Rowan football entered Homewood Field in Baltimore, Maryland with the word “upset” on their minds, but fell in a nail-biter to the No. 22 ranked Johns Hopkins Blue Jays by a final score of 20-13.

Coming off a lopsided loss to Ursinus two weeks prior, the well-rested Profs showed a lot of grit against one of the top teams in the nation, putting together a very strong defensive performance despite the outcome, proving that there’s still a lot of promise in this young season with conference play quickly approaching.

Offensively, the Profs found ways to move down the field through the air, but penalties and drops played a key role in keeping points off the board.

“It’s just not shooting ourselves in the foot,” Head Coach, Pat Ruley said. “It’s not always penalties. We had eight or nine drops on Friday night, and a lot of people don’t know this, but people think penalties are the drive killers, but in reality, more drives end unsuccessfully because of drops rather than penalties. When you have positive plays in your hands you have to make them.”

Johns Hopkins struck first early in the first quarter when quarterback James Rinello connected with PJ Scales for a two-yard touchdown during the game’s opening drive.

Rowan broke even at the start of the second quarter when sophomore Nunes Bukula IV ran for a three-yard touchdown to tie it up at seven. Bukula IV missed the Profs’ last game with an injury, so his return was crucial after the team’s loss to Ursinus.

Johns Hopkins responded quickly, marching down the field and taking the lead thanks to a 30-yard touchdown pass from Rinello to Robby Enright, allowing the Blue Jays to take a 14-7 lead that they would never relinquish. 

In what was a defensive slugfest the rest of the way, junior kicker, Tommy LaPierre, drilled two field goals in the second half to cut Rowan’s deficit to 14-13, and thoughts of an upset began to brew in the minds of the Profs and Rowan faithful with two minutes left in the game.

However, an untimely interception caught by Blue Jays defensive back PJ Penders was returned for a touchdown. 

This was a potential blunder, as Penders could’ve gone down and allowed Johns Hopkins’ offense to run out the clock and end the game, but by scoring quickly the Blue Jays gave the Profs another chance to go down the field and tie the game.

Sophomore quarterback Nate Maiers drove the Profs down the field on the ensuing drive, but threw an interception in the end zone with three seconds left, ending the Prof’s attempt at an upset bid.

Despite the tough loss, there were many positives for the Profs on both sides of the ball. Maiers threw for a career-high 242 yards and freshman wide receiver Michael Zarfati had a career-high 84 receiving yards as Rowan out-gained Johns Hopkins 318 yards to 253 in total offense. The Profs’ defense shut out the Blue Jays’ offense in the second half, an amazing showing compared to the collapse they suffered against Ursinus. 

Ruley harped on the defense’s toughness and how they continuously put Johns Hopkins’ offense to the test.

“I think it was just challenging them,” Ruley said. “Our body language, and I think we kind of unraveled as a team as that Ursinus game went on. But in reality, I think it was about challenging them at a higher level, to be tough, and come for all 60 minutes.”

The Profs will now look to take this momentum into next week while fixing their mistakes at the same time as the most critical part of the schedule awaits.

“We want to hold each other accountable on every play,” senior defensive back and captain Jason Blanks said. “We’re just getting better competing every snap, so we want the O firing off every play and we’re gonna fire right back. That’s the type of energy we need in practice.”

“Obviously we left a lot of points out there against Johns Hopkins,” Maiers said. “Would’ve been a big win 100 percent, but once again it doesn’t mean anything for the season because we’re trying to go win the conference and that starts this week. So to go out there and get a big win, we got all the momentum going into the future games.”

The Profs return home and begin conference play this Saturday, Oct. 12, against The College of New Jersey (TCNJ) as they take on the Lions at Coach Richard Wackar Stadium.

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