TROY, N.Y. - Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute scored a late fourth quarter touchdown and then held off a final drive into the red zone to defeat Rochester, 28-24, in a Liberty League game here.
RPI quarterback Mike Hermann threw a 41-yard TD to Austin Caswell with less than four minutes to play for the winning margin. The play came after the Engineers botched a potential tying field goal attempt deep in the Rochester red zone. The Yellowjackets couldn't move and punted to their own 38.
After the touchdown, Rochester QB
Braezen Subick drove the Yellowjackets from their own 28 to the RPI 15 by hitting four straight passes. A holding penalty moved the ball back to teh RPI 24. A little later in the drive, RPI was flagged for pass interference and the penalty gave the Yellowjackets first and goal at the four.
A rushing play lost four yards. On the next three plays, Subick couldn't connect with
Thomas Norman and the Engineers took over in the last 10 seconds to kill the clock.
Subick finished with 19 completions in 33 attempts for 260 yards. He was intercepted twice and threw one TD pass - a five-yarder to
Richard Brunet. Subick punted six times for a 29.5-yard average.
Onyiriuka rushed 24 times for 73 yards and two TDs. Rochester totaled 354 yards in offense - 94 on the ground, 260 in the air.
Hermann ran 18 times for 110 yards and two TDs. He completed 15 of 31 throws for 218 yards and two more scores. Caswell caught six passes for 139 yards and two touchdowns. RPI had 144 yards on the ground, 218 through the air.
The first half was quiet offensively. Subick drove Rochester 84 yards in eight plays, including a 34-yard strike to Garret Kesel and a 27-yarder to
Thomas Hayes. Two plays after the Subick-Hayes hook-up, Onyiriuka scored on a seven-yard run and
Alex Antonucci added the PAT.
RPI answered with a four-play, 65-yard scoring drive that ended with a nine-yard TD run by Hermann. The key play was a 50-yard pass to Caswell. Andrew Franks made the tying PAT.
The third quarter was filled with offensive fireworks. Herman connected with Steven Burpoe on the opening drive, but
Zach Cicero stripped the ball.
Tony Ortega picked it up and ran 54 yards down to the RPI 1. Onyiriuka scored on the next play.
Hermann took RPI 68 yards in nine plays, ending with a 32-yard scoring pass to Caswell. Franks missed the PAT with 7:13 left in the third.
Subick's TD pass to Brunet ended a six-play, 48-yard drive and Antonucci's PAT extended the Rochester lead to 21-13. After an RPI drive stalled, Antonucci kicked a career-long 42-yard field goal for a 24-13 lead with 40 seconds left in the third.
Hermann almost single-handedly brought the Engineers back into it. On the second play of the fourth quarter, he sprinted 59 yards for a touchdown, then scored on a two-point run (after a Rochester penalty) to make it 24-21.
Rochester is 1-3 overall, 0-2 in the Liberty League. The Yellowjackets are idle until October 15 when they travel to the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy. RPI evened its overall record at 2-2 and its Liberty League mark at 1-1.
Box Score
