VILLANOVA, Pa.—A season for the ages and one of the most exciting postseason runs in school history carried #12 seed Villanova (12-3) all the way to the penultimate round of the Division I Football Championship and the program's second home semifinal contest where the Wildcats fell to Illinois State (12-4) by a final score of 30-14 on Saturday night. Villanova finishes the year matching its second-most wins in a season and as one of the last four teams standing in the FCS playoffs.
 
Graduate tight end Antonio Johnson (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) made a one-handed catch in the back corner of the end zone for the Wildcats only touchdown of the game in the fourth quarter, while graduate kicker Jack Barnum (Southington, Conn.) made a pair of field goals in the second quarter. Barnum added to the single season school record for field goals that he set last week and finished the season 17-of-26. His 98 total points on the year are the seventh-most in a season in the Villanova record book.
 
The visiting Redbirds scored the first points of the game on a 53-yard touchdown reception by Daniel Sobkowicz with 2:36 to play in the opening period. Their lead grew to 21-6 by halftime on a Victor Dawson touchdown run and another catch for a score by Sobkowicz with 3:49 to play before the intermission. Illinois State kept the Wildcats out of the end zone until the 5:10 mark of the fourth quarter and are the first team to reach the championship game with four consecutive road victories.
 
Graduate wide receiver Luke Colella (Wexford, Pa.) had four receptions for 58 yards to lead Villanova and increased his season totals to 77 catches and 1,074 receiving yards. Both totals are the seventh highest single season marks in school history. Junior running back Ja'briel Mace (Somers Point, N.J.) had 120 all-purpose yards, including 61 kickoff return yards and 59 rushing yards on 11 carries. He tallied 1,882 all-purpose yards for the season and emerged as the team's leading rusher with 946 yards. Graduate quarterback Pat McQuaide (Solon, Ohio) was 13-of-30 for 199 yards with a touchdown and an interception.
 
The postseason run by the Wildcats was one of the most impressive in the past several seasons of the Division I Football Championship. Villanova is only the second team in the 48-year history of the tournament to host a semifinal game after playing back-to-back road games in the previous two rounds. This season is the fourth time overall that the Wildcats have advanced to the semifinal round. Villanova is 18-16 all-time in the FCS playoffs and has the ninth most wins in tournament history among programs that still play at the FCS level.
 
Following a 1-2 start to the season and consecutive losses at FBS foe Penn State and at Monmouth in the CAA Football opener, the Wildcats reeled off 11 consecutive victories to tie the second-longest winning streak in program history. That winning streak saw Villanova go 7-1 in conference play to finish second in the CAA regular season standings, and included postseason wins over Harvard, #5 seed Lehigh and #4 seed Tarleton State. The consecutive wins over Lehigh and Tarleton State in the second and quarterfinal playoff rounds were the first time in 15 years that the Wildcats won back-to-back road games against Top 5 ranked opponents.
 
Villanova earned an at-large bid to the playoffs as the tournaments #12 seed and reached the brink of becoming only the third double-digit seed ever to advance to the championship game. Part of the team's formula for success was a veteran roster which entered Saturday's semifinal with 1,880 career games played. Including Saturday's game, 29 members of the roster have played in at least 30 games during their collegiate careers. Another 26 made their collegiate debuts this season.
 
Graduate linebacker Richie Kimmel (Holmes, Pa.) had a game-high nine total tackles against the Redbirds, while senior safety Christian Sapp (East Stroudsburg, Pa.) had eight stops and graduate linebacker Shane Hartzell (Perkasie, Pa.) seven tackles. Hartzell's career totals of 381 tackles and 22.5 sacks rank sixth in Wildcats history.