Villanova takes early big lead to spoil homecoming game for Minutemen
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AMHERST - All the pieces were in place for a happy homecoming Saturday for the University of Massachusetts football team. Coming off its best performance of the season last week at Richmond, the Minutemen had perfect weather and a crowd of 10,012 for their final homecoming game at McGuirk Stadium in the foreseeable future.
Villanova had lost five straight games and was winless in the Colonial Athletic Association, making the Wildcats seemingly the ideal opponent.
But it was the visitors who celebrated as UMass turned the ball over six times and lost 35-17.
Villanova (2-8, 1-6 CAA) scored more points in the second quarter (28) than it had in all but one entire game this season as the Minutemen dug a big hole early and never recovered.
"It was a very disappointing loss," UMass coach Kevin Morris said. "Turnovers were the key again. The name of the game is ball control and not turning the ball over. We did that tonight and weren't able to overcome it. Six turnovers makes it hard to win any CAA ball game and puts a lot of pressure on your defense and special teams."
The Minutemen (5-4, 3-3 against CAA teams) led 3-0 at the end of the first quarter on a 24-yard field goal by Brandon Yelovich.
But Alan Williams fumbled on his own 13-yard line on the first UMass drive of the second quarter to give the Wildcats a short field. Four plays later Villanova quarterback Chris Polony hit Austin Medley from 3 yards out to put the Wildcats ahead 7-3 with 11 minutes, 3 seconds left in the second quarter.
Redshirt freshman quarterback Brandon Hill, who was starting for the injured Kellen Pagel, had not thrown an interception in his brief Minuteman career heading into the game. But Villanova senior cornerback Jimmy Pitts ended that streak on the next play from scrimmage, snaring Hill's pass at the UMass 48.
The Wildcats pounced again as Polony connected with Jamal Abdur-Rahman on a 30-yard touchdown that increased their lead to 14-3 less than two minutes after the last score.
Another pick by Pitts pick set up the third Villanova touchdown, this one on a 2-yard run by Medley to make the score 21-3 with 4:37 left in the half.
Matt Campbell's first career carry was a 1-yard touchdown run to cut the Minutemen's deficit to 21-10 with 1:25 left in the half, But the Wildcats answered as Polony directed a 52-yard scoring drive in 71 seconds to put the visitors ahead 28-10 at intermission.
UMass showed signs of life to open the second half. After Hill found Julian Talley for a 12-yard touchdown, the Minutemen stuffed Villanova on fourth-and-1 at the UMass 12-yard-line. The stop briefly ignited the crowd, but Hill was sacked and fumbled the ball on the ensuing drive at his own 37.
A 7-yard touchdown run by Lawrence Doss provided the knockout block for the Wildcats with 21 seconds left in the third quarter as many in the crowd headed for the exits.
"It was frustrating because we know we're a lot better than we showed tonight," said Minuteman senior linebacker Tyler Holmes who recorded 10.5 tackles. "I'm just disappointed we didn't come out and give our best effort tonight."
After a strong game in last week's 28-7 win at Richmond, Morris said he was surprised at his team's step back. "We think we're a good football team, a young team that's getting better, but when you put the ball on the ground, it's not coming back," he said.
UMass is at Maine at 12:30 p.m. Saturday.
Senior Jonathan Hernandez just missed his 10th career 100-yard rushing game for the Minutemen with 20 carries for 99 yards. Hill completed 27 of 45 throws for 300 yards and the one TD, but he was intercepted three times, all by Pitts. Talley caught 11 passes for 155 yards.
"Our little kitty-cats turned into Wildcats tonight," Villanova coach Andy Talley said. "You can't win a game when you turn the ball over and we stepped up and created some of those turnovers. That helped us quite a bit and we helped ourselves by turning those turnovers into points."
Matt Vautour can be reached at mvautour@gazettenet.com. Follow UMass coverage on Twitter at twitter.com/GazetteUMass. Get UMass coverage delivered in your Facebook news feed at http://www.facebook.com/GazetteUMassCoverage.
