’Nova out of sync on clock and field, blows game to Stony Brook
RADNOR >> An obscure timing rule, a holding penalty, a missed field goal and the inability of the defense to get stops when it needed to came back to bite Villanova in a 36-35 come-fromahead loss to Stony Brook Saturday.
The Seawolves scored 16 unanswered points in the fourth quarter, 10 in the final 1:32, to erase a 35-20 deficit and hand the fifthranked Wildcats their second straight loss.
It was wild, right to the bitter end.
Nick Courtney booted a
22-yard field goal as time expired to cap the rally, but it was the events that led up to that kick that turned what looked like a certain victory into a defeat.
Shawn Harris caught a
10-yard touchdown pass from Tyquell Fields with
4:45 to go in the game and Fields scored on a one-yard run with 1:32 remaining to get Stony Brook within 3533. The Seawolves had a chance to tie the game, but Fields’ two-point conversion pass was dropped.
The Wildcats (6-2 overall, 3-2 CAA) caught a second break when the ensuing onside kick went out of bounds giving Villanova the ball at the Stony Brook 45yard line with 1:26 left on the clock and the Seawolves down to one timeout.
That’s where the timing rules came into play. If there is 1:20 or less left on the clock, the winning team can kneel down three times and run out the clocke. However, under two minutes, if there is a penalty on the offensive team, the trailing team can elect to have the clock start on the snap and not when the referee places the ball.
Villanova’s plan was to have quarterback Daniel Smith drop back, run time off the clock and get the clock under 1:20, which they did, forcing Stony Brook to burn its final timeout with
1:19 left. However, the Wildcats were called for holding. The Seawolves got the timeout back and elected to have the clock start on the snap.
That allowed Stony Brook
(5-3, 2-2) to use its timeout on second down. Villanova eventually was forced to punt and Stony Brook got the ball back at its 36yard line with 21 seconds left. Fields completed a 19yard pass to Andrew Trent, spiked the ball to stop the clock and then found Nick Anderson for 40 yards and a first down at the Villanova
5-yard line.
Since the clock stops in college for every first down, that allowed the Seawolves to race down the field and spike the ball again and bring on the field goal unit. Courtney came in and drilled his third field goal to give Stony Brook the victory.
“I obviously mismanaged the time clock at the end of the game and made our defense go back out on the field,” Villanova coach Mark Ferrante said.
The seeds of the comefrom-ahead loss, though, were sown long before that. Villanova fumbled the kickoff to start the second half, which allowed the Seawolves to go down and kick a 25-yard field goal. Gary Young picked off Smith on Villanova’s next possession and that led to a 10-yard touchdown run by Ty Son Lawton.
Kicker Drew Kresge had a chance to expand Villanova’s lead, but his 44-yard field goal attempt was wide right. Deewil Barlee (Episcopal Academy All-Delco) did score on fourth-and-goal from two yards out with 9:14 remaining in the game to give Villanova a 35-20 lead, but it wasn’t enough.
Stony Brook converted a third down and a fourth down to keep its next drive alive, which ended in the touchdown catch by Harris.
It was the second straight game the Wildcats squandered a lead in the second half. Villanova had a 2417 lead on second-ranked James Madison two weeks ago only to fall, 38-24.
“We learned from the JMU game that you have to play four quarters and we got a repeat lesson, if you will,” Ferrante said. “We’re up almost 20 at half and we only put one (touchdown) on the board in the second half. You have to keep scoring points and keep your foot on the gas in this league because no lead is insurmountable.”
Ferranted dug into his bag of tricks to get the Wildcats out to a 28-10 lead at halftime. Smith took a pass from wide receiver Jaaron
Hayek 68 yards for a touchdown. Hayek also caught a TD pass. Freshman running back TD Ayo-Durojaiye ran for a 24-yard touchdown and threw a 24-yard scoring pass to Changa Hodge.
And then it all fell apart in the second half.
“This is going to hurt tonight, we’ll be back in tomorrow and we’ll learn from it,” Smith said. “That’s all you can do when you lose a game like this is you have to learn from it. There’s a lot to learn, just not make the same mistakes for the rest of the year.”