VILLANOVA, Pa.—Two teams coming off season-opening victories will meet on Saturday afternoon when No. 12 Villanova (1-0) travels to Lehigh (1-0) for a 12:30 p.m. contest at Goodman Stadium. It is the second straight year that the Wildcats will make the short trip to Bethlehem, and the game will be the 15
th overall between the teams.
Saturday's game can be heard live on 610 ESPN with Ryan Fannon and Kevin Reilly calling the action. Fans in the Lehigh Valley may also be able see the game on Service Electric 2 Sports, while an online streaming broadcast and live stats can be accessed via the link at the top of this release.
Villanova opened the 2017 season against the Mountain Hawks and tallied a 38-35 victory behind 475 yards of total offense. Lehigh scored more points on the Wildcats defense than any other opponent the rest of the season, but Villanova nonetheless improved to 9-5 in the all-time series and defeated the Mountain Hawks for the sixth consecutive meeting.
Senior quarterback
Zach Bednarczyk (Wallington, N.J.) was named the CAA Football Offensive Player of the Week earlier this week after throwing for 254 yards and three touchdowns in the Wildcats season-opening win over Temple. Bednarczyk also had a big season opener last year against Lehigh, throwing for 209 yards and two scores in addition to rushing for 72 yards and a touchdown.
Villanova's offense in last season's game against the Mountain Hawks was paced by running back
Matt Gudzak (Toms River, N.J.) rushing for 142 yards and two scores, while senior wide receiver
Taurus Phillips and tight end
Ryan Bell (Basking Ridge, N.J.) each caught a touchdown pass while combining for 175 receiving yards.
In the win over the FBS member Owls last Saturday at Lincoln Financial Field, Bednarczyk hit senior wide receiver
Jarrett McClenton (Bensalem, Pa.) with a go-ahead touchdown pass with 7:17 left in the fourth quarter. His third touchdown pass of the day gave the Wildcats a 19-17 lead which they would not relinquish in the closing minutes. Late interceptions by senior linebacker
Jeff Steeb (Sweetwater, N.J.) and freshman defensive back
Elijah Trent (Rockville, Md.) sealed the team's first win over an FBS opponent in nine years.
A big part of Villanova's defensive success in recent seasons has been its ability to stop the run, and the trend continued against Temple as the Wildcats defense limited the Owls to just 46 rushing yards on 22 carries. It marked the 26
th time in 61 games since the beginning of the 2013 season that Villanova has held an opponent below 100 rushing yards in a game, including the 11
th time that the Wildcats allowed fewer than 50 yards on the ground.
Lehigh is coming off a 21-19 victory over Saint Francis (Pa.) in its season opener last week. Senior running back Dominic Bragalone ran for 137 yards and three touchdowns in an evenly played contest. Sophomore defensive back Divine Buckrham had a game-high 11 tackles and sophomore defensive lineman Jack Kircher had three tackles for loss.
Villanova will be playing its second straight road game to begin the season, and will follow the Lehigh contest with its home and CAA Football opener next Saturday afternoon against Towson (3:30 p.m.).
