With a break, Villanova’s Jalen Goodman wants to have fun against Eastern Kentucky

RADNOR – With his helmet removed and his football pants replaced with sweatshirts at halftime, Jalen Goodman tried not to think too far ahead last Saturday.

A targeting penalty on the second series is not how the sixth-year Villanova defensive back envisioned spending the 53rd college football game of his career. Especially since there were no guarantees of a 54th place.

All those football seasons have taught the Lower Merion graduate to expect the unexpected, even when it means a sense of helplessness as a spectator on the sidelines.

“I try not to think about it,” Goodman, a 23-year-old graduate student, said Tuesday. “But it’s football. Anything can happen. So I try not to think about it, I try to support my guys and just hope and trust that they can make it.”

Goodman got its break, Villanova went up 21 points, letting that lead fade, and then held rival Delaware to seven points in the second half of a 38-28 victory that sealed Villanova’s spot in the FCS playoffs. It means Goodman will have 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 Villanova’s defense, despite the ups and downs in scoring. Goodman’s call at 11 minutes was just the beginning. The flag was bad luck for Goodman, who shouldered toward Delaware receiver Ja’Carree Kelly on an incomplete pass in front of the Blue Hens’ bench. Kelly dipped his helmet to make contact, which is where Goodman connected. The penalty was offset by a Delaware infraction, but Goodman was disqualified for the remainder of the game.

Villanova would have to face the rest of its rivalry game without a starting safety. Goodman would have to endure the test of looking without causing any impact.

“It’s definitely devastating,” Goodman said. “That’s one of the moments when you want to reach the top: six years, game in Delaware, the last one in history. So it’s definitely devastating. But we were doing pretty well, so I just wanted to try to hold my teammates up and try to be the best teammate I could.”

Goodman got company on the sidelines. Linebackers Shane Hartzell and Richie Kimmel and fellow safeties Isas Waxter and Ethan Potter left at some point to visit the injury tent. Everyone 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 depth chart, the attrition was a test. Goodman did his best to shore up the unit intangibly, and many of the vets reciprocated by helping Goodman get through the day.

“The goal was tough,” fifth-year linebacker Brendan Bell said. “I’ve been with him for four years, so each and every member of the defense said, I’m going to play these four quarters for you. We didn’t necessarily agree with the call, but it is what it is. So we were going to play our hearts out for him.”

Goodman returned it as best he could. When Bell returned an interception 38 yards to the end zone two plays after the goal, Goodman was one of the first bench players to join the swarm of celebrations. The same goes for Ty Trinh’s interception in the fourth quarter.

“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 needed, was one of the happiest moments of the day, especially for Ty and Bell, it being their last games.”

The Wildcats will lean on that connectivity on Saturday. Villanova (9-3), the 11th seed in the FCS playoffs, hosts Eastern Kentucky (8-4) of the United Athletic Conference. The first meeting with the Colonels is the third time in four years that the Wildcats have been to 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 might be the last week of their careers, but they’ve made it a point to keep the mindset the same as any other week.

For Goodman, that has meant turning the page on disappointment. His Main Line football career dates back nearly a decade, he is a Narberth native and is notable for a Lower Merion program that has produced few. After leading the Aces to one of their best seasons in 2018, he continued to accumulate excellence at Villanova, through a season-limiting injury in 2019, through the pandemic’s move of the 2020 season to the spring (hence eligibility for one additional year to six). years to play four seasons), through more than 50 games, 243 tackles (6.5 for loss), two interceptions and one touchdown.

This week, Goodman has focused on making Saturday feel the same as the 53 games that preceded it.

“Every day is a new day,” he said. “Every morning, it’s not an easy wake-up, but once I get here and once I get into the facility and once I’m here on the field, it’s just another day at the office. I love coming here to play soccer with my teammates and just being around them, whether we have an elevator or something, I love being around my teammates. “Being able to go out on the field and play football and be with them, there’s nothing more I could ask for.”