ORONO, MAINE – The Villanova Wildcats traveled to Orono, Maine, on Saturday afternoon where they tallied a 44-17 win over the Maine Black Bears. With the victory, the Wildcats improve to 2-1 on the season, while Maine falls to 2-2 overall. Villanova has now earned a win in five of its last six meetings to Alfond Stadium.
 
Villanova wasted no time getting on the scoreboard, as the Wildcats took the opening drive of the game and went 66 yards on five plays culminating in a 44-yard touchdown run by Justin Covington (Bronx, N.Y.). Following a defensive stop, the Wildcats increased their lead to 10-0 on a 31-yard field goal by Cole Bunce (San Jose, Calif.).
 
Maine closed out the first quarter scoring on a 26-yard field goal by Jonny Messina. The field goal made it a 10-3 Villanova lead after one quarter of play.
 
The Wildcats dominated play in the second quarter to take complete control of the game. Villanova put together an impressive drive going 93 yards on 13 plays in 6:33 to take a 17-3 advantage on a 13-yard pass from Dan Smith (Leesburg, Va.) to Rayjoun Pringle (Dumfries, Va.).  A big play of the drive came on a 28-yard pass from Smith to Jevon Jones (Syracuse, N,Y.) on 2^nd and 9 from the Wildcat eight-yard line.
 
Following a 28-yard pass from Smith to Jaaron Hayek (Wayne, N.J.) that gave Villanova a first and goal from the one-yard line, Covington found the end zone on the next play with just 45 seconds remaining in the second quarter to give his team a 24-3 halftime lead.
 
Villanova put the game away early in the third quarter by scoring two touchdowns in a 30 second span to open-up a 38-3 advantage. Both scores were on one-yard runs by Covington giving him four touchdowns on the day. The second Covington score was set-up by a 49-yard interception return by freshman K-Shawn Schulters (Roselle, N.J.) that was returned inside the one-yard line.
 
The final Villanova score came on a five-yard run by Jalen Jackson (Richmond, Va.). Maine's two fourth quarter touchdowns included a four-yard run by Curtis Murray and a 19-yard rush by Freddie Brock.
 
In the win, the Wildcats amassed 428 yards of total offense, including 232 yards rushing and 196 through the air. Smith was 16-of-28 for 176 yards and a touchdown, to go with five carries for 27 yards. Jackson added 10 rushes for 76 yards and a touchdown.  Pringle led the Villanova receivers with five catches for 47 yards and a touchdown.
 
Playing in his first game of the season, linebacker Forrest Rhyne (Waynesboro, Pa.) led the Villanova defense with eight total tackles. The Wildcats were credited with two sacks in the game, with Malik Fisher (New York, N.Y.) and Timmy Furgeson (Gaithersburg, Md.) getting one each.    
 
Wildcat punter Nathan Fondacaro (Sewell, N.J.) was outstanding in today's win with four punts for 190 yards (47.5 avg.), including a 68-yard effort.