UNION, N.J. – The Ursinus football team overwhelmed Kean to earn a 31-17 win in Centennial Conference-NJAC crossover action on Saturday afternoon.
With the win, the Bears improved to 2-0 overall while the Cougars fell to 0-2 to start the season.
Senior quarterback Jalen Bradford went 15-of-30 for 192 yards with one touchdown pass and two interceptions. Senior wide receiver Justin Collier hauled in Bradford's touchdown pass and caught seven passes for 69 yards. Senior Cameron Dennis added 59 yards on four catches while running a 69-yard punt return for a touchdown, the first punt return for a touchdown since 2014 when Matt Glowacki returned one against Susquehanna. Senior running back Tony Holden posted his second straight 100-yard game behind 104 yards on 22 carries while adding two touchdowns.
Just like last week, the Bears opened with the ball and drove down the field for a touchdown to gain the early 7-0 lead at the 9:06-mark of the first quarter. Holden capped an 11-play 85-yard drive with a 10-yard touchdown run. After a trio of punts, the Cougars took advantage of short field position towards the end of the first quarter and made it a 7-3 game after making a 48-yard field goal.
The Bears went back to work after the field goal and converted another lengthy drive with a three-yard touchdown pass to Collier that made it 14-3 with 10:20 left in the second quarter. Senior safety Ryan DiVergilis intercepted Kean quarterback Rocco Pellegrini on the ensuing drive and returned it 55 yards to set up another 10-yard touchdown run by Holden that made it 21-3 Ursinus. Dennis continued to pour it on for the Bears as he ran his 69-yard punt return on the next Kean punt to extend the Bears lead to 28-3 with 6:50 left in the first half. Bradford was intercepted at midfield on the Bears next drive and Kean cashed in with a touchdown on 4th-and-goal from the 5-yard line with two seconds left that made it 28-10 at halftime.
After forcing a punt to start the second half, junior kicker Jordan Carr knocked through a 20-yard field goal to extend the Ursinus lead back to 31-10. The Bears had another potential scoring drive ended by a Bradford interception which allowed Kean to score the final points of the game from a touchdown. Ursinus continued to dominate on defense and shut the Cougars out in the fourth quarter to preserve the win.
Junior defensive end Aaron Rios lived in the Kean backfield by racking up a career-high five sacks that fell one shy of the record held by Ryan Bodolus. Rios had a career-high 10 tackles (seven solo). Senior linebacker Marc Clayton recorded his second straight double-digit tackle performance with 10 (three solo) and 0.5 TFL. Senior Connor Carter added 1.5 sacks and seven assisted tackles while DiVergilis and senior Pat McManus each posted seven tackles. Senior Michael McCuen, sophomore Nazir Jenkins, and junior D.J. Clarke all added 0.5 sacks. As a team, Ursinus racked up eight sacks which matched the most in a game since having eight against Alvernia in 2023.
Pellegrini went 25-of-43 for 256 yards and two touchdown passes for the Cougars with one interception. Christian Bujno caught 10 passes for 84 yards and one score.
The Bears return to action on Saturday, September 21st as they will host Rowan at 7:00 p.m.