Delaware State Rallies From 17 Down, Beats Norfolk State 36-33 on Walk-Off Field Goal

Delaware State was 0 for 10 on third down and trailed by 17 points late in the third quarter at Lincoln Financial Field. DeSean Jackson's Hornets had fumbled away a kickoff, lost a two-point try that turned into two points for the other side and spent long stretches of the afternoon going backward. Then Marqui Adams took the game over, the defense took the ball away twice in the final 15 minutes, and Delaware State left Philadelphia with its second straight win over Michael Vick's Spartans at the Linc.

Delaware State beat Norfolk State 36-33 on Oct. 31, the centerpiece of One Philly HBCU Week, scoring the final 20 points. Adams threw four touchdown passes and ran for 69 yards, and Phillip Dunnam intercepted Da'Jean Golmond and then forced the fumble that set up Patrick Fisher-Butler's 35-yard field goal as time expired. The Hornets improved to 5-4 and 1-1 in the MEAC, while Norfolk State fell to 4-5 and 0-2.

The rematch carried more than legacy-game shine. Both teams arrived 4-4 and 0-1 in the MEAC, both coming off ugly league openers. Norfolk State had gone to Orangeburg and lost 22-7 to South Carolina State, with a Jason Wonodi return accounting for the only points. Delaware State had been run over at home by NC Central, falling 31-12 as Gino Addison piled up 214 yards.

A gift on the first kickoff

Norfolk State's first possession was a grinder: 10 plays, 62 yards and a 32-yard Marco Peery field goal with 8:22 left in the first quarter. It was the kickoff after that kick that set the tone for the afternoon.

Jason Galloway Jr. got to returner Deontae Williams near the Delaware State 10 and punched the ball loose. Damarion Simmons fell on it at the 8. One snap later, Jalyn Daniels walked in from 8 yards out, and the Spartans led 10-0 just 12 seconds after their field goal.

Delaware State's second possession lost 17 yards in three plays, with Brendan Thompson and Quintin Goins each getting home on Adams, and the first quarter ended with Norfolk State up 10.

Short fields and a long answer

The second quarter opened with Jackson rolling the dice on fourth down deep in his own territory. Nathaniel Anthony stuffed the run at the Delaware State 22, and five plays later Golmond found Kam'Ryn Thomas for an 11-yard touchdown. It was 17-0 with 8:13 left in the half.

The Hornets gave it right back. Ui Ale fumbled on the next series and Jeremiah Henry recovered at the 21. This time Norfolk State blinked. The drive gained nothing and Peery pushed a 39-yard try wide, the first sign of life Delaware State had seen.

Adams took it from there. He hit Nathan Stewart for 22 yards and then dropped a 33-yard touchdown pass into the hands of Jaylin Terzado down the right side. The 79-yard march cut it to 17-7 with 2:09 left in the half.

Then the turnover ledger started to even out. On the ensuing kickoff, Quali Price fumbled and Ezekiel Orozco recovered at the Norfolk State 21. The Hornets could only manage 4 yards, but Patrick Fisher-Butler banged home a 35-yard field goal with 49 seconds left.

The two-point swing

Wayne Favors III picked off Golmond at the Delaware State 23 on the Spartans' first drive of the third quarter and returned it 27 yards to midfield.

That is where the afternoon turned. The Hornets went backward on four plays and turned it over on downs at their own 34, the final snap a run up the middle that lost 18 yards before Christian Henry finished it off. Golmond needed five plays to make Delaware State pay, lofting a 23-yard touchdown to Wonodi down the middle. It was 24-10 with 9:18 left in the third.

Adams answered immediately, beating the coverage deep for a 40-yard touchdown to Terrence Rone with 7:41 to go. Down eight, the Hornets went for two to make it a one-score game. The try failed, and Nasir Bashir took the ball back the other way for a Norfolk State defensive conversion. Instead of 24-18, it was 26-16.

The Spartans did not let the swing breathe. On the very next possession, Golmond went deep left to Elyjah Mitchell for 49 yards to the Delaware State 26, and Ravon Moore finished the six-play, 73-yard drive with a 3-yard run. Norfolk State led 33-16 with 5:24 left in the third. Fisher-Butler's 23-yard field goal after a stall at the 5 made it 33-19 going to the fourth.

Seventeen points down, and then not

Adams' third touchdown pass of the day went to 6-foot-7 tight end Jaron Kelley, and Fisher-Butler's extra point made it 33-26 with 13:28 to play.

Delaware State got the ball back at its own 40 with 11:10 left, and Adams did the damage with his legs first. He ripped off a 21-yard run up the middle and then a 20-yard run to the right that put the ball at the Norfolk State 15. A Delaware State encroachment penalty pushed the Hornets back to the 20, and it did not matter. Adams hit Kyree Benton deep down the right side for a 20-yard touchdown, his fourth scoring pass of the afternoon, and Fisher-Butler's kick tied the game at 33 with 7:47 left.

Norfolk State's next drive reached midfield and then stalled, and the Spartans punted on fourth and 15 from their own 45 with 5:06 left.

The strip at the end

Delaware State's offense stalled on its next possession after a Kaleb Broadbent sack, and the Hornets punted. Norfolk State took over at its own 24 with 1:20 left and a chance to win it in regulation.

It lasted two plays. On second and 15 from the 19, Golmond completed a short pass over the middle to Elyjah Mitchell, and Dunnam, a senior safety who had intercepted Golmond earlier in the quarter, punched the ball loose. Linebacker Ryan Brown fell on it at the Norfolk State 15 with 57 seconds left.

Delaware State did not need anything fancy from there. The Hornets ran the clock down, called timeout with three seconds left and sent out Fisher-Butler, who had already made kicks of 35 and 23 yards. With Ghazi Chraibi holding, his 35-yard try split the uprights as time expired. Fisher-Butler finished 3 for 3 on field goals and 3 for 3 on extra points, and his last kick capped 20 unanswered points over the last 20-plus minutes.

How the Hornets flipped it

For three quarters, the story was Delaware State beating itself. Two lost fumbles in the first half handed Norfolk State a touchdown and a field goal chance inside the 25, the Hornets went 0 for 10 on third down through three quarters, and Adams was sacked four times for 22 yards. All 33 of Norfolk State's points came before the 5:24 mark of the third quarter, and the Spartans never scored again after Moore's run.

The turnover battle is where the game tilted back. Delaware State took the ball away four times: Orozco's recovery of Price's kickoff fumble, Favors' interception, Dunnam's fourth-quarter interception and Brown's recovery of the final fumble. Two of those takeaways came in the fourth quarter, and the last one put the winning kick on the tee.

Adams was the other half of it. He finished 17 of 23 for 243 yards with four touchdowns to four different receivers and no interceptions, and he ran 18 times for 69 net yards.

Golmond was sharp for most of the day, completing 25 of 35 passes for 278 yards and two touchdowns, with Mitchell catching five balls for 91 yards. But the two interceptions and the late fumble on a completion to Mitchell undid a lot of that work.

What it means

Delaware State is 5-4 overall and 1-1 in the MEAC after its first league win of the season, and the Hornets have now beaten Norfolk State at the Linc in back-to-back years, after a 27-20 win in 2025. The rally also put Jackson's team above .500 for the first time since its win over Towson, with three straight MEAC games still ahead. Delaware State hosts Morgan State on Nov. 7 at Alumni Stadium, then travels to Howard on Nov. 14 and South Carolina State on Nov. 21.

Norfolk State falls to 4-5 and 0-2 in the MEAC, with back-to-back league losses after a 4-3 start. The Spartans let a 17-point lead get away in the final 20 minutes, the kind of loss that stings in a short conference schedule. Norfolk State faces NC Central on Nov. 7, a week after the Eagles shut out Howard 34-0.

The official box score is on ESPN (opens in a new tab).

Sources: ESPN box score and play-by-play, Norfolk State Athletics, Delaware State Athletics. More college football coverage on Undrafted.

Photos: Norfolk State Athletics (file photo).