David Hood missed two games with an unspecified lower-body injury, but he returned in time to help the University of Maine make a statement.
Hood, an Absegemi High School alumnus, carried 14 times for a game-high 103 yards in the Black Bears' 26-3 road win over perrenial power Delaware on Saturday.
Hood's 30-yard run keyed an 89-yard touchdown drive early in the third quarter that gave Maine a 23-3 lead.
"We just really came out and established kind of a grab-the-game mentality in the start of the third quarter, which really impressed me," Maine coach Jack Cosgrove said. "Just really assertive."
A team spokesman declined to reveal the specific injury that kept Hood out of the previous two games.
He seemed healthy Saturday, though.
Hood outshone Delaware star running back Andrew Pierce, a Cumberland Regional graduate, who tweaked a hamstring in practice during the week and was pulled from the game after just two carries for 10 yards.
"He didn’t lose any strength, (but) you could just see he was not comfortable out there,” Blue Hens coach K.C. Keeler told The Review, Delaware's student newspaper. “Two weeks (Delaware is off this week) will do wonders for him."
