NEWARK, Del. — Maine found the ideal way to prevent Wes Hills of Delaware from continuing to run roughshod over its defense Saturday.

The Black Bears took the football away and ran it in the other direction.

Austin Brown’s 62-yard return of Hills’ fumble for a touchdown with 56 seconds left gave Maine a 28-21 Colonial Athletic Association victory at rainy Delaware Stadium.

Delaware was on a potential tie-breaking drive when Hills had the football stripped by nose tackle Darius Greene. Brown scooped it up and zipped down the Black Bears’ sideline.

“I saw the ball get stripped,” said Brown. “I didn’t know who made the play. Ball’s on the ground. I just picked it up and tried to do what I could. My teammates did a great job blocking downfield. They really made the play themselves. I just tried to do what we’re coached and what we try to do every day. I was fortunate to make a big play and go out there and get a win.”

Hills gained 242 yards on 24 carries with two scores. His 61-yard TD run and Frank Raggo’s PAT made it 21-21 with 5:01 left.

A final pass by Joe Walker of Delaware from the Maine 29 was batted down in the end zone.

Maine (2-3 overall, 1-1 CAA) has won four straight and 6 of 8

against Delaware (2-3, 0-2), which has lost three straight.

“Love this team, man,” said Maine first-year coach Joe Harasymiak. “We never stop fighting and tonight you saw that … I’m just really excited about the way they played, about the way they executed down the stretch. We’re known for making big plays and I think you saw that.”

With Delaware up 14-13, every second-half series ended in a punt until Maine drove 79 yards in nine plays and took a 21-14 lead with 5:48 left. Dan Collins passed 11 yards to Jaleel Reed for the TD and also passed to him for the 2-point conversion.

Collins strafed Delaware for 307 yards, completing 21 of 33 passes with three touchdowns and one interception. He was sacked three times.

“They’re a great defense,” Collins said. “I think we just really executed as far as the passing game. We needed that and we haven’t done that for a full game. I think we finally put it together. It was no knock on what they were doing. We just executed.”

Zaire Williams’ 47 yards on nine carries led Maine, which totaled 375 yards to Delaware’s 393. Josh Mack, the freshman who gained 151 yards against Bryant last week, had 19 yards on five carries.

Patrick Leonard had a 35-yard field-goal try for Maine go wide left with 2:01 left. Leonard’s only career field goal at Maine has been 29 yards. That set the stage for Brown’s decisive play.

“It pays off, that’s why you practice it,” Harasymiak said of the scoop-and-score drills. “We’ll never be out of a game no matter what the score and tonight you saw that. We’ve fought these first four games and coming in here we knew we were going to have to fight to beat a good team, and we did that.”

Delaware entered the game second in the CAA and 10th nationally in FCS, averaging 259.8 yards rushing per game.

“We knew they were going to try to run the ball hard on us,” said Maine safety Jason Matovu, who had a team-high eight tackles. “We did everything we could. We showed a lot of heart and fight, and were dedicated to getting the job done.”

The Blacks Bears took a 13-7 lead with 3:58 left in the half on Collins’ 1-yard pass to a wide open Michael Supp.

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