VILLANOVA, Pa.—Junior running back Ja'briel Mace (Somers Point, N.J.) was up to his usual explosive tricks with three touchdowns in the first half and No. 9/7 Villanova (9-2) powered its way towards the playoffs with a 34-10, non-conference victory over Sacred Heart (8-4) at Villanova Stadium on Saturday afternoon. The regular season finale continued a trifecta of significant winning streaks and put the Wildcats in strong position heading into Sunday afternoon's selection show for this year's NCAA Division I Football Championship which begins next week.
 
The streaks that Villanova extended are an eight-game overall winning streak, 22 straight wins at home over the last four seasons and 21 consecutive regular season non-conference wins spanning the last 10 seasons. This is the third year in a row and the fourth time in the last five seasons that the Wildcats have tallied nine regular season wins. Villanova will head into the playoffs with a record of 42-14 (.750) since the start of the 2021 season. While the Wildcats played a non-conference regular season finale on Saturday, the scores from around CAA Football lifted Villanova into sole possession of second place in the conference.
 
Mace was again the offensive star for the Wildcats, and he finished the day with 214 all-purpose yards. The jack-of-all-trades in the Villanova backfield rushed nine times for 165 yards and two touchdowns to go along with two catches for 21 yards and a score as well as a 28-yard kickoff return. His explosive speed led to an 80-yard touchdown for the Wildcats first points of the day with 5:02 remaining in the first quarter. Mace added a 19-yard rushing touchdown at the 13:19 mark of the second period and caught a 10-yard touchdown pass with 27 seconds remaining before halftime. It is the third time this season that Mace has scored three or more touchdowns, while the 80-yard burst was even more impressively his second touchdown of at least that length.
 
Graduate kicker Jack Barnum (Southington, Conn.) made two field goals in the third quarter and Villanova scored 27 unanswered points after the visiting Pioneers took a 3-0 lead early in the game. Junior running back Isaiah Ragland (Alexandria, Va.) tallied his first career receiving touchdown and second score of the season overall on an 11-yard pass which closed the scoring midway through the fourth quarter.
 
It was another good day for graduate quarterback Pat McQuaide (Solon, Ohio) who was 17-of-29 for 216 yards and two touchdowns through the air. He connected with seven different receivers, including sophomore Chris Colby (Rowley, Mass.) who had five catches for a career-high 112 yards and his first career game topping the century mark. Graduate receiver Luke Colella (Wexford, Pa.) topped 2,000 career receiving yards during the game and graduate Lucas Kopecky (Rocky Hill, N.J.) extended his streak of games with a catch to 22 straight games (every contest of his collegiate career).
 
A stout Wildcats defense held a Sacred Heart team averaging 229.7 rushing yards per game to just 88 yards on the ground and 2.9 yards per carry on 30 attempts. It is the second straight game and third in the last four that Villanova has given up fewer than 100 rushing yards to its opponent. During the eight-game winning streak, the Wildcats have allowed an average of just 107.4 rushing yards per contest. Senior linebacker Shane Hartzell (Perkasie, Pa.) and graduate Richie Kimmel (Holmes, Pa.) each had six tackles and one of Villanova's four quarterback sacks. The Wildcats had 11 different players record at least four stops; sophomore linebacker Jason Hall (Fall River, Mass.) and senior safety Garrett Rogan (Mercer Island, Wash.) each had one sack.
 
Maybe the only thing that didn't go Villanova's way was the coin toss, which the Wildcats had won six games in a row. The visiting Pioneers kicked off to start the game, but Villanova uncharacteristically lost a fumble at its own 28-yard line on the second offensive snap of the game. Sacred Heart took over and was quickly stymied by the Wildcats defense before kicking a 37-yard field goal to open the scoring. Villanova entered the game with the fewest turnovers lost (four) in the FCS and had not allowed a single point off turnovers to an FCS opponent.
 
After punts by each team over the next seven-plus minutes of play, the Wildcats started a drive from their own 20-yard line with 5:15 to play in the first quarter. It took 13 seconds for Mace to cover 80 yards and give the game the only momentum swing it would need. His only previous 100-yard rushing game came two weeks ago when he set the Villanova single-game record with 291 yards against Towson. Mace has run for 887 career yards and, incredibly, 59 percent of them (524) have come in the last three weeks.
 
The field of 24 teams for the FCS playoffs will be revealed in a live selection show on ESPNU at 12 p.m. on Sunday afternoon. Villanova is poised to reach the playoffs for the 17^th time in its FCS history (since 1985), the third straight year and the fourth time in the last five seasons. Head coach Mark Ferrante has been a part of all 30 previous FCS playoff games the Wildcats have played during his years as an assistant coach and now in his ninth season as head coach. Saturday's win was the 66^th of Ferrante's head coaching career and moves him into sole possession of second place in Villanova coaching history behind the legendary Andy Talley who won 230 career games from 1985-2016. Ferrante was an assistant on Talley's staff for each of those 30 seasons.