RADNOR — His helmet taken from him and his football pants swapped for sweats at halftime, Jalen Goodman tried not to think too far ahead last Saturday.
A targeting penalty on the second series isn’t how the sixth-year Villanova defensive back envisioned spending his 53rd career college football game. Especially since there were no guarantees of a 54th.
All those seasons of football have taught the Lower Merion graduate to expect that unexpected, even when it entails a sense of powerlessness in spectator status on the sidelines.
“I try not to think about it,” Goodman, a 23-year-old grad student, said Tuesday. “But it’s football. Anything can happen. So I just try not to think about, try to support my guys and just hope and have that trust that they’re going to be able to get it done.”
Goodman got his reprieve, Villanova going up 21 points, letting that lead vanish, then holding rival Delaware to seven points in the second half of a 38-28 win that sealed Villanova’s spot in the FCS playoffs. It means Goodman will get one more game at Villanova Stadium, Saturday against Eastern Kentucky, and at least one more as a college athlete.
The Delaware game was an exercise in resilience for the Villanova defense, ebbs and flows in scoring notwithstanding. Goodman’s targeting call 11 minutes in just was the beginning. The flag was bad luck for Goodman, who led with his shoulder into Delaware receiver Ja’Carree Kelly on an incompletion in front of the Blue Hens bench. Kelly ducked his helmet into contact, which is where Goodman connected. The penalty was offset by a Delaware infraction, but Goodman was disqualified for the rest of the game.
Villanova would have to navigate the rest of its rivalry game without a starting safety. Goodman would have to withstand the ordeal of watching without having an impact.
“It’s definitely devastating,” Goodman said. “That’s one of the moments where you want to go out on top: Six years, Delaware game, last one ever. So it’s definitely devastating. But we were doing pretty good, so I just wanted to try to keep my teammates up and try to be the best teammate I can.”
Goodman got company on the sidelines. Linebackers Shane Hartzell and Richie Kimmel and fellow safeties Isas Waxter and Ethan Potter all exited at some point for visits to the injury tent. All but Waxter would return. Potter recovered a fourth-quarter fumble forced by Hartzell.
For a defense that features four seniors, seven fifth-years and two sixth-years on its two-deep chart, the attrition was testing. Goodman did his best to prop up the unit in intangible ways, and many of the vets reciprocated in helping Goodman get through the day.
“The targeting was tough,” fifth-year linebacker Brendan Bell said. “I’ve been with him for four years, so every single one of the defense was like, I’m playing these four quarters for you. We necessarily didn’t really agree with the call, but it is what it is. So we were going to play our hearts out for him.”
Goodman paid it back as well as he could. When Bell returned an interception 38 yards to the end zone two plays after the targeting, Goodman was one of the first players from the bench to join the celebratory swarm. Ditto for Ty Trinh’s fourth-quarter interception.
“Those are the best moments because I know they would do the same for me,” Goodman said. “So seeing them make those big plays, those key plays that we need, it was one of the happiest moments of the day, especially from Ty and Bell, with it being their last games.”
The Wildcats will lean on that connectivity Saturday. The 11th seed in the FCS playoffs, Villanova (9-3) hosts Eastern Kentucky (8-4) of the United Athletic Conference. The first meeting with the Colonels is the third time in four years the Wildcats have been in the postseason. They won at home in the first round last year against Youngstown State.
The week of preparation has been a balance for many of the veterans. It could be the last week of their careers, but they’ve emphasized keeping the mindset the same as any other week.
For Goodman, that has meant turning the page on disappointment. His football career on the Main Line goes back almost a decade, a Narberth native and standout for a Lower Merion program that has produced few. After leading the Aces to one of their best seasons in 2018, he’s continued to stack up excellence at Villanova – through a season-limiting injury in 2019, through the pandemic’s move of the 2020 season to the spring (hence an extra year’s eligibility to six years to play four seasons), through more than 50 games, 243 tackles (6.5 for loss), two interceptions and a touchdown.
This week, Goodman has focused on making Saturday feel the same as the 53 games that preceded it.
“Every day, it’s a new day,” he said. “Every morning, it’s not an easy wakeup in the morning, but once I get here and once I get into the facility and once I’m out here on the field, it’s just another day at the office. I love coming out here playing football with my teammates and just being around them, whether we have a lift or anything, I just love being around my teammates. Being able to come out here on the field and play football and be with them, there’s nothing more I could ask for.”
