Union, N.J. (10/16/21) – Donte Jamison returned two punts for touchdowns as the Kean University football team remained undefeated in conference play with a 20-7 homecoming win over The College of New Jersey on Saturday afternoon.
Logan Matthews was 2-for-2 in field goal attempts (35, 28) and added two extra points to account for Kean's scoring on the day.
The Cougars are now 3-0 and sit atop of the NJAC standings. A critical matchup with the lone other undefeated team in Salisbury happens next week in Maryland.
In their first possession of the game, the Cougars scratched across points with Matthew's first field goal of the day. Dayveon Dore helped get Kean into TCNJ territory with a 25 yard dash during the drive. Kean's defense then stalled the Lion's first drive of the day as two sacks forced TCNJ to turn the ball over on downs.
Later in the quarter, the Lions were forced into a quick three and out and Jamison quickly turned that into a double-digit advantage as he returned the ensuing punt 63 yards for a touchdown. With a little over three minutes to go in the first half, Jamison did it again, this time for 70 yards as he gave the Cougars a 17-0 lead.
TCNJ appeared to be putting points on the board with less than a minute to go in the half, but Joshua Harris blocked the 28 yard attempt that left the score intact at the break.
Tanner Ash set the Cougars up with excellent field position early in the third quarter as he intercepted the ball near midfield and returned it 27 yards. Kean would later score with a 28 yard field goal from Matthews for what would be their final points of the day.
The College of New Jersey (3-3, 2-1 NJAC) erased the shutout on their next possession with a seven play, 78 yard drive that only took a little over two minutes. An injury to their starting quarterback sparked the offense as Trevor Bopp found Lucas Spitzer wide open crossing in the center of the field and he then raced down the left sideline for the touchdown.
The Lions had another opportunity in the fourth quarter, utilizing a Kean penalty and a Max Hayford 22 yard reception. But the Cougar defense held and the drive stalled at the six yard line. With seven minutes to go, The College of New Jersey had excellent field position off a short punt, just outside the redzone. Kyeon Taylor intercepted the ball on his toes in the back of the endzone to thwart the threat.
Kean's defense had three more big plays in the waning minutes as Nas Neal stripped Hayford after a 42 yard completion. Ash picked it up and returned it 27 yards into Lion territory. With less than two minutes to go Anthony Bassani intercepted Bopp to stall that drive and with under a minute, Neal picked off Bopp in Kean territory to seal the win.
Jamison finished with 61 receiving yards in addition to 21 kickoff return yards. Defensively, Bassani had a team-high 11 tackles while Neal had seven tackles, one breakup, one forced fumble and one interception. Taylor added four breakups.
For the Lions, Nick Celli had seven tackles, including 2.5 for a loss.
