Rowan's offense and defense shines in win over TCNJ
By Jay Palitto
GLASSBORO, NJ — When five different players reach the end zone and four different players collect an interception, you know you have played a great and complete football game. This is exactly what the Rowan Profs were able to accomplish as they came up with a 36-22 home victory over the TCNJ Lions last Saturday.
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Rowan, coming off a loss last Saturday against Johns Hopkins in which they outgained their opponent, was offensively able to accomplish what they were unable to last week: capitalize. Despite miscues on offense early on and an initial deficit, the Profs were able to turn the plays made by their offense and defense into points.
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The scoring began after TCNJ recovered a Michael Zarfati fumble and drove to the Profs 1-yard line where TCNJ QB, Trevor Bopp connected with RB Jayson Schmidt to give the Lions the early 7-0 lead.
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The score would remain that way until towards the end of the second quarter when Rowan QB, Nate Maiers, drove his team down to the TCNJ 16-yard line. The Profs then subbed in QB, Matt Welsey, for Maiers who, after a 2-yard rush, hit RB Tyshawn Bookman for a 14-yard touchdown to tie the game.
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Maiers, again, reached a career high in passing yards just as he did last week. The sophomore racked up 274 yards while also accumulating a passing and rushing touchdown to boot.
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Maiers was one of five Profs to find the end zone as Bookman and fellow RB Nunes Bukula IV, WR Isaac Jean-Baptiste, and fellow QB Joseph Riina were also able to break the plane that afternoon. Bukula IV was especially prolific in this one as he amassed 98 yards on the ground and 70 through the air to lead his team to their best offensive outing this season.
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With the game tied at 7-7, the Lions ensuing drive would stall, and a fake punt from TCNJ would get stuffed giving the Profs the ball at the TCNJ 35-yard line. Rowan would charge right down the field when they again subbed out Maiers, this time for Riina, who ran it into the end zone from two yards out to give the Profs their first lead.
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Their ensuing two-point conversion attempt would be successful, giving Rowan a 15-7 lead that would take them into halftime.
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The game remained close throughout the first half and looked as though that would stay the same going forward as, on the second play of the second half, Bopp hit sophomore WR, Alex Dille, for a 68-yard touchdown. This play seemed to be the jump start that the potent TCNJ offense needed, but Rowan's defense had other plans.
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The Profs would answer right back on the following drive with a touchdown of their own and from then on was when Rowan really took over this game.
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Following Dille's long touchdown, the Profs would go on to score 21 unanswered points, with touchdowns from Maiers, Jean-Baptiste, and Bukula IV, to give them an insurmountable 22-point lead.
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In that same time frame, Rowan's defense would intercept Bopp twice to go with two more in the first half giving them four on the day all from different players, a truly dominating performance against an elite offensive team.
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When asked what he thought was the reason for the Profs second-half breakout, Head Coach Pat Ruley simply said, "Holding onto the ball...we just had to finish drives."
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This was more than true as Rowan fumbled twice early on in the game and it looked as though this game would be all too reminiscent of their loss last weekend: good offensive and defensive performances but an inability to capitalize on them.
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Rowan was able to overcome that to put together a dominant and complete victory, a great form of motivation and momentum as they, next week, go down to Newport News, VA to play another great offense team in the Christopher Newport University Captains