HAMPTON, Va.—Fifth year linebacker Brendan Bell (Basking Ridge, N.J.) accounted for the difference in the game thanks to a third quarter touchdown, but it wasn't a defensive score that gave No. 13 Villanova (7-2, 4-1 CAA Football) the margin it needed in a 20-14 win over Hampton (5-4, 2-3 CAA Football) at Armstrong Stadium on Saturday afternoon. Bell, in his third year as a starter on the Wildcats defense, played his first career offensive snaps and scored a four-yard rushing touchdown at the 4:59 mark of the third period.
 
The play was set up after junior wide receiver Jaylan Sanchez (North Bergen, N.J.) hauled in a 72-yard pass on a third-and-six play from Villanova's own 26-yard line. He caught the ball at the 34-yard line and broke away before finally being taken down at the two-yard line. A penalty for a horse collar tackle on Sanchez moved the ball to  the one and, after a three-yard loss on first down, Bell took his first career handoff and went four yards for the score. His final stat line for the day would eventually read seven tackles, including a solo sack, and his first career touchdown of any kind.
 
It was 20-7 in favor of the Wildcats after Bell's touchdown and the score was 20-14 after the Pirates countered with a one-yard rushing touchdown by quarterback Chris Zellous at the 1:03 mark of the third period. Villanova held off a late charge in the fourth quarter in their first-ever visit to Hampton and only the third meeting all-time between the teams.
 
Sanchez recorded his fourth career 100-yard receiving game and first this season with five catches for 103 yards. The longest play of the day by either team accounted for nearly half of the Wildcats passing yards in the game, as sixth year quarterback Connor Watkins (Williamsport, Pa.) registered his eighth career completion for 70 yards or longer. Watkins was 9-of-22 for 149 yards on the day. Freshman running back David Avit (Potomac, Md.) rushed a season high 26 times for 76 yards and a touchdown, while fifth year kicker Ethan Gettman (Daytona Beach, Fla.) kicked a pair of field goals.
 
Much earlier than the decisive plays in the third and fourth quarter, Villanova kicked off to start the game and Hampton went 75 yards on nine plays on the opening drive. A six-yard touchdown pass from Zellous to Kymari Gray with 11:46 to play in the opening period gave the Pirates an early 7-0 lead, but from that point on the hosts would not score for more than 40 minutes of game time until Zellous' rushing touchdown late in the third quarter.
 
Gettman made a 29-yard field goal with 2:13 to plain the first quarter and Avit scored on a one-yard rush at the 7:11 mark of the second period. That capped a five-play, 26-yard drive by the Wildcats which started after redshirt freshman defensive lineman Nigel McSween (Newark, N.J.) stuffed a rushing attempt by Hampton on fourth-and-one from the Pirates own 26-yard line with 9:17 to play in the quarter. Later in the game, the Wildcats secured the victory when sixth year safety Jalen Goodman (Narberth, Pa.) broke up a Zellous pass attempt on fourth-and-four from Villanova's 45-yard line with 3:53 to play.
 
Senior linebacker Shane Hartzell (Perkasie, Pa.) had a game-high nine tackles to lead the Wildcats defense, while Bell and fifth year safety Ethan Potter (Chesapeake City, Md.) had seven tackles apiece. Fifth year cornerback Tyrell Mims (Philadelphia, Pa.) recorded his fourth career interception, the most of any active Villanova player, in the second quarter and the Wildcats played turnover free football to win the turnover margin for the sixth time in nine games this season.
 
Villanova stretched its halftime lead to 13-7 on a 40-yard field goal by Gettman on the first drive of the second half. It was his ninth career field goal and second this season for 40+ yards by Gettman, who also landed three of his season-high seven punts inside the 20-yard line while averaging 44.9 yards per punt in Saturday's game.
 
Villanova returns home next Saturday for a 1 p.m. kickoff against North Carolina A&T.