COLLEGEVILLE, Pa.  – Behind a dominant defense and timely scoring, the Ursinus football team downed Kean 30-14 on a sweltering Saturday afternoon at Patterson Field in non-conference action.
 
 
With the win, the Bears improved to 2-0 as they completed their first of three games against New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) opponents with the new scheduling agreement with the Centennial Conference. Meanwhile, the Cougars dropped to 0-2 overall.
 
 
Junior quarterback Jalen Bradford had another strong day guiding the Bears offense by going 21-of-39 for 260 yards and three touchdowns with just one interception. Bradford also added 39 yards on the ground on 11 carries. He connected with sophomore Cody House for another touchdown and the speedster led the Bears once again with five catches for 64 yards. First-year Marvin Atkins caught two passes for 59 yards behind a 46-yard grab and sophomore Markel Roberts-Jackson hauled in three passes for 39 yards along with his first collegiate touchdown.
 
 
On the ground it was senior fullback Dawson Fresses that led the way with 12 carries for 70 yards while averaging 5.8 yards a carry. Junior Tony Holden rushed for 37 yards on 17 carries and scored his first touchdown of the season.
 
 
Ursinus started with the ball to open the game and took the initial 7-0 lead when Bradford found senior tight end Billy Cook in the end zone from 15 yards out at the 10:11-mark. Ursinus was given extra life on the drive after a Kean illegal formation penalty on 4th and 4 with the Bears punting just inside Cougar territory. Bradford led the Bears down the field again after a Kean punt and sophomore kicker Jordan Carr finished the drive with a 29-yard field goal to extend the Bears lead to 10-0 with 2:44 left in the first quarter.
 
 
The Bears seemingly had another scoring drive ready to be complete on their first drive of the second quarter, but a Carr field goal attempt from 42 yards out hit off the left upright to stall a 16-play drive that spanned 6:42. Kean wasted little time after the missed field goal as quarterback Robbie Nungesser lofted a 75-yard touchdown pass to Alex Bryant down the right side line to make it a 10-7 game. The Bears made sure that the Cougars could not sustain momentum when House responded with a 43-yard catch-and-run touchdown to put Ursinus up 16-7 with 6:26 left in the first half. Following a Kean three-and-out, two long passes to Atkins set the Bears up to extend their lead to 23-7 when Holden scored from six yards out. However, the Cougars continued to hang around as Nungesser connected with Bryant again on another long pass touchdown, this time from 74 yards, before the half to make it a 23-14 game.
 
 
The teams traded punts on their opening drives of the second half and the Cougars marched down to midfield before a fumble on a handoff was recovered by sophomore Aaron Rios to give Ursinus good field position. The Bears took advantage of the turnover when Bradford tossed a dart over the middle from 21 yards out to Roberts-Jackson to put Ursinus up 30-14 with 4:16 left in the third quarter.
 
 
The Ursinus defense locked it down the rest of the way as they turned up the heat and did not allow Kean to score a single point in the second half. Senior defensive end Ryan Bodolus was a big part of that by leading the Bears with six tackles (four solo), 2.5 TFL, and one sack. Senior linebacker Brett Gross was equally as dominant with fivetackles (two solo) and one sack. Junior safety Pat McManus added five tackles (three solo) and broke up two passes.
 
 
Nungesser went 17-of-33 for 243 yards and two touchdowns while adding 50 yards on the ground with 14 carries. Bryant led the Cougars with 159 yards on four catches and his two touchdowns which all came in the first half. Ursinus held the total offense advantage at 426 to 338.
 
 
Ursinus returns to action on Saturday, September 16th as they will hit the road for the first time in 2023 by taking on Rowan at 6:00 p.m.