Villanova Tramples Towson, 43-7

VILLANOVA, PA—The Villanova Wildcats came into their first home game against Towson with the same record as the Tigers at 1-1, but that's about the only thing these two CAA opponents had in common on Saturday afternoon in Pennsylvania.

The top-ranked Wildcats pounced on the Tigers by scoring 36 first-half points and held on to an easy 43-7 victory before a sellout crowd of 12,111 at Villanova Stadium.

Last season, Towson lost at home to the Wildcats 49-7, who went on to win the FCS National Championship.

"A year ago, when I looked at our team versus their team, I thought our team looked like a JV team," said Towson head coach Rob Ambrose.  "We looked much smaller. [Today] we still looked smaller, but not as small. We pushed them around a little bit, but not consistently enough. "

The Tigers, who fell to 1-2 with the loss, were never really in this game from the start. Things started to fall apart after the Towson offense went three-and-out on their first possession of the game. True freshman punter Derek Soven took an early safety after a high snap caused him to kick the ball out of the end zone and the Wildcats took advantage of the miscue, putting up an early touchdown to make it 9-0.

"You take a first-year snapper and first- year punter," said Ambrose. "My little punter, if he could have just turned around, he could have walked back to the line of scrimmage to punt the ball. [After] a year's worth of experience, he'll laugh about that."
 
Villanova's offense wasn't clicking on all cylinders right away. But with All-American wide receiver Matt Szczur on the field and senior quarterback Chris Whitney making sound decisions, the Tigers' defense would eventually start to fold.

While the defense did hold Villanova to just nine points in the first quarter, the Wildcats' offense took over in the second quarter. After a three-and-out to start the quarter and another one from the Tigers, Villanova went to work at their own 30, with 11:04 left. On the fourthplay of the drive, running back Aaron Ball found an opening up the middle, broke two tackles and took it 57 yards for the touchdown to make it 16-0 with 9:42 left in the second quarter.

On the ensuing drive, Towson junior quarterback Chris Hart was picked off by senior linebacker Marquis Kirkland and was returned to the Towson 48. Two plays later, Szczur came in under center, went back and looked like he was going to option the ball or run wide, instead he planted his foot and threw the ball to a wide open Dorian Wells for a 44-yard touchdown pass.

Despite a missed extra point, the Wildcats were up 22-0 and had all the momentum in the world.

After a kickoff from Nick Yako that went out of bounds, the Tigers were set up at their own 40 yard line. Hart moved the team down to the Villanova 43 and on 2-and-4, rolled out and found senior Hakeem Moore at the one yard line. But Moore bobbled the ball at the one-yard line, right before he took a hit from safety Fred Maldonado.

Two plays later, the Tigers went for it on 4th-and-1 at the Villanova 40-yard line and failed to convert.

Once again, the Wildcats took advantage and in nine plays, went 60 yards as Whitney found Wells for a 22-yard touchdown to give Villanova a 29-0 lead.

With 2:14 left, Towson had the ball on their own 28-yard line, but Hart fumbled on third-and-six, and the ball was recovered by Villanova's Keenan Malone. Villanova pounced on the opportunity and scored six plays later as Whitney hit running back Angelo Babbar for a 17-yard touchdown.

Towson went into the locker room down 36-0 and that's when both coaches decided to go to their bench. Ambrose went to senior quarterback Bart Blanchard, a transfer from The Citadel. Blanchard completed 12-of-16 passes for 144 yards and led the Tigers to their only touchdown of the game.

On the second possession of the second half, Blanchard found Hakeem Moore down the middle of the field for 59 yards and Towson's only touchdown of the game.

Towson moved the ball on the next possession all the way to the Villanova 9, but senior kicker Nick Wallace missed  a 26-yard field goal.

Whitney scored on a one-yard run with 10:33 left in the the third quarter and that would be the last points for the Wildcats who decided to play junior quarterback Christian Culicerto the rest of the way.

Hart wound up with 19 yards passing, one interception and two fumbles (one lost).  He also ran for just 21 yards and didn't get much help from a running game that amassed just 17 for the entire game.

"I've been hesitant to give Chris accolades for anything that he's done well because I know protection of the ball is the key to success offensively," said Ambrose. " That's been a frightening issue and a coaching point from the beginning. I'd say that the hammer and the nail met today. If you cannot protect the ball, you cannot play for us. Period. I'm hoping that he learned a valuable lesson and we can grow. We'll evaluate the film and I'm sure somebody will make some interesting commentary about whether or not there is a quarterback controversy."

On defense, the Tigers were led by sophomores Jordan Dangerfield and Frank Beltre, who chipped in with seven tackles apiece. Senior linebacker Donte Blakey also recorded seven stops, while sophomore defensive end Romale Tucker added six tackles and 1.5 tackles for loss. Sophomore defensive end Matt Morgan had the team's only sack.

Towson goes back on the road next Saturday when they face Columbia at 12:30 p.m.