Heroics from Villanova fuel a win against William & Mary for the first time since 2019

Ja’Briel Mace, take a bow.

The sophomore’s 100-yard kickoff return sealed Villanova’s 31-24 win over William & Mary on Saturday afternoon, the Wildcats’ first victory over the Tribe since 2019.

Additionally, Villanova (2-2, 1-1 CAA) stretched its home win streak to 18 games, the second-longest active FCS home win streak behind South Dakota State’s 32.

After surpassing 5,000 career passing yards last week, Pat McQuaide went 15-for-28 for 194 yards. The graduate quarterback is averaging 213 yards per game, and helped the Wildcats compile 426 yards of total offense against William & Mary (2-2, 1-1).

» READ MORE: Villanova’s David Avit was destined to play football for the Wildcats. He’s sure of that now.

“Regardless of the score, regardless of the outcome, there’s always going to be some positive plays we can build upon,” said Villanova head coach Mark Ferrante. “We’ll take this momentum, and basically, we’ll put this in the rear view after 24 hours. Whether you win or lose, it’s forgotten by Sunday evening, and we get ready to go for the next one on Monday.”

Mace received the second-half kickoff and maneuvered his way through the middle of the field, slipping a tackle into the open field.

It was the first kickoff return for a touchdown for Villanova since Nowoola Awopetu’s return against Richmond in 2019. It is the sixth kickoff return for 100 or more yards in program history.

“No, yeah, I noticed it,” Mace said when asked about being chased by William & Mary’s kicker. “But, Coach Ferrante always preaches if you get caught by the kicker, you’re not going to be kick returning here. So I knew I had to score.”

Villanova’s running back room combined for 217 rushing yards and all four of the Wildcats’ touchdowns.

Sophomore running back David Avit continues to be an X factor for the Wildcats, rushing for 133 yards and three touchdowns. It marks back-to-back games for Avit with 100-plus rushing yards and three touchdowns.

“You can’t do anything solo in the game of football,” Avit said. “That’s why there are 11 men on the field. So the fact that we were all able to be in tandem, like offense, defense, O-line, running backs. I love winning together, and there [are] no solo wins. It’s always a team win.”

Avit has 370 rushing yards this season, 6.2 yards per carry.

Princeton graduate transfer Luke Colella has solidified himself as McQuaide’s top target. Colella hauled in six passes for a team-high 88 yards.

Late in the second quarter, McQuaide scrambled out of the pocket and found Colella in motion toward the sideline for a 14-yard completion. The catch set up a 15-yard rushing touchdown by Avit to tie the game at 14.

“He practices the way you see him play,” Ferrante said. “So he goes a million miles an hour all the time. And I’m sure he’ll say he wishes he had a couple back.
But he’s been a nice add to our program, and he’s a guy that, I think, Pat [McQuaide] is really gaining confidence with.”

Last week in the 51-33 loss against Monmouth, Colella led all Villanova receivers with 117 yards and a career-high nine catches. It was the third 100-yard receiving game of his college career.

Villanova’s defense gave up two early touchdowns when the secondary could not contain the Tribe’s wideout threats early in the first half.

A big reason is a fresh-faced, young corps still trying to figure it all out.

“We had [an] experienced secondary for pretty much three years in a row,” Ferrante said. “Now we got a bunch of new guys. Some of them have experience, some of them came from other programs with experience. So now they have to just get used to playing together.”

Junior linebacker JR Strauss, who had eight tackles in the season opener, has missed the last two games due to injury. Senior linebacker Shane Hartzell had a team-high nine tackles (seven solo) and two sacks.

The Wildcats were down graduate linebacker Richie Kimmel for the first three games of the season due to injury. He made his season debut against William & Mary.

With its first conference win of the season, Villanova now prepares for New Hampshire (3-2, 1-0 CAA) in Durham, New Hampshire (FloSports, 1 p.m.).

Villanova leads the all-time series against the Black Bears, 14-13. Last season, the Wildcats defeated New Hampshire at Villanova Stadium, 14-6.

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