Engineers show off ground attack in rout

RPI runs for 343 yards, four touchdowns; Cella bolts for career-high 131

Three yards and a cloud of dust were replaced Saturday by five yards and a clump of rubber granules, but RPI let its intentions known from the start.

In their nonconference football meeting with Buffalo State on the East Campus Stadium synthetic turf, the Engineers opened with five straight handoffs to senior Nick Cella. That was followed by four runs from freshman Joe Scaglione.

The 10-play, 67-yard drive was capped by a 19-yard touchdown from George Marinopoulos to Danny Calabro, and RPI, ranked 20th nationally in Division III, was on its way to a 44-14 victory.

“Every week we’re looking to get the run going,” said Cella, who carried 12 times for a career-best 131 yards. “We get the run going, that opens up some holes in the passing game.”

That passing game got a break against the Bengals (0-3). Marinopoulos, who averaged 38 pass attempts and 221 yards in RPI’S first three games, threw only 13 times, completing eight for 158 yards and two touchdowns.

The Engineers (4-0) got the bulk of their 501 yards of offense from the running game, which averaged 7.1 yards per attempt.

Their total of 343 yards in 48 tries was RPI’S highest rushing output since getting 373 on Nov. 12, 2016, against Union.

“A lot of parts of our offense work off of our running game,” coach Ralph Isernia said. “We thought the key to the game on both sides of the football was to win the line of scrimmage battle. We needed to run the football, and run the football with effectiveness, and then defensively we had to stop the run and make them one-dimensional. We thought if we could do that, then we would have a pretty good handle on the game.”

RPI grabbed control with an early 16-0 lead. Sanjay Krishnan connected on a 26-yard field goal, and senior Robert Law tore off a 13-yard touchdown run.

When Buffalo State got on the board with 6:57 to play in the second quarter, the Engineers responded with two one-play scoring drives 21 seconds apart.

The first came after the Bengals punched the kickoff after their touchdown out of bounds. Cella rocketed up the middle for a 65-yard rushing touchdown.

“The offensive line opened up a huge hole, and I closed my eyes and started running as fast as I could,” Cella said. “I saw a guy coming from the inside, but I put a little something extra into it.”

Buffalo State’s next offensive play was a pass intercepted by Joey Gutowski, who returned the ball 36 yards to the Bengals’ 27. Marinopoulos hit Keaton Ackermann on the next play in the corner of the end zone.

“The interception was definitely a confidence booster,” Gutowski said, “and then the offense coming out with two one-play drives was great.”

Buffalo State, which will join RPI’S Liberty League in 2020, handed the Engineers their lone nonconference loss last season.

“We always preach new year, new team, but we left it out there last year,” Gutowski said of the 33-21 road loss. “It was definitely in the back of our head.”

After a week off, RPI opens its conference schedule Oct. 6 at No. 25 Ithaca. Those schools tied for the Liberty League title last year, but the Engineers got the NCAA playoff bid because of a 27-14 head-to-head victory.

“We want to rest without having rust,” Isernia said. “We want to make sure that we’re healthy going into this next game and the Liberty League schedule.”