On Saturday, Sept. 14, Pat Ruley stepped on the field for gameday at Coach Richard Wackar Stadium for the first time in 4,331 days. Only this time, it wasn’t as a standout linebacker for the Profs, it was as head coach.

“It was phenomenal,” Ruley said. “I could tell early the energy was super high, and we fed off of that.”

Ruley and company gave the packed crowd in Glassboro plenty to cheer about, as the Profs took down the McDaniel Green Terror by a final score of 30-20.

Contrary to the season-opener against Stevenson, the run game was the engine of Rowan’s offense. After rushing for just 15 yards on 11 carries in Week 1, sophomore Nunes Bukula IV exploded for 162 yards on 17 carries against McDaniel, adding two touchdowns.

“It was the O-Line and the way we game-planned all week,” Bukula IV said. “We came to practice ready to work. The first run I had, there was a cut I could’ve hit. As soon as that happened, I told the O-Line ‘The blocking is there, I feel like we’re just gonna gas them today.’ I give the O-Line all the credit.”

Bukula IV wasted no time getting going on the ground, breaking free for a 41-yard touchdown on Rowan’s first series. The Little Egg Harbor native burst through a wide-open hole and showcased his speed by hitting the edge with ease and reaching the end zone untouched.

“It gave me all the confidence. Once I scored that, I knew I was gonna score another one,” Bukula IV said. “I really wanted to get three after the second one, but that’s not the way the game went. But after that run, I just felt like we were gonna win the game and have a lot of rushing yards.”

Freshman Matt Welsey started at quarterback against McDaniel after shining in relief against Stevenson in the form of 297 total yards and four total touchdowns. He didn’t find that same success on Saturday though, passing for just 21 yards and overthrowing multiple receivers for would-be touchdowns throughout the first quarter. As a result, Ruley made the switch to Nate Maiers to begin the second, and the sophomore was on the field for the entirety of the second and third quarters before the two quarterbacks rotated playing time in the final frame.

“Competition,” Ruley said. “That’s what it was last week, too… A week ago, the offense didn’t finish a couple of drives early in the game, maybe it was his [Maiers] fault, maybe it wasn’t. Welsey came in, played well, and we rode the hot hand. Today it was the opposite… It really is a blessing when a lot of people are trying to figure out who that one quarterback is for them, and we feel really good that we have two guys that on any given day can win football games for us. They both have a little something different, but they can both execute the whole offense.”

Defensively, the Profs put on a show in the first half. McDaniel was only able to muster up seven points before the break and turned the ball over three times.

“We have the offense’s back, and we know they have our back,” said senior Nick Cerulli, who led the Profs in tackles with eight. “If we get off the field with a turnover, we know damn well they’re gonna go down the field and score for us. It’s really just a confidence thing.”

Rowan’s run defense also stood out throughout the entirety of the contest. After holding Stevenson to 39 rushing yards last week, McDaniel ran for a grand total of just five yards on Saturday.

“We just take pride in that,” Cerulli said. “Every practice, we come out with a vengeance to stop the run, and I think it’s important in any solid defense to attack the run and limit that because it puts offenses in a bad situation when you really limit their playbook.”

The script completely flipped for the Green Terror’s offense in the second half. After Rowan scored on its first possession of the half to go up 27-7, McDaniel responded by outscoring the Profs 13-3 the rest of the way to make things interesting.

“It’s a mentality thing,” Cerulli said. “We’re getting all this praise and all these turnovers in the first half, and come out flat in the second half. We need to be locked in at all times, it’s four quarters so we really have to be locked in. When we get out there and make plays, good things happen. When we take our foot off the gas, that happens.”

Of course, when two-star members of the secondary Eric Bryant and Jason Blanks are ruled late scratches, it’s hard to fully replicate their high level of play over the course of a 60-minute game.

“We trust the other guys going in there and playing, but when you have two guys who in my opinion are probably both All-League caliber players when they’re out it’s gonna hurt you,” Ruley said. “Guys filled in different roles and made some plays, but there were probably some plays out there today, had those guys [Bryant, Blanks] been in that you’re expecting them to make. But I said to the team before the game, the standard is the standard. If you’re on the field playing for us, you’re gonna play fast, physical, and confident and you’ve gotta be a playmaker. We trust you to be out there and make a play if you’re in the game, and you’ve gotta go out there and prove us right.”

Nonetheless, the Profs came away with the victory and have started the season 2-0 for the second time in three seasons. A tough task awaits the team next, as they will travel to Ursinus College to face the 2-0 Grizzly Bears on Saturday, Sept. 21 at 7:00 p.m.

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