Reserves Lead ‘Resilient’ Villanova Football to Overtime Win

Villanova Football won their seventh game in a row on Saturday, Nov. 15, defeating Stony Brook 30-27 in overtime in a back-and-forth game that saw two ties and six lead changes.

The Wildcats enjoyed plenty of breaks, forcing and recovering a fumble one play after turning the ball over on downs, but also ended up on the wrong side of toss-up plays. Ja’briel Mace had a fumble overturned via replay review, then had a 55-yard touchdown called back due to holding on the following play. Quarterback Pat McQuaide threw an interception, but a holding play in the end zone kept the Wildcats’ drive going. McQuaide dropped a snap in overtime, but said his teammates helped pick him up and put the play behind him, a mindset he attributed to Villanova strength and conditioning coach Mike Tucker.

“We talk about it all the time, you know, bad stuff’s going to happen. Unfortunately, that was not a bad snap at all. I just dropped it, which, I don’t know if I’ve dropped a snap all year, and it came in probably the worst time possible, but, you know, it happened,” McQuaide said. 

“But that’s a testament to the 10 guys that we have on the field around me. O-linemen helped me up and they were like, ‘we’re good,’ and we move on, and we just keep playing. I think that’s kind of been the mentality of this team all year is that we’ve had some bad things happen to us. And we just keep tapping the rock, we keep going, keep playing. It’s proved that it works and it’s been good for us.”

That resilience helped the Wildcats navigate a rollercoaster second half. Another key factor? Their backups.

Next Man Up

Villanova’s reserves have stepped up all season: Mace leads the team in touchdowns, and he’s their third string running back. Against Stony Brook, tight end Antonio Johnson set a career high for catches (four) and yards (58) and hauled in the game-winning touchdown. True freshman Braden Reed opened the scoring with the first touchdown of his college career.

Johnson described his touchdown — a pass he bobbled out of excitement — as one of the most effective plays for Villanova, describing how a pre-snap read helps McQuaide figure out who to target.

“That’s a look that we work on almost every week in practice, a Two-Y Two-Go ball, just reading the safety and reading the overhang, where the Sam [linebacker] was that was guarding me,” Johnson said. “It’s a pass that we actually work on after practice too at times, and I feel like that’s just one of our top completed passes. Just having that trust in each other, knowing that whatever I do, we’re going to be on the same page.”

As their quarterback, McQuaide gave insight to what he sees from Reed and Johnson when he looks downfield. He noted that Johnson missed time due to injury this season, which limited their ability to build a rapport like he could’ve in a fully healthy year.

“I think he’s [Reed] had opportunities all year, and he’s just continued to maximize them, and that’s why he’s getting more here to the end of the year,” McQuaide said. Regarding Johnson, “he’s just a weapon for us, you know, and I think we have a lot of weapons. I think each game, when you look at our wins, we have different guys that show up and different guys that kind of take over and make plays.”