Villanova extends home unbeaten streak in homecoming win against New Hampshire

In the battle of Wildcats on Saturday, it was Villanova that got the better of New Hampshire behind a 14-6 final on homecoming weekend. The win preserved a 13-game home winning streak at Villanova Stadium, and saw the Wildcats improve to 6-2 on the season, 3-1 in the Coastal Athletic Association.

New Hampshire (4-4, 2-2) limited Villanova quarterback Connor Watkins, who finished passing for 112 yards and two touchdowns and rushing for another 30.But it was the defense of Villanova that stood out as it held back the visitors behind a stellar performance from junior linebacker Shane Hartzell, who led the defense with a career-high 20 tackles.

Although Villanova ended the first half ahead 7–3, both teams struggled with penalties and turnovers.

Seven whistles cost Villanova 44 yards across the first half, including four false starts. Meanwhile, New Hampshire had two penalties for a loss of 20 yards in the first half. Villanova did rein in the penalties in the second half, in which it committed just two.

“Post-snap penalties that happen during the course of play, aggressive mistakes, are going to happen, but we have to clean up the mental pre-snap penalties,” said Villanova head coach Mark Ferrante.

Midway through the first quarter, graduate linebacker Brendan Bell recovered a fumble on a sack to put Villanova in possession on New Hampshire’s 10-yard line. Just two plays later, New Hampshire reversed the damage by stripping the ball out of the hands of Watkins.

A penalty on Villanova also took away a potential touchdown. Graduate defensive back Tyrell Mims picked off New Hampshire in the end zone late in the second quarter. However, Mims’ 100-yard return was nullified by a roughing the passer call.

Villanova’s defense was determined not to repeat last weekend’s rough start against Maine, in which it permitted the Black Bears to score 21 points in the first quarter. In sharp contrast, Villanova held New Hampshire to just one field goal in the first half and another field goal in the final minute of play.

While New Hampshire broke into the red zone four times, Villanova made critical stops within the 5-yard line.

“We have a bend-don’t-break mentality that they may get into the red zone, even on the three, but we’ll stop them on fourth down,” Hartzell said. “We had some mishaps on defense last week, but I think we were pretty good on all of our assignments and played with a lot of effort.”

Late in the second quarter, a 13-play New Hampshire drive resulted in a fourth-down turnover on the 1-yard line. Villanova forced another turnover on downs early in the fourth quarter.

Bell and graduate defensive back Jalen Goodman each registered nine tackles in the effort.

With New Hampshire prepared to meet Villanova’s rushing game, Watkins turned to more of his options in the air. Despite both touchdowns coming off passes, Ferrante saw room for improvement and maintains that timing is “a work in progress.”

Graduate Devin Smith led the Wildcats in receiving with 60 yards and six catches. Smith scored on a 19-yard pass from Watkins with 8 minutes, 15 seconds remaining. Early in the second quarter, graduate Lucas Kopecky connected on a 26-yard pass from Watkins to score Villanova’s first touchdown of the game.

“We have to hang our hat on our run game right now…until we can get a little more in sync,” Ferrante said. “But I’m really excited about the play [Smith] made in the end zone for our second touchdown and Kopecky being our first-year player coming off the lacrosse team.”

Villanova heads back out on the road to take on Hampton (4-3, 1-2 CAA) next Saturday (1 p.m., FloFootball). The Wildcats are currently .500 on the road this season (2-2).