#13 Villanova’s defense pushes the Wildcats to a Homecoming Win over New Hampshire
Written by David Szczepanski on October 28, 2024
VILLANOVA, PA—#13/14 Villanova defeated New Hampshire, 14-6, in a low-scoring CAA clash on Homecoming Weekend at Villanova Stadium. The Wildcats welcomed their alumni back to Villanova Stadium, where Villanova has now won 13 consecutive games since 2022.
The sun sets at Villanova Stadium after Villanova’s Homecoming Win on Saturday.
Hartzell leads Villanova’s Defense
Villanova’s defense, led by junior linebacker Shane Hartzell, held New Hampshire to just two field goals by Nick Mazzie. Hartzell finished the game with a career-high 20 tackles. Today, Hartzell was named the CAA Defensive Player of the Week and FCS National Defensive Player of the Week. The Wildcats also made two goal-line stops to secure the victory over UNH.
Villanova head coach Mark Ferrante praised Villanova’s defensive effort on Saturday at his CAA weekly press conference earlier this afternoon.
“Our defense did a really good job,” Ferrante said. “I think, if I am not mistaken, they [New Hampshire] had four drives of ten plays or more, chewing up a lot of clock on those drives. Our defense was able to hold them out of the endzone.”
UNH’s starting quarterback, Seth Morgan, was not in uniform and did not play in Saturday’s contest. Barry Kleinpeter, New Hampshire’s third-string quarterback, completed 14 of his 22 passes for 125 yards. Logan Tomlinson led New Hampshire’s wide receivers in receiving yards with 56 yards over four receptions.
New Hampshire’s head coach Rick Santos said UNH was “a little banged up at the quarterback position” in his Monday press conference.
“Added some triple option and some different things we haven’t shown to try and win the time of possession battle,” Santos said. “From that standpoint, we executed at a high level.”
New Hampshire’s lead running back, Issac Seide, also missed this weekend’s CAA battle with a possible injury. Myles Thomason picked up most carries for UNH in Seide’s absence. Thomason rushed for 79 yards in 20 attempts.
Devin Smith’s Big Game + Villanova’s Passing Attack
Villanova’s offense scored two passing touchdowns in their eight-point victory over New Hampshire. Connor Watkins, the Wildcats’ quarterback, connected on seven of his 13 passes for 112 yards. The Wildcats got on the board with a 25-yard touchdown pass from Watkins to Lucas Kopecky early in the second quarter. That was Kopecky’s second touchdown of the season and his college career. Devin Smith made a tough catch in the left corner of the endzone on a 19-yard pass from Watkins for the game-winning touchdown with eight minutes remaining.
Devin Smith led all receivers with 60 yards on Saturday, including his fourth touchdown of the season.
“I just seen how the DB was playing me.” Smith said. “I knew it was going to be a 1-on-1 battle between me and him. I gave him a little move off the line, just try to stay as close to him and hold that line, so I could give Connor some room to throw the ball. He threw a great back shoulder ball, and I just played it and kept my feet in bounds.”
Villanova’s Devin Smith at the postgame press conference after his fourth touchdown of the season.
Ragland Returns
Villanova did not have a rushing touchdown on Saturday for only the second time this season. The only other game without a rushing score for Villanova came on September 14th against Towson. David Avit ran for 59 yards over 14 rushing attempts against New Hampshire. Isaiah Ragland played his first game in about a month after recovering from an ankle injury. Ragland had just six carries for 27 yards in his return.
Coach Ferrante expects Villanova to find balance in the running game over the next few weeks and increase Ragland’s carries as he returns from the injury.
“We will rotate two to three running backs every game,” Ferrante said. “That’s kind of how we do things and keep guys fresh, keep them healthy. And it was good to have Rags back in there. He didn’t do anything exceptional as far as breaking things off, but it’s a good change of pace, and he’s a good running back.”
In terms of Villanova finding a stronger balance in their offense, Ferrante also highlighted the explosiveness and potential of their offensive weapons, especially with a fully healthy Connor Watkins. Ferrante said that Watkins “ran better this week than he did last week because of the ankle he had three weeks ago.”
“If you have to defend a quarterback that can run plus three guys in the backfield and the ability to get the ball down the field, that’s when I think we can be a little more dangerous,” Ferrante said. “Right now, we are only hitting on two or three of those.”
Coach Ferrante was proud of his team’s effort against a tough New Hampshire squad with one of the best defenses in the CAA. UNH allowed just 17 points per game to opponents in their first three CAA games of the 2024 campaign.
“Really proud of the way our guys responded from the loss up at Maine,” Ferrante said. “We came to play. We played very physical. We played better in spots. We do have to correct some things. We had some penalties that we need to clean up, the turnovers, we lost the turnover battle 2-1, so we got to clean that up.”
CAA Standings + Upcoming Battle against Hampton
Villanova remains tied for fourth place in the CAA with a 3-1 conference record and 6-2 overall record. They remain ranked 13th in the Stats Perform FCS Poll. The Wildcats will battle Hampton on Saturday at 1pm in Virginia. WXVU will not have live broadcasting coverage of this weekend’s game against the Pirates, but there will be coverage on social media.
