VILLANOVA, Pa. – The University of Maine football team put itself in position to win Saturday night’s Colonial Athletic Association opener against Villanova.

Instead, the Black Bears suffered another agonizing ending reminiscent of the 2006 season.

Sophomore Devin McNeill missed the potential game-winning field goal with 17 seconds left in regulation, then UMaine failed to score in overtime as Villanova escaped with a 24-17 victory in front of 11,117 fans at Villanova Stadium.

Coach Jack Cosgrove’s Bears (1-2) must now try to regroup for Saturday’s 2:30 p.m. home game against No. 2-ranked Massachusetts.

“We had a chance to come back and win the game,” Cosgrove said. “I thought we basically had an extra point to win the football game with 20 seconds left and didn’t get it done.”

Spearheaded by the determined running of junior Jhamal Fluellen (24 carries, career-high 170 yards) and the efforts of redshirt freshman quarterback Adam Farkes, UMaine was on the verge of victory after taking over at the Villanova 41-yard line with 1:58 to go in the fourth quarter.

Farkes, who replaced starter Mike Brusko late in the first half, moved the Bears into position. His 7-yard run to the VU 11 elicited a Wildcat timeout with 20 seconds to play.

McNeill, a walk-on from Portland, kissed a 28-yard field-goal attempt off the outside of the right upright.

“That was the worst feeling I’ve had in a long time,” said UMaine senior co-captain John Wormuth. “That hurt.”

McNeill also missed right on a 35-yard try in the second quarter that would have given UMaine a three-point edge.

In overtime, the Bears won the coin toss and elected to go on defense. Each team receives an opportunity with the ball at the opponent’s 25-yard line and plays until it scores or is stopped on downs.

The hosts ran the ball five straight times, capped by a 3-yard scoring dive by Matt Dicken (25 carries, 112 yards) to register the winning points.

On its possession, UMaine quickly found itself facing fourth-and-8 from the 23. Farkes eluded a rusher, scrambled to his right and fired a pass to wideout Kenny Fersner on the righthand edge of the end zone.

Fersner made a nifty grab, but was ruled out of bounds.

“They had a good defense for the play and initially it wasn’t there, but I just tried to run around, make some time, see if something opened up, try to make a play,” Farkes said.

UMaine coaches later said the game video shows the catch was made inbounds. However, in the Football Championship Subdivision there is no opportunity for review.

“We had it,” said Wormuth, who made nine tackles. “We’ve just got to finish. We were so close again.”

The game likely signaled the emergence of Farkes as UMaine’s starting quarterback. After Brusko completed only four of 10 passes for 18 yards, Farkes got the call on the last series of the second quarter.

“Our quarterback was not making throws,” Cosgrove said. “I saw enough where I felt like it was time to bring Adam in, give him a shot to move our football team.

Farkes, who completed seven of 16 passes for 47 yards, showed promise.

“I thought he moved the team pretty well in the second half,” said Cosgrove, who still wasn’t ready to anoint Farkes as the starter against UMass.

“I think he did a lot of good things,” he said. “I’m not going to say anything here because I don’t want to over- or under-react.”

Dicken found ample running room inside all evening against a UMaine defense geared to contain QB Antwon Young (16-22, 178 yds., 2 TDs).

After Joe Marcoux’s 28-yard field goal gave Villanova a 10-7 lead early in the second half, Boston native Farkes directed two UMaine scoring drives.

Fluellen netted 39 yards on six carries during a march that covered 12 plays and 64 yards, culminating in McNeill’s 26-yard field goal with 12:07 left.

UMaine regained the lead five minutes later on an option play to the left side. Fluellen alertly cut back across the field and outran the defense on a 50-yard scoring jaunt.

McNeill’s PAT made it 17-10.

But Villanova equalized two plays later when Dicken took a screen pass to the left and chugged 67 yards down the sideline for a score. Marcoux’s kick tied it at 17-17.

Tackle Jonathan Pirruccello of Turner and linebacker Andrew Downey each posted nine tackles and a sack for UMaine. Jovan Belcher had three sacks.

Lionel Nixon Jr.’s 20-yard interception return to the VU 1 had set up Fluellen’s scoring run as UMaine took a 7-0 lead at 4:31 of the first quarter.

Villanova countered in the second when Young hit Anton Ridley for a 23-yard TD pass.

UMaine couldn’t cash in on a Young fumble later in the half as McNeill missed a 35-yarder.

WILDCATS 24, BLACK BEARS 17 (OT)

Maine (1-2) 7 0 0 10 0 – 17

Villanova (2-1) 0 7 3 7 7 – 24

M – Fluellen 1 run (McNeill kick)

V – Ridley 23 pass from Young (Marcoux kick)

V – Marcoux 28 field goal

M – McNeill 26 field goal

M – Fluellen 50 run (McNeill kick)

V – Dicken 67 pass from Young (Marcoux kick)

V – Dicken 3 run (Marcoux kick)

Maine Villanova

First downs 12 19

Rushing att.-yards 35-186 49-142

Passing comp.-att. 11-26 16-22

Passing yards 66 178

Total yards 252 320

Punts-avg. 7-43.7 6-38.8

Fumbles-lost 0-0 2-1

Intercepted by 1 0

Penalties-yards 3-25 5-28

Rushing

Maine: Fluellen 24-170, Farkes 6-25, Henderson 2-(minus-4), Brusko 3-(minus-5); Villanova: Dicken 25-112, Young 18-40, Ragone 1-2, Team 1-(minus-2), Atkinson 4-(minus-10)

Passing

Maine: Farkes 7-16-0-47, Brusko 4-10-0-19; Villanova: Young 16-22-1-178

Receiving

Maine: Pierre 4-32, Walcott 2-11, Cotrone 2-6, Fersner 1-9, Fluellen 1-8, Mulligan 1-0; Villanova: Dicken 3-72, Ridley 3-41, Sherry 3-30, Harvey 3-29, Atkinson 2-2, Szczur 1-3, Ragone 1-1

A-11,117