READING (Pa.) – The Delaware Valley University football team scored 37 points in the second half of a 44-0 victory at Alvernia University to earn its second consecutive shutout, at least a share of the Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC) Championship, and a berth into the NCAA playoffs.

The Aggies came into the game ranked 12^th in one national poll and 15^th in another, and improved to 8-1 overall and 7-0 in MAC play as they head into their week nine bye. It is the third consecutive MAC Championship for DelVal, and with Misericordia's loss to Lycoming, DelVal secured the conference's automatic qualifier to the 2019 NCAA Division III football playoffs for the third straight year.  

The Aggies got the ball to start the game and on the first play Anthony Fontana hit Dan Allen down the sideline and the returning All-American tight end hurdled a man before being tackled after a gain of 47 yards at the Alvernia 23-yard line. DelVal moved the ball to the 11-yard line for a first down, but four incomplete passes resulted in a turnover on downs and the Golden Wolves took over.

Alvernia went for 21 yards on nine plays on its first drive before punting back to the Aggies. DelVal drove back down into the red zone, but on first and goal from the Golden Wolves' three-yard line, Mario Nigro before he could reach the end zone and Alvernia recovered to end the threat and the game scoreless where it remained going into the second quarter.

Senior linebacker Vincent DiLeo got a third down sack that sent the Golden Wolves back 17 yards and forced them to punt from the back of their own end zone. DelVal's capitalized on the good field position and went 49 yards on seven plays to get on the board with a 20-yard catch and run touchdown by freshman Tahmir Barksdale. Fontana hit Barksdale over the middle and the tailback weaved his way through the defense to pay dirt to make it 7-0 with 11 minutes left in the first half.

Both teams went three-and-out on their next possessions. Late in the second half, Alvernia faced a 3^rd-and-7 from its own 22 when Michael and Anthony Nobile got into the backfield for a combined sack and the ball came out and was recovered by DelVal linebacker Anthony Tedesco. Three plays later, Fontana called his own number and scampered toward the goal line, but the refs ruled a fumble on the play and the ball traveled out of the back of the end zone for a touchback to give the ball back to the Golden Wolves.

Neither team could make anything happen before the halftime break and DelVal maintained the 7-0 lead at halftime.

The Aggies outgained Alvernia 204-39 in total yards and held the home team to just 12 receiving yards.

The Golden Wolves got the ball to start the second half, but a botched kickoff return forced them to start their drive from the six-yard line. On the second play from scrimmage, the snap went over the quarterbacks head and as he picked up the ball Michael Nobile and Vincent DiLeo were there to make the tackle in the end zone for a safety and a 9-0 DelVal lead.

The Aggies got the ball back after the safety and needed just four plays and less than two minutes to get back in the end zone. On the first play, Fontana hit Aaron Nelson for a gain of 30 yards, and three plays later Fontana faked a pitch and ran up the middle for a touchdown to make it 16-0 early in the third quarter.

On Alvernia's next drive, it faced a 2-and-22 from just around midfield and quarterback Darrius Sample took a shot downfield, but cornerback Justin Harris picked it off for his third interception of the season. The Golden Wolves defense responded by forcing its third fumble of the game to get the ball back at midfield.

A personal foul against the Aggies on third down gave Alvernia a first down at the DelVal 19-yard line, and Sample scampered for 16 yards to the three-yard line to set up a first and goal. The Aggies' defense held strong through four goal line plays and forced the turnover on downs.

The offense took over at its own five-yard line and 95 yards on just six plays in less than two minutes of game time. Fontana swung a pass out to Juwan Manigo and the senior wide out went 69 yards down the sideline for his fourth touchdown of the season and a 23-0 lead going into the fourth quarter.

After another Alvernia 3-and-out, Barksdale collected a punt at his own 25-yard line and went 75 yards the other way for his second punt return touchdown of the season. The Aggies added two more scores in the fourth quarter with fullback Nate Pauls hauling in his third touchdown reception of the year from Fontana. Later, the defense got on the board with a strip sack in the end zone that Anthony Nobile jumped on for his first career touchdown. Kenyonn Jones and Michael Nobile combined on the sack, and Michael Nobile was credited with the forced fumble for what was the last score of the day in the 44-0 final.

The Aggies' defense, one of the best in Division III, held the Golden Wolves to just 98 yards of offense, including 28 rushing and 70 through the air. The unit forced three turnovers and got to the quarterback for seven sacks. Michael Nobile led the way with 12 tackles, including four tackles for loss, 1.5 sacks, and two forced fumbles. DiLeo finished with nine tackles, 2.5 for loss, and 1.5 sacks while Anthony Tedesco notched 10 tackles, 2.5 TFL, and half a sack. Anthony Nobile, in his second game back from an injury, recorded eight tackles including two behind the line of scrimmage, one sack, and his fumble recovery for a touchdown.  Kenyonn Jones added two TFL and 1.5 sacks with four tackles.

Offensively, Fontana finished 16-for-26 passing for 304 yards and three touchdowns through the air to go with one score on the ground. Simmons rushed for 71 yards on 10 carries and Allen caught two passes for 62 yards. Ezekiel Ennis caught five balls for 42 yards.

Senior kicker Nick Restaino became the program's all-time leader in points scored by a kicker as he was a perfect 5-for-5 on extra point attempts.

Alvernia's Darrius Sample was 6-for-16 with one interception and ran the ball 24 times for 20 yards including 78 yards in the red. Tailback Malcolm Carey rushed 21 times for 41 yards and was the team's leading receiver with two catches for seven yards.

DelVal has a bye week before returning home on November 16 for the season finale against Widener University in the annual battle for the Keystone Cup, and senior day.