DOYLESTOWN (Pa.) – Aaron Nelson hauled in a 68-yard catch and run touchdown in the fourth quarter for the game winning score to lift the Delaware Valley University football team over visiting Stevenson University, 28-21, in the Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC) opener on Saturday afternoon.

The 20^th ranked Aggies improved to 2-1 overall as they began their pursuit of their third consecutive MAC Championship, while the Mustangs dropped to 1-2 overall.

DelVal received the opening kickoff and on the sixth play from scrimmage, facing a long second down, Anthony Fontana hooked up with Juwan Manigo and the senior took it 47 yards to the house to open the scoring.

The defense forced Stevenson to punt after going three-and-out on its first possession and the special teams cashed in for the Aggies. Sophomore Tahmir Barksdale fielded the punt at his own 22-yard line and bounced outside, and down the sideline for a 78 yard return touchdown and a 14-0 DelVal lead, less than three minutes into the game.

The Mustangs answered on their next possession as they went 65 yards on eight plays, capped off by a stellar catch in the back of the end zone by Chaz Lyles for a 28-yard touchdown from Ryan Sedgwick to make it 14-7, still in the first.

The Aggies got into Stevenson territory again on their next drive, but failed to convert a fourth-and-five and were forced to punt.

The defense forced the first turnover of the game on the Mustangs next possession as Dontae Mason undercut a deep pass down the sideline for his first interception of the season. The game went to the second quarter with DelVal on top, 14-7.

Late in the second quarter, the Aggies started a drive at their own three-yard line and drove the ball into the red zone on seven plays to set up a first and goal from the Mustang's nine. Senior Donte Simmons took a handoff on first down and the ball was jarred loose by Hanif Jones and recovered by the Mustangs to end the threat and send the game to halftime, still 14-7.

DelVal had 195 yards of offense in the first 30 minutes compared to 109 for the Mustangs.

Stevenson's first drive of the second half was halted in Aggie territory, but the Mustangs were able to back DelVal up inside its own five with the punt. After forcing a three-and-out, Stevenson went 36 yards on eight plays to tie the game at 14-14. Sedgwick threw his second touchdown pass of the game to Seth Diorio from three yards out.

Jamir Prevard took the ensuing kickoff 65 yards to the Mustang's 30-yard line to setup an eventual five-yard touchdown run by Fontana, his third of the season, to put DelVal back on top, 21-14, where it remained until the fourth quarter.

The Aggies again force Stevenson to punt from the DelVal side of the timeline, but the punt was muffed and the Mustangs jumped on it at the Aggie 17-yard line. Five plays later, Sedgwick hit Vincent Lee for a four-yard touchdown pass to tie the game at 21-21 with 9:20 left in regulation.

On third and five, Fontana dropped back and sent a seed over the middle that was hauled in by the fingertips of Nelson, and the senior wide out took it 68 yards to the house to put DelVal on top for good, 28-21.

Stevenson drove into Aggie territory on its next possession, but consecutive sacks by Michael Nobile, and again from Nobile and Ryan Barrett, forced the Mustangs to punt the ball back to DelVal and ultimately sealed the win.

Stevenson ran 72 offensive plays to 46 for the Aggies, but it was DelVal that held a 304-249 edge in total offense. Fontana completed 13-of-21 passes for 239 yards and two scores and he ran the ball seven times for 21 yards. Manigo and Dan Allen each caught three passes, and Nelson hauled in two passes for a team-high 71 yards. Simmons and Mario Nigro each got seven carries, but could not find much real estate as the Aggies were held to just 65 yards on the ground.

Conversely, the DelVal defense held the Mustangs to just 33 yards rushing on 39 attempts. The number was skewed by eight Aggie sacks on Sedgwick including two apiece for Barrett and Nobile. Five other players had at least half a sack and DelVal totaled 11 tackles for loss. Kenyonn Jones led the team with 7.5 tackles followed by eight from Anthony Tedesco and Billy Walsh. Walsh added 1.5 tackles for loss, a sack, and a pass breakup. Nobile finished with five tackles, including two more tackles for loss to up his division-III leading number to 11 for the year.

The Aggies will take to the road for the next two weeks beginning with a 1 p.m. kickoff at Albright College next Saturday.