As The College of New Jersey heads to William Paterson this weekend, the fifth-year players and seniors have a chance to be a part of the compete resurgence of the football program. These players entered TCNJ under the shadow of Covid, but the last two seasons there have been 10 wins and they are on the verge of having the best season since a 7-3 campaign in 2011. The Lions (5-3, 2-2 NJAC) face the Pioneers (1-7, 0-4 NJAC) for a 1 p.m. start on Saturday to the NJAC contest. TCNJ is coming off a 52-35 loss to No. 6 Salisbury and will be looking to get things back on track “Salisbury is a good football team and it was a 12-round battle for the most part but they didn’t flinch,’’ said TCNJ coach Eric Jendryaszek. “They did a good job and then in the third quarter we didn’t execute and they got some breathing room. We played well we just didn’t play well enough.’’ The Lions, who have been a very effective offensive team, will be looking to take advantage of a Paterson team that is averaging just 9.3 points and allowing 37. “The easy way to get a bad taste out of your mouth is go play another football game,’’ said Jendryaszek. “We have to have that next game mentality and all good teams know it’s another chance to show what we can do on both sides of the ball.’’ While the Pioneers have been struggling, the Lions are averaging 33.6 points. TCNJ’s Jayson Schmidt leads the conference in rushing with 105.1 yards per game,  Trevor Bopp leads in passing yardage, averaging 325 a game and Malin Jasinski and Thomas Burke are two of the top three receivers in the conference. All are seniors, and along with several others playing their final games at TCNJ have led the revival. “These seniors have done so much here changing our culture, changing the expectations from when they got here and this is one thing they can leave,’’ said Jendryaszek. “It has been a while since this program had more than six wins and this group has got the program where we are above 500. This is one of the best teams we’ve had in a long time. As cool as its been to take down some of the records the way you measured is by W’s and L’s.’’ The Lions close out the season next week at Christopher Newport. But first they have to take care of the Pioneers. “They have a big play potential and we know what we are going to get so it’s a matter of winning our matchups, on both sides,’’ said Jendryaszek. “We need to play sound football and execute. Paterson is very talented athletically and there’s no team in this conference to take lightly. We are going to have to have some guys step up.’’