The Rowan University football team returned to Richard Wackar Stadium looking to prove their hot start was no fluke, and responded with a statement win in their first game of New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) play, defeating The College of New Jersey (TCNJ) Lions this past Saturday, Oct. 12 by a final score of 36-22.

After a heartbreaker against nationally ranked Johns Hopkins last week, Rowan came in and snapped their two-game losing streak, putting together a dominant performance on both sides of the ball as they had done during the first two weeks of the season. 

Defensively, the Profs’ defense forced five turnovers, four of which were interceptions, making TCNJ QB Trevor Bopp’s day one to forget. Head Coach, Pat Ruley had high praise, especially for the defensive unit. 

“Playing super violent football,” said Ruley about how he challenges his team every week. “I challenge these guys every single week up front, on the offensive, defensive line, that we set the tempo of the game.”

While the scoreboard tells a different story, it took the Profs some time to get things going offensively. Multiple miscues gave TCNJ opportunities to shift the momentum, but the defense wasn’t willing to let that happen.

Senior Captain and Defensive Back, Jason Blanks, had a fumble recovery and interception at the goal line in the first quarter that kept the game close before the offense got going. As a result of his performance on Saturday, Blanks was named the NJAC Defensive Player of the Week.

“He’s such an intricate part of what we do both schematically and emotionally,” Ruley said. “It was 7-0, bad snap on a punt, they’re about to make it 14-0 and that really could’ve swung the whole momentum of the game, and they have first down from the two-yard line and they elect to throw the ball and Jason comes up with it to swing the momentum back.”

“It’s just opportunity, opportunity for one of us on the defense to make a play and be a playmaker,” Blanks said. “That’s what we’ve been coached up to do and that’s what we’ve been doing all season.”

Rowan’s offense finally found its groove behind strong performances from sophomore running back Nunes Bukula IV and quarterback Nate Maiers. Maiers threw for a career-high 274 passing yards, breaking the career-high 241 he set last week against John Hopkins, and Bukula IV had 170 scrimmage yards and led the Profs in both receiving and rushing yards. 

Bukula IV attributed a lot of the success he had to the coaching staff for keeping him in after an early fumble.

“My first drive of the game, I fumbled. Usually, when people fumble they want to take people out, but they trust me. Obviously the O-Line, blocking all day, and it was just a good week of preparation and practice,” Bukula IV said.

A win in convincing fashion was much needed for a Profs team looking to make some serious noise in the upcoming weeks when conference play heats up. The team knows that they could make a serious run in the NJAC too.

“It’s a good win, but it’s just the first game of conference. We’ve got to focus on next week,” Bukula IV said. “I feel like we have the talent to win the NJAC.”

The Profs also exceeded their win total at home from last season, now sporting a 2-0 record at Richard Wacker Stadium this season.

“Last year we maybe won one game at home, like no that can’t happen again. This is our home crowd, this is everyone that wants to watch us play. They’re going to bring the juice, and we have to perform,” Blanks said.

The Profs hit the road once again as they head to Virginia to face the Christopher Newport University Captains on Saturday, Oct. 19.

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