“It’s not me, its my team,” Branche put modestly. “The offensive line was doing an exceptional job, and the coaches put us in the best positions.”

The preseason All-American hauled in three more touchdowns, giving him a career total of 25, catching up to the school record held by Evan Cochran.

“Its news to me,” Branche replied when asked about the record. “All I care about is that I get more wins than him.”

It was the Saints, however, who jumped out to the early lead. St. Lawrence drove down the field on their first possession of the ballgame, and made scoring a touchdown in a storm look easy. One of the Engineers’ problems this year has been their play early in the game, and Head Coach Joe King wasn’t afraid to admit it. He made some adjustments after that, however, and the defense kept the Saints out of the end zone until the third quarter.

“We ran a couple line stunts up front, to shut down the middle running game,” King explained. “We forced them to go outside.”

With the rain picking up, and the field conditions getting worse, it was important for RPI to get back into the game fast. They wasted an opportunity on their next drive when Jimmy Robertson got sacked for a 23-yard loss after driving to the Saints 3-yard line.

“We were just sinking into the field,” Robertson said about the worst playing conditions he had ever experienced.

The freshman quarterback appeared to be shaken up on the play, but on the next possession proved he was all right, hitting receiver Brendan McGowan on a post pattern for 23 yards on his first pass. One play later, Branche worked his magic, breaking a few tackles and crossing the plane on a 7-yard pass from Robertson.

The next drive was more of the same. After marching down to the 11-yard line, Robertson lobbed a ball to the back corner of the end zone. Branche made a great swim move to beat the bump coverage, caught the ball, and managed to keep a foot in-bounds to give RPI the lead. The missed extra point meant the Engineers were only up 13-7.

In the second quarter, it was the defense’s turn to come up big. On a Saints third-and-long, Sophomore linebacker Tom Rayhill knocked the ball loose from a scrambling Matt Bezio, and senior cornerback Tim Frame was there to jump on the loose ball. On the first play, Robertson found Branche hiding in the back of the end zone for their third touchdown connection of the day. Branche finished with 10 catches for 95 yards.

“It was like backyard football out there,” joked Branche about the conditions.

The ball had gotten so slippery that McGowan, holding on the point-after attempt, could not handle the snap. The sophomore wideout stood up and rolled out to his right, and somehow squeezed the ball into the arms of an open Adam VanHorn to complete the two-point play, and salvage what could have been a missed opportunity.

Unfortunately for the Engineers, starting center Danny Caruso was injured in the second quarter, and had to be carted off the field in a stretcher. Aware of his surroundings, Caruso gave a thumbs up to the bench letting them know he was all right. After the game, King still wasn’t sure how serious it was, but knew how big of a loss he could be for the team.

“He’s done a great job and has been a mainstay.” You can bet that Caruso and the rest of the offensive line are a big reason Jay Bernardo and Robertson are having breakout seasons. “If there’s no blocking in the middle, you have problems.”

Robertson was finally done throwing touchdowns halfway through the second quarter. Named Rookie of the Week by the Liberty League for the third time in four weeks, he finished with 268 passing yards on the day. The former Iona Prep standout now has 12 touchdowns to only three interceptions on the season.

After a quick three-and-out by the Saints, Jay Bernardo, who had been relatively quiet in the first half, exploded for a 25 yard run on a fourth-and-six play for the Engineers to make it a 28-7 game at the half.

By the time the third quarter began, the field was virtually a slip-and-slide. “I didn’t believe how bad it was until I stepped out there at the end,” said King. “It’s just a lot of slop out there.”

Both teams put another score on the board in the third, with Bernardo punching through for a one-yard touchdown run, his second of the game, after setting himself up with a nice 28-yard reception on a swing pass that fell two yards short of the pylon. Bernardo managed to gain 186 yards in the game, even though the field was a muddy mess.

The Saints needed the aid of a Robertson fumble and a missed defensive assignment to get their score. After recovering a pitch that slipped out of the rookie quarterback’s hands, Bezio found Mike O’Donnell wide open for a St. Lawrence touchdown, making the score 35-13, where it would stay until the final buzzer.