Michael Zarfati scored a career-high three touchdowns in Rowan University football’s 34-23 win over the Lycoming College Warriors on Saturday, Sept. 27, at David Person Field at Girardi Stadium. Zarfati’s three scores helped the Profs secure their first road win of the season. As for the Warriors, they fell to 0-4 on the year, tied for worst in their respective landmark conference.
“Mike’s [Michael Zarfati] special,” head coach Pat Ruley said. “Every time he’s on the field, he’s a guy that gives us an opportunity to do big things.”
Zarfati had six receptions for 138 yards on Saturday. His three touchdowns against Lycoming brings his total to four on the season, after finding the end zone for the first time this season, facing Moravian a week ago. He didn’t play in week one due to injury, and says he was happy to perform well for his team.
“It’s really just what was required in that moment to win the game, and that’s what matters,” Zarfati said. “Without a win, those three touchdowns don’t mean anything.”
It was also a big day for the Profs’ defense, who were able to keep Warriors running back Terrence Oliver in check. The junior running back had 535 yards through the first three games of the season, and was coming off a 298-yard showing against Denison the week prior. Facing the Profs’ defense, Oliver was held to just 33 rushing yards.
“I feel like seeing someone who was rushing for that many yards every game kind of makes us step up to the task to want to stop him,” defensive lineman Giaini Derameaux said. “I feel like we did a great job at that. It really is just when we’re hunting and one man falls off, you know, we still got 11 other people coming and we’re still trying to hunt. So I feel like that’s what it is, just staying resilient, and we always just hunting.”
Derameaux made his presence felt all game long, recording a career-high 11 tackles with 2.5 sacks at 3.5 tackles for loss. Ruley said Derameaux’s performance against the Warriors was one of the best he’s seen.
“In my career, I’ve been a defensive coordinator for nine seasons, and I could probably count on one hand how many individual performances from, like, an effort and physicality perspective, can top that one,” Ruley said. “That was definitely an inspiring force.”
Despite Zarfati’s first touchdown of the day giving the Profs a 7-0 lead in the first quarter, they found themselves down 14-7 headed into halftime.
Sloppy errors from the offense contributed to their deficit. Quarterback Nate Maiers’ pass was intercepted on a potential scoring drive in the first quarter, and Greg Casimir’s field goal attempt in the second was blocked, preventing the Profs from taking the lead with a 7-7 tie. The run game also got off to a slow start, with the trio of Nunes Bukula IV, Bookman, and Mordecai Ford only rushing for 33 yards in the first half.
“We played about as badly as we can play in the first half,” Ruley said. “We came into the locker room at halftime and said, at the end of the day, it’s 14-7, we’re down a touch. Let’s just focus on these next 30 minutes really being locked in.”
Rowan came out of the locker room after the half with a sense of urgency. Leading the charge was Ford, who opened up the third quarter with a 56-yard run to put his team in Warrior territory. Two plays later, Maiers found Zarfati for his second touchdown of the game.
“The guys did a great job at being able to flip that switch, but we can’t be doing stuff like that, you know, against a team that we think is inferior because of their record,” Ruley said. “Because they had a ton of fight, and they’re well coached, and we have to come out and play good football regardless who’s across from us.”
The Profs took the lead for good with a 21-point third quarter. A 60-yard run from Bukula IV late in the third was the exclamation point of the quarter for the Profs, with two Casimir field goals in the fourth totaling the Profs’ 34 points.
Now, the Profs will open the New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) at home against the No. 23-ranked Christopher Newport Captains this Saturday. Last year, they faced the Captains on the road and lost, 24-7.
The Captains have been one of the more dominant teams in the NJAC as of recent years, and Ruley sees them as a playoff-caliber team. He also says his team’s performance against Lycoming was mediocre.
In order to get the win over Christopher Newport on Saturday, Ruley says they’ll have to execute at an even higher level.
“It’s a huge game. Christopher Newport is a hell of a team, so if we have any aspirations of doing what we want to do as a football program, this is a great litmus test this weekend,” Ruley said. “If we come out like we did against Lycoming, we’re going to be in for a long weekend.”
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