VILLANOVA, Pa.—Senior tight end Antonio Johnson (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) caught the walk-off touchdown pass on the first series of overtime and No. 10/7 Villanova (8-2, 7-1 CAA Football) narrowly extended its overall and home winning streak with a 30-27 victory over Stony Brook (5-6, 3-4 CAA Football) on Saturday afternoon. The win came in the Wildcats final regular season CAA Football game and was the team's first overtime affair since the abbreviated Spring 2021 season. The memorable contest had three lead changes in the fourth quarter and was not decided until the last of a combined 134 offensive snaps by the two teams.
 
After the Seawolves forced overtime with a field goal in the final minute of regulation, then took a 27-24 lead with a 44-yard attempt on the first overtime series, Villanova had the final answer with a five-play drive that culminated with Johnson hauling in a 17-yard pass from graduate quarterback Pat McQuaide (Solon, Ohio) to end the game. McQuaide was 18-of-30 for 280 yards and four touchdowns, while Johnson established new career highs with four catches and 58 receiving yards. The game-winning touchdown was his fourth career score. Graduate wide receiver Luke Colella (Wexford, Pa.) caught two touchdown passes and true freshman Braden Reed (Pottstown, Pa.) scored his first career touchdown.
 
It was a game that felt like a full-circle moment for a Wildcats team which seems destined for its fourth playoff appearance in the last five seasons. Villanova owns the longest active home winning streak in the FCS; 21 games after Saturday's triumph. The last walk-off win for the Wildcats prior to this one over Stony Brook came in the first game of the home streak when Villanova made a field goal as time expired in a 31-29 win over UAlbany on September 22, 2022. The Wildcats are now 5-0 at home this season and will be back on their home turf for their regular season finale next Saturday against non-conference foe Sacred Heart.
 
Villanova finishes its conference schedule with a 7-1 record in this year's CAA Football standings. It is the eighth season in which the Wildcats had no more than one conference loss since they joined the league – then the Yankee Conference – in 1988. Three of those eight seasons have come during the Mark Ferrante head coaching era. Saturday was Ferrante's 100^th game as head coach. He now has a career record of 65-35 (.650) leading Villanova, including 43-25 (.632) in regular season CAA contests. The Wildcats, who announced earlier this year that they would join the Patriot League as an associate member in football in 2026, compiled a record of 185-117 (.613) in regular season games in the conference. Ferrante's 43 conference wins are the most of any active CAA head coach.
 
McQuade, Johnson and company made sure that Villanova's last regular season CAA game was not just a classic but also a happy one. The Wildcats had possession of the ball for just over 38 minutes in regulation and finished the day with 74 offensive plays for 440 yards. The first points of the game came on a 37-yard pass play from McQuaide to Reed on the first drive of the game. That score came at the 11:43 mark of the first quarter, and Villanova would not find the end zone again until a go-ahead touchdown reception by Colella on the opening play of the fourth quarter.
 
Colella caught four passes for 42 yards and a pair of fourth quarter touchdowns. After his 10-yard catch forged a 17-14 Wildcats lead, Stony Brook answered with a 10-play, 75-yard drive to retake a 21-17 advantage on a touchdown at the 9:54 mark of the fourth quarter. Colella's 21-yard touchdown reception with 2:49 left in regulation reversed the lead again and gave Villanova a 24-21 advantage. A 23-yard field goal by Seawolves kicker Michael Mannino with 42 seconds to go eventually forced overtime. Colella, meanwhile, finished the day with 1,998 career receiving yards including his undergraduate career at Princton and this season with the Wildcats.
 
The score being tied with less than a minute to play in regulation did not mean that there was not plenty more intrigue to come before the extra period. Junior running back and kickoff return extraordinaire Ja'briel Mace (Somers Point, N.J.) returned the ensuing Stony Brook kickoff for 53 yards to give Villanova excellent field position at the Seawolves 46-yard line. It was Mace's fifth play of the season for 50+ yards, including his fourth kick return for more than half a field length. Mace finished the day with 171 all-purpose yards, including three kick returns for 91 yards to go along with 19 carries for 68 yards and two receptions for 12 more yards. Junior running back Isaiah Ragland (Alexandria, Va.) was the team's leading rusher for the game with 15 carries for 97 yards.
 
McQuaide threw consecutive incompletions to start the Wildcats last-minute regulation drive, then connected with Ragland on a six-yard pass with 11 seconds to go. Villanova went for it on fourth down, but a pass to Johnson was incomplete and a holding penalty against the Wildcats was declined. The Seawolves took a knee at their own 40-yard line with five seconds to go to send the game to overtime.
 
Down by a field goal after Mannino connected from 44 yards on the first series of overtime, Villanova survived a near disaster on a bad snap which resulted in an 11-yard loss on its first play from the 25-yard line. That immediately pushed the Wildcats back to the 36-yard line on 2^nd-and-21; a pass from McQuaide to Mace for six yards only moved the ball forward to 3^rd-and-15 at the 30-yard line.
 
All season long, Villanova has found a way to make one more play in crunch time of close games. McQuaide threw a 15-yard stroke to the 15-yard line for a first down as the home crowd urged the Wildcats on with the home winning streak on the line. After a two-yard loss on a run by Mace set up 2^nd-and-12 at the 17, McQuaide found Johnson in the end zone for the game-winning score. Johnson caught the ball in the middle of the end zone, then stutter stepped as he momentarily juggled the ball before securing it for good.
 
Villanova is now riding a seven-game winning streak for the first time since a 2023 stretch which culminated with a first round playoff win over Youngstown State. The last time the Wildcats won seven straight regular season games was in 2014, a year in which the team eventually reached the playoff quarterfinals.
 
Not all of Saturday's momentum swings came on Villanova offensive plays. Trailing 21-17 in the fourth quarter, the Wildcats were stopped on fourth down near midfield and turned the ball over on downs at the Seawolves 45-yard line. Stony Brook got the ball back with 5:47 to play in regulation, but senior safety Christian Sapp (East Stroudsburg, Pa.) forced and recovered a fumble on the very next play after an initial 11-yard run by Seawolves running back Roland Dempster.
 
It was Sapp's second career forced fumble and first recovery, and the Villanova offense turned the takeaway into a six-play, 54-yard scoring drive. The Wildcats have outscored their opponents by a 34-7 margin this season in points off turnovers. In fact, Villanova has not allowed any FCS opponent to score a point off a Wildcats miscue this season. The seven such points against the team this year came on a pick-six by Penn State in an FBS matchup on September 13.
 
Senior linebacker Shane Hartzell (Perkasie, Pa.) had 10 tackles, including 2.5 tackles for loss, to lead the Villanova defense. It is his 10^th career double-digit tackle game and second this season. Sophomore cornerback Zahmir Dawud (North Brunswick, N.J.) had a career high four pass breakups.
 
It is on to Senior Day and the regular season finale next week for the Wildcats, who will kick off against Sacred Heart at 1 p.m. next Saturday afternoon. It will be the first ever gridiron meeting between the schools.