VILLANOVA, Pa. — A historic hurdle stood before the Blue Hens on Saturday afternoon.
Once again, they could not vault Villanova.
The rival Wildcats blocked two Delaware punts in the final 6:07 and turned the second into the game-winning touchdown, stunning the Blue Hens 29-26 in the Colonial Athletic Association regular-season football finale at Villanova Stadium.
Nolan Henderson’s three touchdown passes and two field goals by Brandon Ratcliffe, as many as Delaware had kicked all year, weren’t enough to overcome Villanova on the sunny, chilly, windy afternoon with 6,451 in the crowd.
Quarterback Connor Watkins scored on a fourth-and-goal 2-yard keeper, then added a 2-point run, to put Villanova ahead with 1:11 to go. The clock ran out with Delaware unsuccessfully attempting to lateral the football on a play from the UD 48.
“I think they made a few more plays than we did when they needed them, and big ones,” first-year Delaware coach Ryan Carty said.
GAME STATS: Villanova 29, Delaware 26
The Blue Hens (7-4 overall, 4-4 CAA) were a likely qualifier for the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision playoffs for just the third time in 12 years with a win. The loss means their chances of being in the 24-team bracket when it is announced at 12:30 p.m. Sunday are slim.
“I think this team is good enough to go play football against a lot of people in this country,” Carty said, still hoping for a chance to do that.
Defending CAA champion Villanova (6-5, 4-4), which has been undermined by injuries this year, once again found a formula to disappoint Delaware and its many fans in the audience, despite being outgained 461-250 in total yards. The first Villanova TD also came after a UD miscue.
Villanova has won 15 of the last 17 against Delaware and leads the series 33-22-1.
“It’s huge,” Villanova coach Mark Ferrante said of the win. “This game for whatever reason seems to come down to those situations. It’s uncanny because a lot of times it’s last play, last drive. It’s just a great way to have our seniors go out. It’s something they’ll remember the rest of their life. It’s just a different game, just a different feel to it for whatever reason.”
Villanova had also taken possession at the UD 27 with 6:07 left after its first block of one of Ben Dinkel’s punts, where he stepped to the right in his delivery. A third-down holding penalty pushed Villanova back and Watkins’ fourth-and-14 pass from the 18 was incomplete.
“They were different,” Carty said of the two blocked punts. “I can’t tell you exactly how it happened but I know it’s not acceptable.”
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Watkins was 5-for-16 passing for 122 yards on the day but had 58- and 38-yard completions on Villanova scoring drives. DeeWil Barley rushed for 66 yards on 22 carries and Watkins’ 10 runs gained 60 yards.
“We have to uphold the standard that there’s been a lot of guys who’ve come before us that have a great record against Delaware,” Watkins said.
Henderson was 37-for-59 passing for 347 yards but Delaware couldn’t exploit a Villanova defense that had struggled to stop the run. Marcus Yarns had 67 yards on 12 carries and Kyron Cumby 49 yards on 10 runs.
“The explosive plays didn’t really come our way,” Carty said.
Delaware went up 26-21 with 10:35 left on Ratcliffe’s second field goal of the game from 25 yards out. It came after Kaelin Costello recovered a fumbled punt return for Delaware at the Villanova 37.
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The game began in discouraging fashion for the Blue Hens, when they fumbled on the second play. Villanova took over at the UD 36. Watkins converted a fourth-and-6 with an 18-yard run and then kept the football again for a 7-yard touchdown on third-and-goal as the Wildcats went up 7-0 just 5:07 into the game.
But Delaware retaliated to even the score quickly, Henderson throwing 48 yards to a wide open Thyrick Pitts for a touchdown.
The Hens’ next series died on downs at the VU 28 after a fourth-and-1 run lost yardage. Delaware then drove 85 yards over 17 plays, with three third- and one fourth-down conversion, to go up 13-7 when Henderson scrambled and passed 7 yards to Pitts for the TD. Garrett Bennion’s PAT try hit the upright, which is why Ratcliffe took the rest of the kicks.
Villanova regained the lead on its next series, as Watkins’ 48-yard third-and-10 pass to Dez Boykin set up Barlee’s 1-yard scoring run as the Wildcats inched ahead 14-13 3:07 before halftime.
But Delaware regained the lead as first-half time expired on Ratcliffe’s 32-yard field goal that made it 16-14. It was just Delaware’s third field goal in nine tries this season.
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Delaware then went up 23-14 early in the third quarter when a Villanova player touched the bouncing ball on Delaware’s first punt of the day, with Shoes Brinkley recovering for the Hens at the VU 35. Two plays later Henderson passed 25 yards to Jourdan Townsend for the touchdown.
Villanova then pulled within 23-21 on Barlee’s 1-yard TD with 1:01 left in the third quarter to close a 6-play, 66-yard series.
“We should’ve won this game and we didn’t, and so that’s frustrating,” Carty said. “But it’s also credit to a good football team we played. They made plays and they capitalized on our mistakes when we made them and they created some on their own.”
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