VILLANOVA, Pa.—Senior running back Jalen Jackson (Richmond, Va.) rushed for career highs of 187 yards and three touchdowns in a back-and-forth battle, but a touchdown by Monmouth (2-2, 1-1 CAA Football) with 46 seconds left wound up being the final swing of momentum as No. 9 Villanova (2-2, 0-1) fell by a final score of 49-42 in front of a sellout crowd of 12,001 at Villanova Stadium on Saturday afternoon. The teams alternated touchdowns the entire day and combined for 13 scoring drives without either team ever scoring more than once before the opposing side answered.
 
Jackson, junior quarterback Connor Watkins (Williamsport, Pa.) and senior running back TD Ayo-Durojaiye (Damascus, Md.) combined to run for 291 yards and five of the Wildcats six touchdowns on the day. Watkins finished the day with 297 yards of total offense as he rushed f 58 yards and two scores to go along with 13-of-20 passing for 239 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions. Senior wide receiver Jaaron Hayek (Wayne, N.J.) caught six passes for 136 yards and senior Rayjuon Pringle (Woodbridge, Va.) had two catches for 22 yards and a touchdown.
 
Villanova never led but tied the score on six different occasions in a game where the two teams combined for 1,013 yards of total offense, including a combined 613 rushing yards. Each team scored touchdowns in all four quarters and the score was tied at 28-28 going into the final period. After the Hawks went in front, 35-28, in the opening minute of the fourth quarter, the Wildcats answered two minutes later on a 17-yard touchdown pass from Watkins to Pringle. Monmouth took the lead again at 42-35 with 6:21 to play, but Watkins led the Wildcats on a seven-play drive in 3:39 and scored from five yards out with 2:42 left to tie the score for the final time.
 
The eventual game-winning score came on a six-play, 75-yard drive culminating with Jaden Shirden's 16-yard rush with 46 seconds on the clock. Shirden went over 200 yards with that run and finished the game with 22 carries for 211 yards and two touchdowns. He is the first opposing player since 1995 to rush for over 200 yards against Villanova. Monmouth quarterback Tony Muskett was 11-of-17 for 161 yards and three touchdowns while running for 78 yards of his own on eight carries. The Hawks had 321 yards on the ground.
 
With less than a minute to play and one timeout to work with, the Wildcats started the final possession of the game from their own 35-yard line after Monmouth's kickoff went out of bounds. Watkins rushed for seven yards and then completed a 34-yard pass to fifth-year senior wide receiver Dez Boykin (Whitehall, Pa.) which got Villanova to the Hawks 24-yard line with just over 20 seconds remaining. On second down from the 24-yard line, the Wildcats were called for a chop block and faced 2^nd-and-25 from the 39-yard line with 16 seconds to go. A pass to the left looking for Hayek in the end zone fell incomplete, as did a short pass to Pringle on third down with less than five seconds on the clock.
 
An initial call on the field of a fumble on the third down play was overturned and the clock was reset to five seconds, giving Villanova one final try on 4^th-and-25 as time expired. Watkins thew a Hail Mary pass to the end zone which both teams got hands on, but the pass was ultimately intercepted for a touchback to end the game.
 
Junior safety Jalen Goodman (Narberth, Pa.) led the Wildcats defense with seven tackles and also forced a fumble with 8:41 to play in the fourth quarter and the game tied at 35-35. The fumble was recovered by sophomore linebacker Timmy Furgeson (Gaithersburg, Md.) which gave Villanova a chance to interrupt the pendulum of touchdowns between the two teams. On the ensuing Wildcats possession which started from their own 29-yard line however, Watkins' pass on the first play of the drive was intercepted and returned to the Villanova 10-yard line to set up a Monmouth touchdown four plays later. The Wildcats made a goal line stand on third-and-goal from the two-yard line before the Hawks broke through the scrum on fourth down.
 
Villanova goes back on the road next week for a trip to Maine. Kickoff at Alfond Stadium in Orono next Saturday is scheduled for 1 p.m.