Boxscore / Photos Courtesy of Mark Campbell

NEWARK, Del. -- Running back Aaron Ball and quarterback Chris Whitney combined for 207 of Villanova’s 317 total yards rushing and scored all three touchdowns as the No. 6 Wildcats ran past host University of Delaware for a 21-7 Colonial Athletic Association football victory at chilly Delaware Stadium Saturday afternoon.

The Blue Hens, who lost their second straight game, got another spirited defensive effort but could manage just nine first downs and 175 yards of total offense on the day and finished the season with a mark of 4-8 (2-6 CAA). The eight losses are the most in 117 seasons of Blue Hen football.

Delaware had been one of just three long-standing NCAA Division I programs who had never suffered an eight-loss season, joining Ohio State and Tennessee. Michigan (3-9) also entered the season having never lost eight games while Tennessee takes a 4-7 record into next week’s season finale vs. Kentucky.

Villanova (9-2, 7-1 CAA) posted its fourth straight victory and set itself up for a likely first round home berth in the 16-team NCAA FCS Tournament which begins next week. The pairings will be announced Sunday evening. The Wildcats, who defeated Delaware for the third straight year and took a 21-20-1 advantage in the storied rivalry, will make their first NCAA Tournament since 2002.

Delaware’s much-maligned defense, besieged by injuries all season long, put in another solid effort as the Hens sacked Whitney five times, had 10 other tackles for loss, and stopped the Wildcats on three fourth down plays. But Villanova used a crucial 51-yard touchdown jaunt by Ball with 3:39 left in the second quarter to take a 14-0 lead into halftime and held on for the win.

The Blue Hens got their only points with 7:51 left to play when backup quarterback Robby Schoenhoft hit wide receiver Martwain Johnston (top right) on a 34-yard strike across the middle. The points extended Delaware’s streaks to 160 straight games scoring a point since 1996 and 168 straight home games scoring a point since 1983.

“This is a rivalry game and the hitting was intense,” said Delaware head K.C. Keeler, who coached his 200th career game in his 14th season, including seven at Delaware. “Our kids played to the end but Villanova is a very good football team. I’m disappointed that we could not send our seniors out with a win. It’s been a long year, but we’ll starting getting things worked out and we’ll be back. Our defense played lights out again and played well enough to help us week, but we need to fix this offense. We just didn’t execute today. We had guys open but we didn’t take advantage of it.”

Delaware, which had program low totals of three first downs and 53 total yards in last week’s 31-14 loss to No. 7 Richmond, finished the year averaging just 275.8 yards and 17.5 points per game. Those totals are the lowest for UD teams since the 1960 squad averaged 10.2 points per game and the 1961 team averaged 271.1 total yards per game.

“We had an amazing rushing performance today,” said Villanova head coach Andy Talley, whose team surpassed 200 yards rushing for the seventh time in the last eight games. “It was a tough day to play. It was so cold (31 degrees with wind chills in the low 20s) and both teams struggled with it. Delaware has a very good defense but I thought our defense dominated the game. Aaron Ball was terrific and his long scoring run was the turning point in the game.”

After a scoreless first quarter, Villanova finally got on the board with 6:54 left in the second quarter as the Wildcats drove 65 yards on 10 plays and used up over five minutes, going up 7-0 when Whitney bulled his way into the end zone from one-yard out on the quarterback sneak.

Delaware drove down to the Villanova 40-yard line on its next drive, but the Villanova defense came up big, stopping the Hens on third and one and fourth and one plays. Villanova took over and following a nine-yard run by Whitney, Ball got loose around the left side and ran past the UD defense for a 51-yard scoring run and a 14-0 lead with 3:39 left in the half.

The Blue Hens wasted a chance to score early in the third quarter after defensive tackle Demetrius Hester recovered a fumble by Whitney at the Villanova 44-yard line. But on Delaware’s next play, Villanova defensive back Ross Ventrone picked off Schoenhoft for his second interception of the day and the Wildcats followed with a 62-yard drive that resulted in a one-yard scoring dive by Ball with 4:08 left in the third quarter and a 21-0 lead.

Delaware finally got on the board midway through the fourth quarter to keep things close. Schoenhoft, who started the first seven games of the season at quarterback before giving way to Lou Ritacco, hit Johnston on a 40-yard pass play down to the Wildcat 40-yard line with Johnston hauling in a tipped ball as he was falling down.

After an 11-yard pass play from Schoenhoft to Mark Schenauer and a five-yard penalty against Delaware put the ball on the 34-yard line, Schoenhoft hit a streaking Johnston alone in the end zone for the score with 7:51 left.

Ball posted his fourth 100-yard rushing effort of the season as he carried 20 times for 105 yards, Whitney carried 23 times for 102 yards, and running back Matthew Szczur picked up 96 yards on 13 carries.

Strong safety Charles Graves (#30 at bottom right) and linebacker Andrew Harrison led the Delaware defense with 14 tackles each while linebacker Brian Brown had 11 stops in his final game at Delaware.