VILLANOVA, Pa.—Graduate kicker Matthew Mercurio (Salinas, Calif.) made a 28-yard field goal as time expired and Villanova (4-3, 2-2 CAA Football) survived two touchdowns by UAlbany (1-6, 0-4 CAA Football) in the final two minutes to tally a memorable 31-29 victory at Villanova Stadium on Saturday afternoon. After the Great Danes recovered an onside kick and took their only lead of the game with 53 seconds to play, late heroics by the Wildcats in their annual Homecoming Weekend game secured Villanova's first walk-off win in nearly nine years.
 
Despite having leads of 21-0 in the closing seconds of the first half and 28-16 with less than five minutes to play in the game, the Wildcats had to dig deep to win in the final minute for only the sixth time in the last nine seasons. The last time Villanova won a game as time expired had been on November 23, 2013 when the Wildcats overcame a 22-point fourth quarter deficit in their season finale and kicked a 24-yard field goal to walk off with a 35-34 win over Delaware in a Battle of the Blue rivalry game at PPL Park. Since that game there had been five occasions when Villanova scored game-winning touchdowns while trailing or tied in the final minute of play.
 
A short kickoff by UAlbany wound up with the Wildcats starting the game-winning drive from their own 35-yard line with 49 seconds on the clock and one timeout remaining. A holding penalty against the Great Danes on the first Villanova play moved the ball down to the 45-yard line and junior quarterback Connor Watkins (Williamsport, Pa.) fired a pass that fifth-year wide receiver Dez Boykin (Whitehall, Pa.) caught over the middle as he was getting hit for a 23-yard gain down to the UAlbany 32-yard line with 38 seconds to go. Watkins then spiked the ball to stop the clock with 32 seconds left and the Wildcats lone timeout still intact.
 
Villanova looked to the end zone on second down and an incomplete pass from Watkins looking for senior receiver Jaaron Hayek (Wayne, N.J.) was negated on a defensive pass interference call against the Great Danes. The second penalty of the drive and the 12^th of the game (for a total of 115 yards) called against UAlbany moved the Wildcats to the 17-yard line with 28 seconds remaining. Watkins handed off to senior running back TD Ayo-Durojaiye (Damascus, Md.) who picked up six yards down to the 11-yard line before the Wildcats let the clock run down and called timeout with three seconds to go.
 
That sent the field goal unit onto the field and Mercurio – who is now 6-of-8 on field goal tries this season – made good after missing from 36 yards in the first quarter as Villanova won its Homecoming game for the second straight season. After going three years without a Homecoming victory, the Wildcats improved to 36-21 (.632) all-time on Homecoming Weekend with one of their more memorable victories over the years.
 
Watkins finished the game 18-of-26 for 292 yards and three touchdowns while leading his first career fourth quarter game-winning drive. Senior wide receiver Rayjuon Pringle (Woodbridge, Va.) racked up 143 yards and two touchdowns on just four catches, including an 80-yard score with 4:44 remaining which put Villanova ahead 28-16. Hayek finished with four catches for 57 yards and a touchdown while Ayo-Durojaiye had a career day with 20 carries for 136 yards and a touchdown. It was the second straight 100-yard game and third this season for Ayo-Durojaiye, who has rushed for 242 yards in the past two weeks.
 
The big-play capability of the Wildcats offense makes it hard to ever count Villanova out when it falls behind. Watkins and company have recorded 37 plays from scrimmage of 20 yards or longer through seven games this season, including 13 pass completions of at least 40 yards and six passes of 60 yards or longer. The high-powered offense for the Wildcats has scored seven touchdowns on plays of at least 40 yards on the year.
 
UAlbany started the frenetic sequence of the closing minutes when Reese Poffenbarger threw a four-yard touchdown pass to tight end Thomas Greaney with 1:54 to play which trimmed the Villanova lead at that point to 28-23. It had been nearly seven years – since the final game of the 2015 season – since a Wildcats opponent had recovered an onside kick, but the Great Danes did just that as Jack Barnum squibbed a kick 12 yards which UAlbany recovered at its own 47-yard line with 1:52 left.
 
Six plays later, Poffenbarger found Greaney again and connected for a five-yard touchdown pass which put the Great Danes in front by a 29-28 margin. It took three tries for UAlbany to attempt a two-point conversion which would have forged a three-point lead. An encroachment call against the Great Danes on the first snap moved the play back five yards, but a pass interference penalty against Villanova on the second snap gave UAlbany a third try which ultimately failed on a pass attempt by Poffenbarger.
 
Earlier in the game the Wildcats led 21-0 on first half touchdowns by Ayo-Durojaiye, Hayek and Pringle. On the second play of the game, Ayo-Durojaiye broke away for a career-long 70-yard run and Villanova led 7-0 before many of the 6,741 fans had even taken their seats. Hayek caught an 18-yard touchdown pass with 10:52 to play in the second quarter and Pringle hauled in a 20-yard reception with just 1:09 remaining before halftime.
 
The big lead was trimmed to 21-14 on consecutive scores by the Great Danes with six seconds left before the intermission and on the opening drive of the third quarter. UAlbany went 75 yards on seven plays in 58 seconds, culminating with Poffenbarger's 26-yard scoring strike to Brevin Easton, for its first points of the game. At the start of the second half, Poffenbarger scored on a 1-yard run to cap a 10-play, 71-yard drive which ate up the first 6:49 of the third period.
 
The Great Danes scored a safety with 2:11 left in the quarter to get within 21-16 when Watkins' knee was ruled to be down in the end zone just before he got off an emergency heave. The call on the field was an incomplete pass before a review reversed the call and credited UAlbany with an 11-yard sack and two points.
 
Junior safeties Elijah Glover (Pleasantville, N.J.) and Jalen Goodman (Narberth, Pa.) had eight tackles apiece to lead the Wildcats defense and sophomore cornerback Tyrell Mims (Philadelphia, Pa.) registered his second career interception when he picked off Poffenbarger at the Wildcats eight-yard line with 4:05 to play in the game. It is the only interception that Poffenbarger has thrown on 235 pass attempts this season.
 
The 80-yard touchdown pass by Watkins with 4:44 to play and the interception by Mims 39 seconds later had all of the momentum on Villanova's side, but the Wildcats went three-and-out and punted with 3:20 to go to give the Great Danes their final chances at making a comeback bid.
 
Villanova started its only two-game homestand of the season with Saturday's game and will next host Hampton on October 29 for a 1 p.m. kickoff.