WILLIAMSBURG, Va.—In its final road game of the regular season Villanova (5-5, 3-4 CAA Football) allowed two touchdowns in each of the first two quarters and was unable to overcome an early deficit in a 45-12 loss to No. 8 William & Mary (9-1, 6-1 CAA Football) at Zable Stadium on Saturday afternoon. The outcome was the Wildcats first road loss to the Tribe since 2010 and came in the team's first matchup against a top-10 opponent this season.
The difference in the game came down to a pair of long plays by William & Mary five minutes apart in the second period. Villanova trailed 14-3 near the midway point of the quarter when Tribe quarterback Darius Wilson scored on a 55-yard touchdown run with 8:56 remaining before halftime. After the Wildcats punted from their own 47-yard line and pinned William & Mary at the 10-yard line, it took only three plays before Wilson connected with Tyler Rose on an 87-yard touchdown pass which made the score 28-3 with 3:33 left in the half.
Villanova gave up a season-high 582 yards of offense to the Tribe but was not without a few of its own big plays which have been a hallmark of the Wildcats offense this season. Junior quarterback
Connor Watkins (Williamsport, Pa.) recorded his second-longest run of the season for 40 yards and completed five passes of 20+ yards, including four to fifth-year receiver
Dez Boykin (Whitehall, Pa.) along with a 39-yard touchdown pass to redshirt freshman
Daniel Lopes (Cheshire, Conn.). Boykin had career highs of six receptions and 110 yards while notching his first career 100-yard game. He caught passes for 31, 28, 23 and 20 yards during the contest.
Watkins finished the day with 269 yards of total offense, going 17-of-29 through the air for 206 yards and leading the team with 62 rushing yards on seven carries. In his first year as a starter the Wildcats offense has registered 47 plays from scrimmage of 20 yards or longer, including 30 pass completions and 17 rushes. Lopes made the first two catches of his collegiate career in his fifth game played, including a three-yard catch in the third quarter and his 39-yard touchdown reception which closed the scoring with 4:23 to go in the game. Freshman running back
Eli Smith (Houston, Texas) had a season-high 48 rushing yards while matching his season high with seven carries.
In the first half graduate kicker
Matthew Mercurio (Salinas, Calif.) made field goals from 45 yards in the first quarter and 26 yards in the second period. He is 10-of-12 (83.3%) on field goal attempts this season and Saturday's game was the first time on the year that he made two field goals in a game. The 45-yard field goal which accounted for the first Villanova points of the game with 3:19 to play in the opening period was his longest of the season and the 11
th field goal of 40+ yards in his career. Two of those have come this season – he made a 40-yarder at Army West Point – and the other nine came during his undergraduate career at San Jose State.
Junior safety
Jalen Goodman (Narberth, Pa.) led the Wildcats defense with a season-high nine tackles junior defensive lineman
Jalen Howard (Woodbridge, Va.) had a career-high two tackles for loss, including his first career sack. Howard is one of four Virginia natives on the Villanova roster. He and senior wide receiver
Rayjuon Pringle, also from Woodbridge, saw time in the game. Pringle recorded four receptions for 38 yards and moved up two spots to 16
th place in the Wildcats record book with 1,552 career receiving yards.
The visiting team had won each of the past five games in the all-time series between Villanova and William & Mary, including wins by the Wildcats at Zable Stadium in 2014 (35-31) and 2019 (35-28). Villanova's last loss in Williamsburg came in 2010 (31-24) when the Wildcats were defending national champions.
Saturday's game was the second straight on the road for Villanova, which will return home for its season finale next week to host Delaware in the annual "Battle of the Blue" rivalry game. The Wildcats have defeated the Blue Hens in 14 of the last 16 meetings.
