VILLANOVA, Pa.—Fifth year quarterback
Connor Watkins (Williamsport, Pa.) and fifth year receiver
Rayjuon Pringle (Woodbridge, Va.) combined for 142 yards on two pass plays alone to help lift No. 13 Villanova (8-2, 6-1 CAA Football) to a 33-10 victory over Towson (4-6, 3-4 CAA Football) on Saturday afternoon. The Wildcats celebrated Senior Day in style as they wrapped up an undefeated regular season home slate (5-0) and remained in a tie for first place atop the CAA Football standings with the regular season finale at Delaware on tap for next week.
Pringle is the only player in Villanova history to have three career receptions of 75 or more yards. All three of those catches have come this season for the Wildcats leading receiver, who is up to eighth place in school history with 2,444 career yards. He had five catches for 180 yards in Saturday's win over the Tigers, including touchdown receptions of 79 yards and 63 yards in the first half to help the Wildcats build a 24-0 halftime lead. Watkins finished the day 15-of-24 for 299 yards and three touchdowns. He also connected with sophomore receiver
Jaylan Sanchez (North Bergen, N.J.) who caught a 19-yard touchdown pass with just 26 seconds to play before halftime.
Villanova topped 500 yards of total offense for the third time in the last five games. The big throws by Watkins give him six career pass completions of 75 yards or more. There have been only 23 such plays in school history, of which Watkins has recorded half a dozen just since the beginning of last season. Sixth year running back
Jalen Jackson (Richmond, Va.) led three Wildcats who rushed for 74 or more yards on the day. He carried 14 times for 85 yards to move into eighth place on Villanova's career rushing list with 2,270 yards. That is three spots higher than fifth year teammate
DeeWil Barlee (Upper Darby, Pa.) who ranks 11
th with 2,167 yards. Barlee rushed for 74 yards in Saturday's contest and freshman
Ja'Briel Mace (Somers Point, N.J.) picked up 76 yards on 13 carries in his second collegiate game played.
Each team came up empty on their first drive of the game before the Wildcats opened the scoring on the 79-yard touchdown pass from Watkins to Pringle at the 9:40 mark of the first quarter. Sixth year kicker
Matthew Mercurio (Salinas, Calif.) made a 25-yard field goal later in the period for a 10-0 lead. In the final 2:43 of the second quarter, Pringle hauled in a 63-yard pass for a score and Sanchez caught his fifth touchdown pass of the season just over two minutes later.
Villanova stretched its lead to 33-3 in the second half on a four-yard touchdown run by fifth year running back
TD Ayo-Durojaiye (Damascus, Md.) in the third quarter and a team safety when Towson recovered a fumble in its own end zone at the 11:20 mark of the fourth period. It was the first safety scored by the Wildcats since the 2015 season opener at Connecticut – a span of 95 games ago. The safety occurred after Villanova fumbled at the Tigers one-yard line. Towson gained a total of one yard on two plays before being stuffed for a loss on third-and-nine from the two-yard line. The ball was fumbled on the goal line on third down and the Tigers recovered in the end zone.
Sophomore linebacker
Shane Hartzell (Perkasie, Pa.) led another strong defensive effort by the Wildcats with a team-high seven tackles. Villanova held Towson to just 211 yards of total offense on the day, including just 53 yards through the air on 10-of-21 passing. Sixth year linebacker
Danny Abraham (Randolph, Mass.) added five tackles and fifth year defensive lineman
Jake Reichwein (Doylestown, Pa.) tallied his fourth sack of the year.
Villanova honored its senior student-athletes on the field in a ceremony prior to the start of the game, followed by a halftime recognition for the band, cheer and dance senior on the Wildcats spirit squads.
Next Saturday's regular season finale will be the 17
th iteration of the Villanova-Delaware rivalry game to be billed as the "Battle of the Blue" in which the winning team is presented with the Battle of the Blue Trophy. It will be the first time in the Battle of the Blue era that the Wildcats and Blue Hens enter play against each other with identical records, not counting a rare early season meeting in 2015 when both squads were 1-1. Villanova and Delaware last played each other at the end of the regular season with matching records in 2006 when both teams came in with a 5-5 record. Villanova, Delaware, Richmond and UAlbany will all enter the final week of the regular season tied with 5-1 records at the top of the CAA standings. Kickoff at Delaware Stadium next Saturday is slated for 1 p.m.
