WAYNE, N.J. – The Ursinus football team used a big third quarter to pull away for a dominant 49-7 win over William Paterson in Centennial-New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) action on a beautiful Saturday afternoon.
With the win, the Bears improved to 6-0 overall for the first time since the 2010 season in which they shared the Centennial Conference crown that year. Meanwhile, the Pioneers fell to 1-5 overall.
Senior quarterback Jalen Bradford turned in an efficient 258-yard three touchdown pass performance on 18-of-31 passing an no interceptions. He found three different Bears for his touchdown passes and senior Cameron Dennis paced all Ursinus receivers with 60 yards off four catches. Sophomore Ryder Zulkowski caught three passes for 51 yards and a score while senior Justin Collier caught his fifth touchdown pass of the year and three passes for 40 yards. Junior Markel Roberts-Jackson snatched a 20-yard touchdown pass on his only reception of the day.
Senior running back Tony Holden bounced back with his fifth 100+ yard game of the season with 126 yards off 17 carries while scoring three touchdowns. It was his second game this season with three rushing touchdowns, and he averaged 7.4 yards a carry while doing so.
Ursinus won the toss and made quick work of the Pioneer defense on its first drive when Bradford found Zulkowski for a 40-yard touchdown pass to give Ursinus the early 7-0 lead at the 12:41-mark. The Bears put together another good-looking drive after a Pioneer punt and extended its lead to 14-0 when Collier grabbed his touchdown from 10 yards out. A muffed punt gave the Pioneers life late in the first quarter until senior defensive end Connor Carter intercepted quarterback Amir Stewart near the goal line to end the threat.
The Bears drove back into Pioneer territory on its first drive of the second quarter before being turned over on downs at the 9:58-mark following a deep incompletion to the 1-yard line. William Paterson took advantage and struck for its lone touchdown of the game, 65-yard touchdown pass, that cut the lead down to 14-7 at the 8:09-mark of the second quarter. Ursinus looked to respond on its next drive as they advanced into William Paterson territory, but came up empty-handed again with a missed field goal. Each team traded a punt to close out the first half.
A botched punt attempt set the Bears up in prime field position to open the third quarter and Holden needed just two runs to make it a 21-7 with 12:46 left in the third quarter. The Pioneers fumbled again on its next drive after a force from sophomore Nazir Jenkins and Bradford found Roberts-Jackson on the next Ursinus play to quickly make it a 28-7 game. The Bears continued to pour it on in the third quarter when Holden raced in for his second touchdown of the game, this time from 31 yards, to extend the advantage to 35-7. Holden capped the quarter with his third touchdown with 1:57 left in the third quarter following an 8-play 84-yard drive.
The Bears continued to dominate on defense in the second half as they did not allow a single first down that did not come from a penalty. Sophomore quarterback Tristan Machado polished off the Bears win with a 1-yard touchdown flip in the fourth quarter to sophomore Aidan Donahue.
Ursinus held a staggering 495-143 yards advantage in the contest and limited the Pioneers to just 19 yards in the second half. Senior linebacker Marc Clayton paced the Bears with a career-high 11 tackles (five solo) and had a 0.5 sack while Carter finished with seven tackles (three solo) and 2.0 TFL to go along with his interception. Senior linebacker Julian Jones team up with Clayton for a sack and finished with five tackles (three solo) and a fumble recovery.
The Bears return to action on Saturday, October 26th as they will host No. 21 Johns Hopkins for its annual homecoming contest at 1:00 p.m.
Football Pulls Away From William Paterson, 49-7
/seasons/2024/boxscores/20241019_qce2.xml
2024
Ursinus
49
William Paterson
7
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | T |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ursinus (6-0) | 14 | 0 | 28 | 7 | 49 |
| William Paterson (1-5) | 0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 7 |
Oct 19, 2024