VILLANOVA, Pa.—In front of a large Family Weekend crowd, No. 8 Villanova (5-0, 2-0 CAA Football) scored the first 30 points of the game in a span of 17 minutes in the first half and went on to a 33-17 win over No. 12 Maine (2-3, 0-2 CAA) at Villanova Stadium on Saturday afternoon.  Touchdowns five minutes apart in both the first and second periods gave the Wildcats early momentum in front of an announced attendance of 10,071. 
 
"I am really proud of the way our team played today," Villanova head coach Mark Ferrante said.  "We knew it was going to be a big, physical game and that early lead helped us get the victory.  It was a little bit of a tale of two halves but you can see that in the CAA, regardless of the halftime score everyone is going to come out and battle in the second half.  I was proud of how our defense stepped up and stopped them on a few fourth downs, and we were able to move the sticks at the end like we needed to."
 
Junior quarterback Daniel Smith (Leesburg, Va.) rushed for two touchdowns for the second straight game while throwing for 213 yards and another score.  It is the fifth straight game to begin the season that he has accounted for at least three touchdowns.  Junior running back Justin Covington (Bronx, N.Y.) also continued an impressive streak by rushing for 118 yards on 19 carries.  Covington has surpassed 100 yards in all five games this season while tallying the first five 100-yard games of his career. 
 
Villanova scored on the opening drive of the game when freshman running back DeeWil Barlee (Upper Darby, Pa.) ran in from three yards out to complete a nine-play, 80-yard drive with 11:07 remaining in the first quarter.  The first Black Bears drive of the game resulted in a punt for a touchback and two plays later Smith connected with junior wide receiver Changa Hodge (East Stroudsburg, Pa.) for a 77-yard touchdown which made the score 13-0.  It was the second-longest play of any kind for the Wildcats this season, behind only a 78-yard rush by Barlee in the Bucknell game. 
 
Smith finished 15-of-24 on the day, with true freshman receiver Jaaron Hayek (Wayne, N.J.) leading the receiving corps for the second straight game.  He had six receptions for 70 yards, junior tight end Todd Summers (Murrysville, Pa.) caught four passes and Hodge wound up with 82 yards and his third touchdown of the season.  Barlee ran for 54 yards on 11 carries as Villanova wound up with 200 total rushing yards and 413 yards of total offense. 
 
The win came despite Maine accumulating 433 total yards and cutting into a 30-3 halftime deficit with long drives in the second half.  Black Bears quarterback Chris Ferguson, who entered the game ranked fourth in the nation in passing yards this season, was 29-of-49 for 347 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions.  Senior wide receiver and return man Earnest Edwards also passed for a touchdown, tallied four receptions for 140 yards and a score, and returned four kickoffs for 100 yards.  Maine had 276 yards of offense in the second half. 
 
It was the drives on which the Black Bears didn't score that proved to be critical in the final outcome.  Maine had successive offensive possessions of 10 plays in the third quarter and 11 plays spanning the third and fourth periods which combined to eat up more than eight minutes of clock without producing any points.  Those drives came after the Black Bears appeared to gain some momentum by cutting their deficit to 30-10 less than two minutes after halftime. 
 
Villanova stopped Maine on fourth down with 8:31 left in the third quarter, while senior linebacker Drew Wiley (Pennington, N.J.) sacked Ferguson for a loss of 10 yards early in the fourth period.  Junior kicker Drew Kresge (Douglassville, Pa.) made his second field goal of the game, a 24-yarder, with 9:17 to play for a 33-10 lead before Wiley forced and recovered a Black Bears fumble with 7:23 left in the game.
 
Ferguson's 32-yard touchdown pass to Edwards with 3:07 to play closed the gap to 33-17, but the Wildcats recovered an on-side kick and ran out the clock to improve to 5-0 for the first time in 10 years. 
 
Junior safety Nowoola Awopetu (Staten Island, N.Y.) had a career-high 10 tackles and fifth-year senior Chucky Smith (Newbury Park, Calif.) tallied a season-high nine total stops.  The defense forced three turnovers on the day, with Wiley's fumble recovery coming after earlier interceptions by sophomore cornerback Elijah Trent (Rockville, Md.) and redshirt freshman safety Darius Pickett (Nottingham, Md.).  Also making an impact on the day was true freshman linebacker Elijah Solomon (Reisterstown, Md.) who played in his first career game and blocked a punt in the first quarter which set up a 38-yard field goal by Kresge with 1:33 left in the opening period.
 
"We won the turnover battle I believe, so that is always big," Ferrante said.  "We talk about that all the time.  I was really happy that we got the momentum we did early and I am excited that we came away with the win in another hard-fought and physical CAA game."
 
Villanova goes back on the road next Saturday to play William & Mary.  Kickoff at Zable Stadium in Williamsburg, Va. is set for 3:30 p.m.