TOWSON, Md.—Junior kicker Drew Kresge (Douglassville, Pa.) tied the game with a 45-yard field goal with 10 seconds remaining in regulation and No. 18 Villanova (4-0, 1-0 CAA Football) needed just two plays at the start of overtime to score what proved to be the game-winning touchdown in a 52-45 victory over No. 5 Towson (3-1, 1-1) at Johnny Unitas Stadium on Saturday night.  The matchup between two ranked teams did not disappoint in an instant classic and the Wildcats came away with their first win over a top-five ranked opponent in six years. 
 
Villanova got the ball first in overtime and junior running back Justin Covington (Bronx, N.Y.) rushed for 23 yards down to the Tigers two-yard line on the first play of the extra period.  Junior quarterback Daniel Smith (Leesburg, Va.) ran in for a two-yard score on the next play and Kresge's extra point gave the Wildcats a 52-45 lead in a game that featured six ties and four lead changes.  The two teams combined for 97 points and 1,044 yards of total offense.  On its final defensive stand of the game, Villanova stopped Towson on third and fourth downs with one yard to go at the seven-yard line.
 
Smith had a hand in six of the Wildcats seven touchdowns on the night, with four passing touchdowns to go along with two rushing scores.  He was 25-of-42 through the air for 279 yards and rushed for 70 yards to finish the night with a season-high 349 yards of total offense.  Covington ran for a career-high 194 yards on 27 carries while tallying his fourth straight game with over 100 rushing yards.  He scored two touchdowns on the night, including one rushing touchdown to go along with the first receiving touchdown of his career. 
 
Freshman wide receiver Jaaron Hayek (Wayne, N.J.) had six receptions for 108 yards and two scores in the best game of his young career, junior Changa Hodge (East Stroudsburg, Pa.) tied a career high with six catches and senior Zac Kerxton (Haymarket, Va.) set career highs with five receptions for 55 yards.  All three receivers made critical plays – on three consecutive snaps no less – on a game-saving drive at the end of regulation. 
 
There were 27 points scored between the teams in a wild fourth quarter.  Covington's three-yard touchdown reception early in the period gave the Wildcats their largest lead of the game (42-28) with 11:33 left in regulation.  Just over three minutes later, the contest was tied.  Tigers tailback Yeedee Thaenrat scored his third rushing touchdown of the night with 9:08 on the clock to chip away at the Villanova advantage and linebacker Robert Heyward returned an interception 49 yards for a game-tying score less than a minute later.  The score was then tied 42-42 until Towson went back in front, 45-42, on Aidan O'Neill's 34-yard field goal with 1:52 to play. 
 
Sophomore return man Dez Boykin (Whitehall, Pa.) brought the ensuing kickoff out of the endzone and was tackled at the 14-yard line, but a penalty for an illegal block took the Wildcats halfway back and stuck them at their own seven-yard line with 1:45 to go.  Smith then threw three straight incomplete passes – facing pressure on two of the attempts – to put Villanova's back against the wall staring at a 4^th-and-10 with 1:28 left.  What did the Wildcats have left in their bag of tricks?  They ran 11 more plays over the next 78 seconds to tie the game. 
 
Smith found senior Kerxton for a 15-yard completion to keep the drive alive, then created some hopeful momentum with consecutive passes of 27 yards to Hayek and 10 yards to Hodge.  His next pass was incomplete, Hodge had a seven-yard reception and Smith picked up an additional yard on a keeper to set up Villanova's next do-or-die play.  First, the Wildcats called timeout before a 4^th-and-2 with 47 seconds to play.
 
After the timeout Smith rushed for five yards to get the first down, but then came up empty on three straight pass attempts to Kerxton (twice) and Hodge.  The field goal unit came out to set up for a 45-yard attempt with 15 seconds left, at which point the Tigers called their second-to-last timeout.  Kresge, who had only narrowly missed a 49-yard field goal at the end of the first half, was unfazed by the momentary delay at the end of regulation.  He drilled the third-longest kick of his career straight down the middle with plenty of distance to essentially force overtime.  Villanova delivered a short kickoff to Towson, which returned the ball to its own 49-yard line with five seconds remaining.  Tigers quarterback Tom Flacco was sacked on the final snap of regulation. 
 
It was Towson's turn for desperation time after the Wildcats quickly retook the lead in overtime.  A defensive pass interference penalty against Villanova on second down got the Tigers down to the 16-yard line, and two players later a nine-yard run by Flacco set Towson up with 3^rd-and-1 at the seven.  Flacco's third down pass was batted away by senior linebacker Drew Wiley (Pennington, N.J.), who had two of his three pass breakups on Towson's overtime drive.  Even the final play of the game didn't immediately settle the score.  Shane Leatherbury dove for Flacco's fourth down pass at the three-yard line for what would have been a first down.  The call on the field was an incomplete pass, but the game was not over until a replay review confirmed the ruling and touched off a jubilant Wildcats celebration. 
 
Earlier in the game – much earlier on a night that took nearly four hours to decide the winner – there had been signs that the contest would turn into a thriller.  Hayek opened the scoring less than three minutes into the game when he caught a 31-yard touchdown pass with 12:06 to play in the first quarter.  Flacco tied the game with a 42-yard run four plays, 80 yards and just 1:39 later.  The slugfest was on. 
 
Junior tight end Todd Summers (Murrysville, Pa.) scored on a six-yard pass midway through the opening period.  Leatherbury responded with a 28-yard touchdown reception with 10:31 remaining in the second quarter.  Hayek became the first Villanova true freshman to score two touchdowns in a game on a 27-yard catch with 6:15 to play in the opening half.  Thaenrat's three-yard run with 2:43 left before intermission knotted the score at 28-all.  His one-yard run with 12 seconds remaining in the half gave the Tigers their first lead. 
 
Smith (36 yards) and Covington (one yard) rushed for touchdowns in the third quarter as the Wildcats retook the lead and held Towson off the scoreboard.  A three-yard scoring pass to Covington early in the fourth quarter made it 42-28.
 
Junior linebackers Amin Black (Philadelphia, Pa.) and Forrest Rhyne (Waynesboro, Pa.) each had seven tackles to lead the Villanova defense.  Junior defensive lineman Malik Fisher (New York, N.Y.) had five total stops, including 1.5 sacks.  He has now recorded at least one sack in five straight games and six of his last seven contests dating back to last season. 
 
The game-tying field goal by Kresge (45 yards) was his fifth career field goal of 40 yards or longer and was just one yard short or matching the career-best 46-yard attempts he made as a redshirt freshman two years ago.  Kresge scored 10 of the Wildcats points on the night, going 7-for-7 on PATs in addition to the field goal. 
 
Villanova continued the best start since its national championship season in 2009, which was the last time the Wildcats were 4-0.  The team will return home next week to host Maine on Saturday afternoon at 3:30 p.m.