St. John Fisher appeared poised early to put some serious points on the board.

On the game’s opening drive, the Cardinals drove down the field against a reeling Engineer defense. After Rensselaer committed a costly pass interference penalty, St. John Fisher looked as though they were ready to take the ball in the end zone early.

But the RPI defense had other plans. The Engineers regrouped after the penalty and held the Cardinals to a disappointing field goal.

The solid play of the Rensselaer defense only improved as the game went on as they held tough the rest of the first half.

St. John Fisher had excellent field position in the first half—they never started the drive inside their own 20-yard line—due to a stagnant Rensselaer offense and a Dan Cole interception.

However, the Cardinals failed to capitalize on any of these occasions as the Rensselaer defense proved time and again they were up to whatever challenge St. John Fisher could throw at them, keeping the score 3-0 Cardinals at the half.

In the second half, the Rensselaer offense finally came alive as Flynn Cochran, who caught 14 passes for 184 yards on the afternoon, took a pass from Cole and then avoided three would be tacklers to give the Engineers their first six points and their first lead of the game.

The St. John Fisher defense, who had already played a solid game, answered for the Cardinals as they picked off Cole for the second time in the game. Brad Keem stepped in front of a shovel pass and returned it 45-yards for a touchdown giving the Cardinals a three point lead.

Despite trailing 10-7 entering the fourth quarter, the Engineers did not panic. The Rensselaer offense ultimately did what they have done all year, outscore their opponent.

Otis Williams got the scoring started for Rensselaer as he plunged into the end zone from one yard out to cap a sound 11 play, 77 yard drive by the Engineers. The Cardinals, however, were not going away quietly.

St. John Fisher answered back just over two minutes later as Jason Meyers two yard touchdown run completed an 80 yard drive highlighted by a 66 yard pass from Greg Roland to Nick Weathebee. With the score the Cardinals regained the advantage on the scoreboard taking a 17-14 lead with 10:13 left in the game.

These would be the last points the Cardinals could manage and the Engineers went on to take the lead and the game.

Rensselaer tied the game on a Matt Verenini 31-yard field goal with 7:11 left in the fourth quarter.

The offenses would go quiet until the Engineers, with 1:37 remaining in the game, went 60 yards in 15 seconds on two plays to take the lead for good.

Cole hit Pat Hughes for a 38-yard reception to get the ball down to the Cardinal 22 yard line and on the next play Cole hit Dan Stephens on a 22-yard pass pattern giving the Engineers the 24-17 lead with just 1:22 left in the game.

The RPI defense would then step up yet again as Mike Defilippi picked off a Greg Roland pass to all but seal the victory for the Engineers.

Although the Rensselaer offense only managed to put 24 points on the scoreboard it was still a solid day for Engineers.

Cole threw for 406 yards and two touchdowns while Cochran had 14 catches and 184 yards to lead the Engineer receivers. Williams’ 72 yards on 18 carries paced the ground attack for Rensselaer.

Yet most of Saturday’s game highlights belong to the Rensselaer defense.

The Engineers held the Cardinals to 15 first downs and only gave up 288 yards of total offense and got four sacks on the day. Sean Doran lead the defense with 12 tackles and Grant Cochran had nine as well. Defilippi had the Engineers only interception on the day but it could not have come a more critical time for Rensselaer.

RPI remained undefeated with the win and St. John Fisher fell to 5-3. The Engineers will play at St. Lawrence next Saturday before wrapping up the season at home November 15 against Hobart at 1 pm.