VILLANOVA, PA. - Quarterback Brett Gordon passed for 250 yards and three touchdowns to lead Villanova to a 45-38 win over Furman in NCAA I-AA first round playoff action Saturday afternoon at Villanova Stadium.
Gordon, a senior and Villanova's all-time leading passer, threw touchdown strikes covering 7, 5, and 8 yards and engineered a furious second half comeback to lead the Wildcats to the win.
"This was a great football game, and you have to give Villanova a lot of credit for making a lot of big plays in the second half," said Furman head coach Bobby Lamb. "We knew it was going to be a 60 minute football game, and when they got on a roll we couldn't stop them. It boiled down to them making more big plays than we did."
Furman led 31-14 after tailback Hindley Brigham scored on a 4-yard run on the Paladins' first possession of the second half, but the Wildcats responded with 24 unanswered points to take a 38-31 lead on an 8-yard touchown strike from Gordon to Matt Chila with 6:19 to go.
Furman regrouped and covered 74 yards in seven plays to tie the game at 38-38 on a 16-yard touchdown run by tailback Toreico O'Neal with 4:06 left.
Villanova, however, regained the advantage less than a minute later, using a 30-yard pass from Gordon to Brian White and three rushes by Terry Butler for 41 yards, including a 5-yard touchdown run to complete a four-play, 71-yard scoring drive to make it 45 -38 with 3:08 remaining.
Furman threatened to send the game into overtime by moving 40 yards in 11 plays to the Villanova 29, but four passes by quarterback Billy Napier fell incomplete and the Wildcats took over possession with 52 seconds remaining and ran out the clock.
Napier passed for a career high 310 yards, completing 26-of-41 attempts. His favorite target was senior Bearn Rinehart, who grabbed a career high 12 passes for 124 yards. Issac West had six receptions for 110 yards.
Furman outgained Villanova 454-364 but poor kickoff coverage and two costly second half turnovers fueled the Wildcats' comeback.
With Villanova trailing 31-24 early in the fourth quarter, the Wildcats' Jamison Young gathered in a deflected Billy Napier pass at the Villanova 35 and returned it six yards to the 29. Nine plays and a key fourth down conversion pass later, Gordon connected with Brian White on a 5-yard touchdown pass to knot the game at 31-31.
Then, on Furman's ensusing possession, Napier connected with West on a 32-yard pass, but, after eluding a couple of defenders, West had the football stripped by Darnell Greene, and the fumble was recovered by Gary Johnson, who returned 16 yards to the Furman 39. From there the Wildcats covered the distance in six plays to complete the 24-point comeback and gain the 38-31 lead on Gordon's 8-yard scoring strike to Chila.
After falling behind 7-0 early, Furman reeled off 24 consecutive points of its own for a 24-7 first half lead that included a Danny Marshall 38-yard field goal, a pair of Napier touchdown runs, and a 3-yard scoring plunge by fullback Brandon Berry at the 8:25 mark of the second quarter.
Furman's impressive first half run and Berry's score, however, were tarnished by poor kickoff coverage as the Wildcats' Martin Gibson returned the ensuing kick 96 yards for a touchdown to make it a 24-14 game at intermission.
"The two turnovers really hurt, but you also have to look at their kick returns," added Lamb. "They had seven returns for 211 yards, and we had seven for 125 yards. Villanova came into the game ranked last in the Atlantic 10 in kickoff returns, and we were ranked second in the Southern Conference in kickoff coverage, so that tells me they did a great job of blocking and scheming us. That was big, because, in addition to the touchdown off one return, they got good field position off their other returns."
The loss finishes Furman's season at 8-4. Villanova, which improved to 10-3, will host Fordham next week in second round playoff action.
"We lost a tough football game today, but I couldn't be prouder of our 13 seniors," added Lamb. "They won 38 games, two Southern Conference titles, and finished as national runnerup a year ago. No senior class in the history of our program had ever made it to the playoffs four consecutive years before this one."