RPI football
Unit tough against the run, picks off two passes that lead to scores in blowout victory
Engineers finalize holiday plans with
38-14 win against Husson.
Turkey and stuffing will have to wait. The RPI football team has other plans for Thursday.
“That was one of our goals coming into the year, to practice on Thanksgiving,” quarterback George Marinopoulos said. “It’s going to be cool to still be here.”
The Engineers finalized their holiday plans on a chilly Saturday at East Campus Stadium, putting a 38-14 licking on Husson in a first-round game of the NCAA Division III playoffs.
Marinopoulos completed 16 of 26 passes for 273 yards and three touchdowns, and Nick Cella ran for 123 yards to move RPI (9-1) into a second-round matchup next Saturday at Brockport.
“Our guys know what’s in front of them,” Engineers coach Ralph Isernia said. “We’ve got a chance to play Brockport in this next round. We know who they are. They’re a top 3, top 4 team in the country. They’ve been ranked there all season. There’s no way you can look past them.”
It is the first time since 2003 that RPI has made it to the second round. Brockport advanced with a 40-27 victory over Framingham State.
“Brockport’s a great team,” Husson coach Gabby Price said, “but this guy’s great here. They’re used to playing this kind of competition. They’re wellcoached and tremendous players. I’m rooting for RPI.”
The game turned on the final play of the first half, when Marinopoulos threw a 41-yard pass to Nick Smith in the end zone.
RPI had taken over with 1:02 to play on its 19 and the score tied at 7. To that point, the teams were virtually identical in yardage (185-182 for Husson).
Robert Law ran for seven yards, and Marinopoulos hooked up with Keaton Ackerman for a 32-yard catch and run with 18 seconds remaining. After two incompletions, Marinopoulos lofted one into a crowd, and Smith, on his only catch of the game, gave RPI the lead.
“Of course,” Marinopoulos said when asked if he thought the pass would produce a score. “We’ve got a bunch of playmakers out there, so I know they’re going to make the play for us.”
“The ball was in the air,” Smith said. “I just snatched it. I was down on the ground, saw it in my hands, and I was just going nuts. That was a great feeling.”
“That was a play we practiced all week long,” Isernia said. “We finally had a chance to break it out.”
RPI also got the ball to start the second half, and produced a 66-yard drive that finished in Sanjay Krisnan’s 22-yard field goal.
Most of this game was about the Engineers’ defense, which limited Husson (8-3) to 49 rushing yards on 19 attempts.
“We just couldn’t run the ball,” Price said. “They get to the football quick. So we had to throw the football.”
Husson quarterback Cory Brandon passed for 288 yards, but two interceptions did him in.
The Eagles gained some momentum midway through the fourth quarter. Quan Soyini’s 82yard punt return reduced the deficit to 24-14, and the Husson defense got a three-and-out.
On a third-and-10 Brandon was picked by Jack Hoggard, whose 26-yard return set up the Engineers at the Husson 12. Marinopoulos pounced immediately with a TD pass to Ackerman.
“We knew to win the game, we had to stop the run and be able to run on them, dominate the line of scrimmage,” Hoggard said. “We were fortunate enough to be able to force them to be one-dimensional pretty early in the game, and then we could work on getting turnovers.”
That became even more prophetic when Luke Watanbe ran back a Brandon interception 89 yards for a touchdown with eight seconds remaining.
Now the focus is on setting up a practice schedule and getting ready for a trip to Brockport.
“There’s only great teams at this point,” Marinopoulos said. “After today, there’s only 16 teams left in D3.”
pdougherty@ timesunion.com 518-4545416 @Pete_dougherty