RADNOR — The Battle of the Blue Trophy was handed out for what might be the last time in a while Saturday. The team that took it home for the 17th time in 19 meetings isn’t why the game is ending.
In a wild game befitting the rivalry between Delaware and Villanova, the Wildcats squandered a 21-point first-half lead to score 10 unanswered points in the fourth quarter for a 38-28 win, its fourth straight rivalry win to formally end Delaware’s Football Championship Subdivision era.
The win improves Villanova’s candidacy for the FCS playoffs, at 9-3 ahead of Sunday’s selection show. It denies Delaware, which is ineligible for the postseason as it transitions to Conference USA, a 10-win season to end its FCS tenure.
And it came wrapped up in the pageantry that, while quaint for the number crunchers, meant plenty to an emotional Mark Ferrante.
“It feels pretty darn good,” the Villanova coach said. “From playing them again or not playing again, it’s an easy trip, and I would love to play them as an FBS opponent, because then we’ll get a guarantee and we can make a day trip out of it. But as far as where this rivalry stands and the opportunity to go against them today and the last time to play potentially for the Battle of the Blue, it feels pretty darn nice.”
Nice, for the grand sweep of 12 decades. But also nice for withstanding pressure and outexecuting a rival. The Wildcats extended their win streak at Villanova Stadium to 15 and improved to 16-8 in November under Ferrante, who is 7-1 against Delaware. They limited the Blue Hens, who scored three touchdowns in 7:17 of the second quarter, to a solitary TD in the second half.
Linebacker Brendan Bell scored on both sides of the ball, a 38-yard interception return in the first half and a six-yard rushing touchdown with 7:39 to play. Connor Watkins ran for a score and threw for one. And a defense that had a half-dozen starters go off injured caused three turnovers, including an Ethan Potter fumble recovery to set up Bell’s rushing TD.
Bell, the fifth-year player who got his first offensive snaps two weeks ago, put his experience to good use with main back David Avit hobbled late.
“In the second half, we put a bunch of old seniors on the field,” Watkins said. “That’s something we talked about all week. (Bell) has obviously had a part in our goal-line package the last couple weeks, but coming into this week, we knew we wanted to put the horses on the field. That’s what they did.”
Watkins went 13-for-30 for 203 yards. He was intercepted once but wasn’t sacked. He led Nova with eight carries for 79 yards.
The rivalry has long been a tentpole, played every year since 1964, save for a five-year hiatus in the 1980s when Villanova briefly eliminated its program. Villanova has dominated since 2006. Delaware hasn’t won a fall affair since 2011 – its last win, in 2021, came in the COVID-adjusted spring. Villanova has won eight straight in Newark, including a 35-7 thumping last year ahead of UD’s acceptance to Conference USA.
The Battle’s future is uncertain. Delaware has its four nonconference allotments scheduled for the next three years without Nova. The rivalry has survived fallow patches – after debuting in 1895, the teams played just twice for 67 years – though this moment of change in college athletics is without precedence.
Delaware Saturday gave off vibes of a high schooler blowing off final exams after getting accepted to college. Its opening drive ended with a missed field goal. The seventh-best rushing defense in FCS was gashed for 55 yards on the ground on Villanova’s opening series, Avit scoring from one yard out. Villanova went up 14-0 on Bell’s pick six, then a short drive after a Delaware turnover on downs at midfield resulted in a 36-yard scoring connection between Watkins and Kenyon Miles.
Delaware was dead in the water until a special teams gift, the ball blown off the tee and Ethan Gettman slicing the kickoff out of bounds at the Villanova 45. Delaware capitalized on JoJo Bermudez’s 14-yard score, the first of three straight scores. Marcus Yarns converted a fourth-and-2 with a 19-yard gain to the 1, then dove in for the TD. Watkins was picked off by Tyron Herring with 50 seconds left to half, and two plays later, Yarns was wide open on a 65-yard wheel route to knot the score at 21.
But there was little panic from Villanova. The Wildcats, who rushed for minus-2 yards over five series after the opening one, got back on the ground with Watkins, who busted up the gut for a 38-yard touchdown on the first drive of the third.
Delaware answered, Jo’Nathan Silver scampering for 23 yards on third-and-7, then catching a six-yard touchdown pass from Nick Minicucci. But Villanova’s defense stacked up stops – a third-down pressure by Archbishop Carroll All-Delco Richi Kimmel, a Ty Trinh interception of a Jake Thaw halfback pass, Potter’s recovery after Minicucci couldn’t handle a snap.
Trinh’s interception set up Gettman’s 31-yard field at 8:41 to put Villanova ahead. With Avit ailing, Bell got the call to extend the lead to 10 for a team that is plus-55 in scoring margin in the fourth quarter this season.
And with a certain trophy looking for a semi-permanent home, Watkins was all too happy to carve out space for it on the Main Line.
“We understood that they’re going to FBS,” he said. “We understood that this is potentially, probably, the last Battle of the Blue. And we knew that this thing belonged where it was. And I’m sure she’s pretty happy where she is.”
