Isaiah Ragland Sets a Career High With 152 Rushing Yards
VILLANOVA, PA. 11/29/2025 –
It is not about winning streaks, home consecutive victories, or a teaching point any longer. This is the FCS Championships where the objective is to win each week for as many as possible. The 12th Seeded Villanova Wildcats started quickly to win 52 – 7 over the Harvard Crimson at Villanova Stadium. It was the largest margin of victory for the Wildcats in their postseason history.
“Our guys did a great job of controlling the game,” said Villanova Coach Mark Ferrante. “We only talk about three things. How many points we can score. How few we can have them score. And we won the turnover battle. That is key.”
Isaiah Ragland set the tone with a 45-yard touchdown run, his longest scoring rush of the season just 3:15 into the game. In the first half Ragland would break his rushing season-high yards with 125. And it started Villanova with the first of five consecutive scoring possessions en route to a 31- 0 halftime lead.
“We don’t like to be in a meeting where we get a lot of disrespect,” said Ragland. “And we took that to heart as we should. Going into this week our mentality was just to dominate the whole game for four quarters. And so we did it.”
Ragland set his new rushing records for the most in a single game.
The First Half For Villanova
The Wildcats had four touchdowns in the initial thirty minutes scored by four different players, and a field goal by kicker Jack Barnum.
Nova followed up with a 30-yard touchdown pass on a fourth and ten from quarterback Pat McQuaide to tight end Lucas Kopecky. After the Barnum field goal McQuaide got a rushing touchdown from 10 yards out. Then Ja’briel Mace got over the goal line just before losing the ball for the halftime lead.
Harvard did not help themselves by not catching the ball. The Crimson had a chance to tie the score at 7 with a double reverse pass from quarterback Jaden Craig towards tight end Ryan Osbourne who was open in the end zone. He bobbled the ball allowing Villanova defensive back Newton Essiem to swoop in and intercept the pass. Harvard had other opportunities. There were two passes that could have sustained a drive, but not bringing the ball in forced punts. Just before the Kopecky touchdown the defense dropped a sure interception. The little things added up to bigger things.
“They executed, we did not, and that’s why the score was what it was,” said Harvard Coach Andrew Aurich.
The Crimson did score on their first possession of the second half cashing in on a 10-play, 68-yard drive taking 4:30 capped by a 20-yard pass from Craig to running back Jordan Harris. The Wildcats answered right away with McQuade finding Luke Colella with a 29-yard scoring strike.
Villanova Defense
Harvard was limited to 106 yards passing, a season-low, along with scoring the fewest points this year. The Crimson turned the ball over three times, 2 interceptions and a fumble.
“Defensively, we wanted to make them one dimensional,” said Villanova linebacker Richie Kimmel. “We wanted to stop the run. We pressured a lot to get the quarterback into uncomfortable situations. I feel like we succeeded in doing that. Just stopping the run and making them one dimensional really helped our success today and moving forward.”
Other Numbers
One – the first career-touchdown for Villanova running back Julian Glantz and a fumble recovery by Nino Betances forced by Christian Caballero. Players that have not experienced a lot of on the field time, but today, each had their moment. And their teammates celebrated with them.
Kopecky and Glantz played lacrosse for Villanova. Two lacrosse men scored a touchdown.
Up Next
Villanova gets another chance to go 1 – 0 next week meeting Lehigh in Bethlehem. A championship tournament game between future Patriot League opponents.
Written By: Glenn Papazian
Contact: Glenn@phillycollegesports.
Be the first to comment