Posted: Friday, December 18, 2009, 11:17 PM | 7 comments |
 

Villanova wins national championship
options
 

Villanova has won the I-AA (FCS if you must) football national championship, beating Montana 23-21 at Finley Stadium in Chattanooga, Tenn.

The Wildcats took a 3-0 lead with a 23-yard Nick Yako field goal midway through the first quarter. But the Grizzlies rallied with two straight touchdowns, sandwiched around a costly interception thrown by 'Nova quarterback Chris Whitney. He had led the Wildcats to the Montana 11-yard line, but threw a pass right to the Grizzlies' Shawn Lebsock in the end zone.

From there, though, Matt Szczur took over. He scored both of his two rushing touchdowns after halftime, finishing the game with 14 carries for 159 yards and two catches for 68 yards.

Szczur's first score was from five yards out with 3:34 left in the third quarter and made the score 14-9. Nick Yako missed the extra point, though. 

Early in the fourth quarter, Whitney made up for the earlier pick by throwing a three-yard touchdown pass to Chris Farmer. It was Farmer's first touchdown of his college career, and the converted extra point made the score 16-14.

Szczur's second score was a three-yard run with 11:04 left in the fourth quarter. Montana cut the margin to 23-21 on a spectacular 53-yard touchdown pass from Andrew Selle to Jabin Sambrano.

But Brody McKnight's onside kick bounced out of bounds, and Villanova was able to run out the clock.

"Jay Wright's got to go win one now in basketball," Wildcats coach Andy Talley told ESPN during the trophy presentation. "I'm calling my man out." 

Schuylkilll 16 voter Brian Ewart is in Chattanooga and has been Tweeting from the game all night. Check out his updates in addition to David Swanson's photos above.
Posted by Jonathan Tannenwald @ 11:17 PM  Permalink | File Under: Football | | Villanova | 7 comments
7
Comments   
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 11:26 PM, 12/18/2009
    Congrats on a perfect end to a great season.
    — SoCal
  • Comment removed.
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 2:48 PM, 12/19/2009
    For what it's worth, it was the lead story on our home page and the Sports page after the game through overnight.
    — Jonathan Tannenwald
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 3:14 PM, 12/19/2009
    Hate Nova basketball, but have to hand ot to their football team. Talley has built an excellent program, and they looked fantastic lat night.
    — Prosecutor07
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 4:36 PM, 12/19/2009
    If you think about it Villanova is the unique position of possibly winning the top two prestigious Division I NCAA titles. Sure Florida won both the NCAA basketball tournament and BCS championship in 2007, but the BCS championship technically isn't part of the NCAA. And since no FCS team is good at both football and basketball (Butler's kinda an exception), really no team could ever win both the FCS championship and March Madness, except Villanova. Not saying they're necessarily going to do it come March. But they are in a unique position of being good at both levels.
    — sportzak
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 7:31 AM, 12/20/2009
    jt, andy was calling out jay, on national tv, ouch!. heck of a game glad i watched it. (side bar) wasn't eric von zipper from franky and annette beach movies? someone confirm.
    — 4u2digest
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 3:48 PM, 12/20/2009
    Football Chmpionship, Basketball Championship, NIT Championship, Outdoor Track and Field NCAA Championship, Indoor Track and Field Championship, Cross Country NCAA Championsip. sportzak above is right on. NOVA is a one of a kind U and a "Banner raising" university. Congrats on #18. This one was special. By the way FRONT page on Inquirer, Front sports page 3 days Courier Post (NJ) and Gloucester County Times and excellent article in Daily Times on NOVA sports in 2009. Hey prosecutor 07 that's actually pretty cool a NOVA football only fan. I suspect a lot more will be on board now. Excellent coach and team.Classy program.
    — GPraz1


7 comments
About Jonathan Tannenwald
I fell in love with the Big 5 at first sight upon moving to Philadelphia in 2002. At various points in my journalistic career, I've covered all six of the region's Division I teams. During that time, I've eaten many soft pretzels from the Palestra's concession stands, which is how this blog got its name.

I write primarily about the University of Pennsylvania and the Ivy League, but I also cover the other basketball and football teams across the city from time to time. In the spring, you'll find coverage of the Penn Relays here.

In addition to all of that, I write Philly.com's soccer blog, The Goalkeeper.

You can contact me by email by clicking here.

Join on Facebook    Follow on Twitter

Advertise Here
Latest College Videos
COLLEGE SPORTS NEWS FROM PHILLY.COM
'Nova's Wayns is city's best player
Drexel escapes scare in 63-61 win
 
Owls will be tested by Bonnies
Picking the NCAA's field of 68
Owls Inq: Fab February for Owls
Picking the best of the rest in City Six hoops