Image courtesy of Merrimack Athletics

For just about the entire first half on Friday night, Merrimack hung with Delaware on the road.

After years of championship football at the FCS level while in the CAA, the Blue Hens moved up to the FBS level last season. Meanwhile, Merrimack was coming off a 34-7 season-opening loss as an independent.

It wasn’t supposed to be close and in the end, it wasn’t.

A touchdown in the closing seconds of the first half put Delaware up by 21 and they rolled in the second half, blowing out Merrimack 42-7.

“My message was we knew who Delaware was before we took the field,” head coach Mike Gennetti said postgame.

“We know how good they are. They’re an FBS team that’s a bowl team last year. We knew it was going to be a challenge. We just didn’t do enough to really make it competitive at times. Early in the game, we had opportunities to keep it closer, it didn’t amount to enough. We just made too many mistakes.”

The Merrimack defense held the Blue Hens to just a 7– lead after one, but Delaware pushed it to 21-0 heading into halftime after a Sean Wilson 12-yard touchdown catch with 16 seconds left. The hosts out-gained 242-75 in the first 30 minutes, including 55-4 on the ground.

AJ Hairston started again and finished 11-20 for 75 yards. Cole Meehan played significant snaps for the second straight week, finishing the game when Hairston was injured. Meehan went 10-25 for 121 yards.

Galamama Mulbah had seven carries for 41 yards and a touchdown. Running back Matthais :Latham led the team in receiving yards (36) on three grabs. Kenyon Massey had five catches for 34 yards.

The rough road to open the season continues for the Warriors next weekend when they travel up to Orono to face Maine in the Black Bears’ home opener.