were in the books for the Delaware State Hornets men's and women's track & field team. The Hornets are continuing to make great finishes including making history at Penn Relays.

Let start with the weekend of April 3 at the Florida Relays where the Hornet men had set a school record in the relay time of 3:17.60, nearly a second ahead of runner-up Florida (3:18.47).

Also Delaware State also took fourth place in the 1600-meter relay at the Florida meet with a time of 3:06.80.

On that same weekend some of the Hornets participants were at the University of Pennsylvania.

Eric Smith took home first place in the triple jump, topping all competitors with a leap of 14.16 meters (46-05.50) and Tyquan Brown was second in the 400-meter dash (47.77 sec.) and fourth in the 200-meter dash (21.90).

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University of Delaware Open April 11
On the ladies side this event belong to Tracey Fan Fan as she took home top 10 finishes:

-2nd in the 100-meter hurdles (15.08 seconds)

-3rd in the 400-hurdles (1:06.11)

-2nd in the 400-meter relay team (48.27 seconds)

On the men's side, the Hornet men had seven 1st place finishes:
-Ryan Carter was involved in three first place finishes the 100-meter dash with a time of 10.70 seconds, the 1600-meter relay team and anchored DSU's winning 100-meter relay squad.

Carter teamed with Tyquan Brown, Donte Holmes and Kevaughn Laviea to post a winning time of 3:15.95 seconds in the 1600 relay. He was joined by Brown, Larrone Moore and Darius Sivels on the first place 400-meter relay team.

Holmes was the winner in the 400-meter dash. He topped the field with a time of 47.86 seconds while Kelli Thibou took first place in the 800-meter run with a time of 1:54.25.

Eric Smith was the top performer in the triple jump. He followed his first place showing with a winning jump of 14.25 meters.

Sivels also topped all collegians in the long jump with a top leap of 6.91 meters.
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April 20
Morgan State Legacy Meet

The Lady hornets may have finished ninth in team standings but they made eight top 10finishes.

Avery Cloud-Klein had the Hornets' best performance, finishing third in the 1500-meter run with a time of 5:00.09.

Krystina Muhammad was sixth in the triple jump with a top leap of 11.26 meters (36-11.50 feet). Wendi Clark was ninth in the triple jump (10.54 m).

Dashera Richardson was seventh in the 800-meter run (2:21.28), while Nykeisha Sewell (4111 points), Kristen Johnson (4091) and Tracey Fan Fan (4040), were seventh to ninth, respectively, in the heptathlon.

Victoria McGroary was ninth in the pole vault (2.25 m).

On the men's side the Hornet men finished 4th in the standings while winning three events.

John Sutton took first place in the javelin with a top throw of 53.20 meters (174-06 feet).

Larrone Moore topped the field in the 100-meter dash with a time of 10.56 seconds, while Donte Holmes posted a time of 1:52.52 to win the 800-meter run.
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Penn Relays The Weekend of April 23

The Hornet men were making their marks at the Penn Relays after finishing second in the sprint medley relay Championship of America. The DSU team of Ryan Carter, Larrone Moore, Kevaughn Laviea and Donte Holmes posted a time of 3:18.40, trailing only LSU's 3:17.65. The Hornets finished ahead of Texas A&M (fifth), Arkansas (seventh), Louisville (ninth) and Clemson (10th) in the race.

They also finished second in the IC4A 800-meter relay with a school record of 1:23.85seconds just behind first-place Hampton (1:25.85).

It marks the second time that the Hornets have established a school record in the 4x200-meter relay this outdoor season.
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The Hornet Invitational May 1

Talk about home field advantage in Alumni Stadium, both the men and lady hornets track & field team finished 1st in the overall team standings.

On the ladies side, Tracey Fan Fan took first place in the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 1:02.95. Fan Fan also ran the lead leg on the Hornets' first place 4x100-meter relay team. She joined Calisa Emerson, Kendra Mayers and Nykeisha Sewell to post a winning time of 47.24 seconds in the 400 relay.

Fan Fan finished second in the 100-meter hurdles (14.44 sec.), and ran the third leg on DSU's runner-up 4x400-meter relay team. The Hornets were clocked at a season-best 3:48.42 in the 1600-meter relay, 1/100th of a second behind first place Lincoln (3:48.42).

Dashera Richardson won the 800-meter run. Richardson topped all competitors with a time of 2:18.49.

The Hornets had second place finishes from Mayers in the 400-meter dash (56.79 sec.) and Shaquana Neils in the 5000-meter run (28:11.66) while Kristina Muhammad was third in the triple jump (11.38 meters), and Avery Cloud-Klein was third in the 1500-meter run (5:14.53).

On the men's side Larrone Moore recorded an individual win and contributed to two first place relays in the 200-meter dash (21.05 seconds), the 4x100-meter relay (41.25 seconds), and the 4x400 meter relay (3:12.16).

Donte Holmes also took first place in the 800-meter run wit a time of 1:51.86.

Other Hornet winning performances included Kevaughn Laviea and John Sutton. Laviea was clocked at 51.94 seconds to win the 400-meter hurdles, while Sutton had a top throw of 53.09 meters to win the javelin.
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The men's and lady hornets outdoor track & field team has a great season and this weekend they will tried to become MEAC Champions or finished in the top 10 at the MEAC Championships.