Delhi's varsity football team topped Livingston 42-21 in the season opener on Friday night on the road after a second half surge.

“We started off slow with our offense and put our defense in a bad spot,” said Delhi coach Erik Martinez.

Livingston went up 15-0 after the first quarter, before the Delhi offense was able to put up points on the scoreboard.

Midway through the second quarter, the Delhi offensive line finally picked up the pace and began to dominate in the trenches.

With a minute left in the first half, Delhi managed to get their first score of the game to make it 15-6.

Then in the second play of the third quarter, Jesse Flores ran for a 78-yard touchdown to make it 15-13.

The defense allowed just one more touchdown for the remainder of the game and the offense went on to outscore Livingston, 29-6.

“We never looked back after that,” said Martinez.

Alecxis Miranda and Fabian Garcia scored touchdowns for the Hawks on 50-plus yard runs in the second half, finally ending with a Miranda pick-six on a 95-yard return to make it 42-21.

“Our guys kept their composure and we made mistakes, but we kept fighting and believed in each other,” said Martinez. “They came together and came up with own adjustments and communication was better, they were communicating during the game on the fly.”

Delhi will take on Johansen at home at 7 p.m. Friday.

“These guys are hungry and determined after tonight they know they will take one game at a time, but these guys are focused for a league title,” Martinez added.