Villanova Wins Battle Versus Lehigh in Opening Week of College Football

Tagged under: Gameday Hub, News, Pennsylvania Colleges

Alec Eskin | September 3, 2022

The Villanova Wildcats and the Lehigh Mountain Hawks were coming into the first week of college and FCS football play on a warm, beautiful Friday night. The Wildcats were coming in ranked number five in all of FCS football after winning the CAA and advancing to the second round of the FCS football playoffs before losing to South Dakota State. The Lehigh Mountain Hawks have been steadily improving over the last three years, winning three out of the final four games they played last season. Both teams were looking to make their mark in tonight’s game, and it was certainly one that was interesting to watch. Ultimately, Villanova was able to win by a final score of 45-17. Here are some of the big highlights for both teams on both sides of the ball…

Villanova struggled to score on their first two possessions, the first ending with a turnover on downs and the next one with a field goal. But after that, they were able to figure out Lehigh’s defense, and put on an offensive show for everyone at Villanova Stadium to watch. The Wildcats only scored three points in the first quarter but had a 28 points second quarter with some strong offensive play. The first touchdown of the night for them was on a 66-yard pass from Connor Watkins to Dez Boykin. Then later in the quarter with 3:06 left to go in the first half, Villanova had another big pass play, a 68-yard touchdown pass from Watkins to Jaaron Harek. Senior quarterback Connor Watkins had 298 yards passing on just 15 attempts with three touchdowns passing and one touchdown running. Senior running back Jalen Jackson had nine carries for 67 yards and one touchdown. The offensive was two dimensional which is why it was so potent all night long. Lastly, they were efficient in which the Wildcats did not have any turnovers after the turnover on downs on their first drive of the game. Defensively, the Wildcats were stout the entire game. They were able to force a turnover on downs early on and had an interception by Daniel Abraham in the second quarter. They also held Lehigh to only a field goal in the second half, which came on the opening drive. The Villanova Wildcats definitively showed why they are the number five ranked team in FCS and should be very confident after their home opener.

The Lehigh Mountain Hawks lost this same game just about a year ago at Goodman Stadium by a final score of 47-3. No one was sure what to expect from this game, but the Mountain Hawks have to be happy with the amount of progress they have made. The offense looks to be much improved behind Junior quarterback Dante Perri, who went to high school just down the road at the Haverford School. The Mountain Hawk offense was able to drive down the field and get into Villanova territory but had trouble getting the ball into the end zone. They were able to get inside the Villanova 40 on five of their 11 drives but were able to find the end zone on only two of those. But again, the Mountain Hawks were able to move the ball down the field which they could not do last year. Their two touchdowns came in the second quarter, one a three-yard touchdown pass from Dante Perri to Alex Snyder, and another touchdown pass that was from Perri to Jalen Burbage with 12 seconds left in the second quarter. Perri finished with a whopping 228 yards with two touchdown passes and an interception. Sophomore running back Gaige Garcia and junior running back Jack DiPeitro both had very good nights behind some really good offensive line play. Garcia had 59 yards on ten carries and DiPietro had 53 yards on 12 carries. In the passing game, Jalen Burbage had a total of 106 yards on eight receptions with a touchdown, a really good night for him. On defense, Lehigh was able to stop a powerful Villanova offense early on but struggled in the second quarter. After halftime though, they only allowed two touchdowns, compared to four in the first half. Overall, Lehigh has a lot to be encourage about heading into next week and the rest of the season.

The Villanova Wildcats will play Long Island University on September 10th at 1:00 PM, who dropped their first game of the season. The Lehigh Mountain Hawks will play at Georgetown on September 10th as well but at 5:00 PM. These two teams should be exciting and interesting to watch this year and will be having tabs kept on them throughout the college football season.

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