Villanova Back Home To Host Maine Saturday
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- For just the second time this season, the Villanova Wildcats are preparing to play a home game.
Villanova will welcome the Maine Black Bears to the Main Line for a Colonial Athletic Association on Saturday afternoon.
The Wildcats are 3-2 (1-1 in the CAA) after a gutty 24-9 win at Towson last week. Villanova has been hit hard by injuries all season long and in that win over the Tigers they suffered a key one as starting quarterback Zach Bednarczyk went down early in the game with a knee injury.
"[He] got an MRI, he's going to meet with our doctors and see what the outcome of that is," Villanova head coach Mark Ferrante tells KYW Newsradio. "We're going to keep our fingers crossed, it might just be a couple weeks, but you never know. So we will have to see what they say after they read the MRI and we'll go from there."
Redshirt freshman Jack Schetelich took over for Bednarczyk and provided key plays in the win.
"He threw that touchdown pass on the opening drive and then he scored running the ball, an eight-yard run and an eleven-yard run, to seal the game at the end," Ferrante says.
Schetelich will be the starter going forward with Bednarczyk out.
Maine is 1-2 on the season. The Black Bears last played on September 23rd when they lost to #1 James Madison, 28-10. Ferrante says they can grind it out on offense.
"They do a good job running the football, that goes without saying," he says. "They have the leading rusher in the league in Josh Mack, who is averaging just under 170 yards a game and [7.8] yards a carry."
As mentioned earlier, this will be just the second home game of the season for the Wildcats as four of their first five were on the road and Ferrante says his team is looking forward to being in familiar surroundings.
"I know they're excited about it being a home game," he says. "Hopefully, we'll be comfortable and go out and perform at a high level since we are on a field that we're familiar with."
Last year, Villanova beat Maine up in Orono, 26-7.
Saturday's game will kick off at 1:00pm.
