Rose-Hulman Shocks the Mount in HCAC Season Opener
September 27, 2008
CINCINNATI , OH - Rose-Hulman pulled out a thrilling 27-21 win on the road against Mount St. Joseph in the Heartland Conference football opener Saturday night. The win was the Engineers' first win over the Mount in seven tries and was the first Rose win in a league opener since the 2003 season.
The Engineers (3-1, 1-0 HCAC) and Lions (2-1, 0-1 HCAC) traded touchdowns throughout the contest, as no team took more than a seven point lead the entire game.
With the score knotted at 21-21, Rose relied on a fumbled punt return to take the lead at 27-21. Mount's Phil Poetter (Cincinnati , Ohio / Anderson ) mishandled a punt inside the 10-yard line and RHIT's Tim Schrock (Avon , Ind. /H.S.) recovered the fumble at the two yard line. Junior Calvin Bueltel (Huntingburg , Ind. /Southridge) capped off a career day with a two yard touchdown run to give Rose the win. Bueltel finished with a career-high 168 yards and two touchdowns on 25 carries.
Rose quarterback Derek Eitel (Marshall , Ill. /H.S.) rebounded from a disappointing game last weekend, completing 14 of his 22 passes for 178 yards and a touchdown against the tough Lions defense. MSJ entered Saturday night's game surrendering a league-best 3.5 points per game.
The Engineers offense totaled 405 yards against the Mount defense and held Mount St. Joseph 's offense to only 268 yards on the night. The time of possession was dominated by the Engineers as their offense held the ball for a total of 40:52 during the contest.
Sophomore running back Jake Davis (Cincinnati , Ohio / Anderson ) led the Mount's offense in defeat with 101 yards and a touchdown on 12 carries.
Rose will return home to host Manchester next weekend, while Mount St. Joseph will look to rebound on the road against Bluffton.
In other conference action.
Bluffton entertained the home crowd in a 23-15 win over Kalamazoo to open the home schedule for the Beavers. BU (1-2) picked off four Hornets passes on the afternoon to help set up the Beaver offense in high quality scoring opportunities. Junior kicker Jonathan Thompson (Carmel , Ind. /H.S.) booted an 18 yard field goal late in the first quarter to give Bluffton an early 3-0 advantage. Junior quarterback Brock Miller (Cincinnati, Ohio/Oak Hills) connected on a 16 yard touchdown strike to Dan Chipka (Waterville, Ohio/Anthony Wayne) with 56 seconds to go in the opening frame, handing the Beavers a 10-0 lead. Miller completed 13 of his 29 passes for 155 yards and a score. BU never looked back as Thompson added two more field goals (32, 24) and Joshua Tanner (Copley , Ohio /H.S.) recovered a fumble for a touchdown, delivering the host Beavers a 23-15 win. Bluffton gained 376 yards of offense against Kalamazoo and dominated the time of possession during the contest 40 minutes to 20. Jason Johnson (Cleveland, Ohio/Collinwood) rushed for 100 yards on 22 carries to pace the BU rushing attack and help control the time of possession. Bluffton will open the HCAC schedule at home against Mount St. Joseph (2-1, 0-1 HCAC) next weekend.
The No. 14 ranked Franklin College football team had trouble holding on to the football in a 30-27 defeat at Trine (IN). The Grizzlies (2-1) fumbled four times and tossed an interception, allowing the host Thunder to pull off an upset and record their seventh straight home victory in front of a capacity homecoming crowd. Trine jumped out to an early 10-0 lead in the first quarter before FC but together three scoring drives, stretching the Franklin advantage to 20-10 midway through the second frame. Senior quarterback Chad Rupp (Evansville , Ind. /Memorial) connected with Austin Gorrell (Franklin , Ind. /H.S.) and Tony Gregory (Indianapolis , Ind. /Ritter) for two of the three scores. The Thunder responded with a one yard touchdown run with 15 seconds to play in the first half, cutting the deficit to 20-16 at the half. After a few exchanged punts to begin the second half, Trine took a 23-20 lead on a Mikael Glidden touchdown run. Rupp notched his third touchdown pass early in the fourth quarter, finding Logan Deffner (Greenwood, Ind./Centre Grove) on a six yard strike to hand the blue and gold a 27-23 advantage. The senior quarterback finished 25 of 39 for 294 yards and three TD's. The Grizzlies defense could not hold down the stretch, as Trine's offense marched down the field in three plays on a Mario Brown touchdown run to give the Thunder a 30-27 win. FC had trouble with the run game all day long, fumbling four times and only rushing for 40 yards on 16 carries. Franklin will look to regroup before opening conference play next weekend at Defiance (0-3).