VILLANOVA, Pa. – The Towson University football team nearly pulled off an upset of a top-five team on the road but came up just short in a 14-13 defeat at No. 5/4 Villanova on Saturday afternoon.
 
Down four going into the final quarter, Towson (1-2, 0-1 CAA) kicked a field goal with 11:23 left to play to pull within one at Villanova (3-0, 1-0 CAA).  After a missed field goal with 1:13 left, Towson got another chance as Will Middleton forced a fumble on Isaiah Ragland and the Tigers recovered.  Da'Kendall James made a 25-yard catch to get Towson to the Villanova 20, but a final field goal attempt missed wide.
 
Key Stats:

• Towson outgained Villanova on offense 394-351, including 233 passing yards to Villanova's 116.
• In his first start with Towson, Sean Brown threw 20-for-36 for 233 yards and a touchdown, finding Carter Runyon for six receptions, 88 yards and a touchdown.
• On the ground, Devin Matthews burst for 135 yards on 14 carries, including a 70-yard run in the third quarter.
• Each Will Middleton and Xavier Terry forced a fumble and finished with seven tackles.
• For Villanova, Connor Watkins was 14-for-25 on passing for 116 yards and two touchdowns, adding 65 rushing yards on 13 carries.  Isaiah Ragland rushed 17 times for 141 yards.  Brendan Bell had seven tackles and a pass break-up on defense.

How it Happened

• Villanova started on offense and converted a couple of third downs on quick passes, but Towson held on a third chance and forced Villanova to punt.  Towson went quickly on offense, sparked by a 26-yard burst by Devin Matthews then a 23-yard pass to the left from Sean Brown to John Dunmore.  At third and three, Brown fired across the middle complete to Carter Runyon, who shook off two would-be tacklers to get free and head to the end zone for a 30-yard touchdown and a 7-0 Towson lead.
• Villanova again came down the field with Connor Watkins, then on 1^st and 10 on the Towson 32, Xavier Terry forced a fumble on a Kenyon Miles catch, with Nick Haynes recovering to get Towson back the ball at its own 18.  Towson punted after a three-and-out.
• Towson held the lead at the end of the first quarter.  Minutes into the second period, a Watkins pass was caught by a diving Jaylan Sanchez in the end zone for a 20-yard score and tying the game at 7-7.
• Each side exchanged drives, including Tre Birch sacking Watkins to push Villanova to 3^rd and 14 and an eventual punt.  Towson was held to a three-and-out, then the Tiger defense came through again as Alijah Bivans sacked Watkins on third and long to force a punt.  The two sides went into the locker room tied at 7-7.
• Brown continued to lead Towson down field with long passes down the sides, including a 15-yard pass to Sam Reynolds followed by a 28-yard completion to Dunmore.  Keegan Vaughan knocked through the 41-yard field goal attempt to give Towson a 10-7 lead with 11:09 left in the third.  The Towson defense forced a three-and-out, spearheaded by a Nchabanu Fortaboh sack of Watkins, and a punt by Villanova went just 14 yards to give Towson a start in Villanova territory.
• Towson went three-and-out and punted back to Villanova.  The Wildcats pushed towards midfield, with Shafeek Smith making a tackle on Sanchez two yards short of a first down on the Villanova 48.
• Starting from the Towson 13, Matthews burst ahead for 70 yards, the longest rush of the year, to get into the red zone.  But, Towson's field goal attempt was blocked, giving the ball back to Villanova on the 20-yard line.
• On second down, Isaiah Ragland burst through the middle and down the sideline for 65 yards to get to the Towson 11.  Two plays later, a six-yard completion to Sanchez in the back of the end zone put Villanova ahead 14-10 with 1:16 left in the third.
• A holding penalty and a Brown QB scramble for 13 yards placed Towson on its 43 going into the fourth quarter.  The first play of the fourth, a flea flicker back to Brown to Runyon for 35 yards got Towson to the Villanova 22.  Towson faced fourth down, where a short pass to Lukkas Londono got the Tigers to the two.  Towson pounded with the run but could not get a touchdown, and a false start pushed the Tigers back to the six.  Vaughan knocked the 23-yard field goal through as Towson pulled to within one at 14-13 with 11:23 left in regulation.
• Villanova went back to the run as Ragland took four straight rushes for a total of 26 yards.  As Villanova started to pass, Towson's blitzes forced two incompletions as the home team punted.
• A couple of Matthews rushes and a Villanova pass interference penalty brought Towson into Villanova territory.  A couple of passes were incompletions, forcing a punt.  Bryce LaFollette punted 30 yards to the Villanova 20.
• The Wildcats looked to run clock, getting a first down on a couple of runs.  Towson's defense held from there and forced a punt.  Towson had the ball on its own 41 with first and 10 and 2:36 to play.
• Brown's passes pushed Towson into Villanova territory, including two conversions to Runyon, the second getting the Tigers to the Villanova 33.  Towson got to the 31 and attempted a field goal.  The try hit the right upright and fell into the end zone for a missed attempt.
• Towson got a second chance as Will Middleton forced a fumble on Ragland, recovered by Myles Brodie on the Villanova 44.  Brown fired to Da'Kendall James for 25 yards to place Towson on the Villanova 20 for the final field goal attempt, but the attempt missed wide as Villanova escaped with the win.

Inside the Numbers

• The Tiger defense held Villanova to just 14 points, the lowest amount scored by the Wildcats in a regular season game since Sept. 30, 2023.
• Towson had nine different players make at least one catch.

Next Game

• Next Saturday, Sept. 21, Towson challenges No. 2 North Dakota State in the Fargodome at 2 p.m. ET (1 p.m. CT).