Monmouth tops Villanova in 40-33 shootout and remains unbeaten against Wildcats

WEST LONG BEACH, N.J. (AP) Derek Robertson threw for 358 yards and three touchdowns and running back Sone Ntoh accounted for three touchdowns as Monmouth beat Villanova 40-33 on Saturday.

Monmouth (5-6, 3-4 Colonial Athletic Association) scored touchdowns on consecutive drives with Robertson throwing a 32-yard touchdown to Josh Derry. The two-point conversion attempt failed and the Hawks led 12-7.

Villanova (8-3, 5-2) went three-and-out before Robertson threw a 19-yard touchdown to Max James for a 19-7 lead. On its following drive, Villanova got within 19-14 on David Avit's 25-yard touchdown run.

In the third quarter, Monmouth again scored consecutive touchdowns on drives when Rodney Nelson posted a 26-yard touchdown run and Ntoh ran it in from the 7 for a 33-17 lead.

The Wildcats got within 33-25 with 14:50 remaining on Connor Watkins' 6-yard touchdown run.

Monmouth tacked on another a little more than five minutes later when Ntoh ran it in from the 1 for 40-25 advantage. Watkins ended the scoring with a 17-yard touchdown pass to Devin Smith.

With 6:03 left, Monmouth ran 11 plays, drove 73-yards and forced Villanova to use all its timeouts and took a knee to end it.

Watkins threw for 235 yards and a touchdown and ran for 24 yards and two scores.

Monmouth remained unbeaten (3-0) in program history against Villanova.

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