BETHLEHEM, Pa.—Opening the season on the road has proven to be a winning formula in recent seasons and No. 16 Villanova (1-0) continued the trend with a 47-3 victory over Lehigh (0-1) in front of a crowd of 4,101 at Goodman Stadium on Saturday afternoon. It is the fifth straight season in which the Wildcats have begun the year with a road victory during the Mark Ferrante head coaching era. Villanova scored five touchdowns and kicked four field goals while outgaining the Mountain Hawks by a margin of 506 yards to 139 in the win. The defense forced six turnovers and held Lehigh to negative rushing yardage when accounting for three sacks.
 
"It was a great team win for us today," Ferrante said. "We got production from all three phases of the game and I am extremely excited by the number of turnovers [six] we created. The offense did their job with the field position that the defense created for us. I am also thrilled with Cole Bunce and the kicking game. I can't remember the last time we had four field goals in a game. It is always good to get a win in the first game. We will go back, watch the film, clean some things up and get ready for Bucknell next week."
 
The offensive stars of the game for the Wildcats were graduate student running back Justin Covington (Bronx, N.Y.) and senior wide receiver Dez Boykin (Whitehall, Pa.) who each scored two touchdowns. Covington ran for 156 yards on 18 carries (8.7 yards per carry) to tally his second career game with over 150 yards. It was his seventh career 100-yard rushing game and he also moved up three spots on the Villanova career list into 16^th place in school history with 1,743 yards. Boykin scored the fourth and fifth touchdowns of his career during a 24-point third quarter outburst by the Wildcats. He caught a 15-yard touchdown pass with 7:12 left in that period and later hauled in a career-long 61-yard reception in the final minute of the quarter.
 
Graduate student kicker Cole Bunce (San Jose, Calif.) went 3-for-3 on field goals, including a pair of kicks in the first quarter to set the tone for the team's big offensive performance. He opened the scoring with a 35-yard field goal midway through the opening period and extended the Villanova lead to 6-0 with a career-long 49-yarder seven minute later. Bunce made his fifth career field goal from 40+ yards and notched the longest made attempt by a Wildcats kicker since a 50-yard field goal by Casey Hannon on October 1, 1999 against James Madison. Bunce added a 30-yard field goal in the third quarter and sophomore William Bartel (Providence, R.I.) made his collegiate debut with a 26-yard field goal in the fourth quarter. Villanova made four field goals in a game for the first time since December 4, 2010 against Stephen F. Austin in the FCS playoffs.
 
Touchdown runs of 13 yards and 51 yards by Covington in the second quarter forged a 20-0 lead for Villanova with 3:57 to play before halftime. The only Mountain Hawks points of the game would come as time expired in the second quarter when Dylan Van Dusen made a 34-yard field goal. Lehigh intercepted graduate student quarterback Daniel Smith (Leesburg, Va.) with 13 seconds to go before halftime after the Wildcats had taken over possession on downs just 14 seconds earlier. The Mountain Hawks ran one offensive play before kicking the field goal to end the half.
 
Senior cornerback Christian Benford (Randallstown, Md.) recorded the eighth and ninth interceptions of his career to lead the Villanova defense, which forced six turnovers for the first time since forcing seven at Richmond on November 3, 2018. Graduate student cornerback Denzel Williams (Rocky Point, N.Y.) and sophomore defensive lineman CJ Pressley (Philadelphia, Pa.) registered their first career interceptions, while Williams and junior defensive lineman Garrett Zobel (Hatfield, Pa.) each recovered fumbles. Sophomore safety Jalen Goodman (Narberth, Pa.) led the Wildcats with six tackles. Villanova had 22 different players record at least one stop. The defensive performance was the first time the Wildcats held an opponent to negative rushing yardage since September 16, 2017 against Lafayette.
 
Smith finished the afternoon 13-of-21 through the air for 182 yards with three touchdowns and one interception. In addition to the two touchdown passes to Boykin he also connected with junior wide receiver Jaaron Hayek (Wayne, N.J.) on a 17-yard scoring play on the Wildcats first drive of the second half. Smith topped 4,000 passing yards during his Villanova career (4,133) and also surpassed 10,000 career yards of total offense (10,131) combined between the Wildcats and Campbell. He also recorded the 1,000^th pass attempt of his career in the third quarter.
 
Sophomore quarterback Connor Watkins (Williamsport, Pa.) saw time under center and was 5-of-7 for 49 yards. Villanova finished the day with 275 rushing yards, led by Covington's 156-yard day and a 91-yard performance by junior running back DeeWil Barlee (Upper Darby, Pa.). Senior Dan Cirino (Collegeville, Pa.) ran for a career-high 25 yards on five carries and redshirt freshman Matt Colantuono (Warren, N.J.) rushed four times for 11 yards.
 
Next up for the Wildcats is their home opener next Saturday at 6 p.m. when they face a second straight Patriot League opponent in Bucknell. Villanova is 36-4 (.900) versus Patriot League foes as a FCS program (since 1985).