Just one week after reclaiming the Dutchman Shoes trophy and clinching the league title, the football team saw its season come to an abrupt end with a 14-17 loss to The College of New Jersey on the ’86 Field. The come-from-behind win for TCNJ was sealed when its placekicker, who had missed two previous attempts, was able to finally put one through the uprights and gave the lions the lead with 13 seconds remaining.
With the victory, the Lions went on to play Mount Union College in Alliance, Ohio, where they were trounced 59-7 by the Purple Raiders, the team that set a new Division III record with seven shutouts in the regular season, and another for fewest total points given up (24 over 10 games). Mount Union has won the national championship nine times in the last 14 years.
RPI had found the endzone first when freshman Nick Costa capped a drive that started with a 40-yard pass to senior Brendan McGowan with a two-yard run up the middle to put the home-standing Engineers on the board. The next scoring attempt was again RPI’s as the team made it to the red zone but was forced to kick and the attempt went wide left. TCNJ gained momentum as it stormed the 80 yards downfield on six plays and scored when a pass from scrambling quarterback sophomore Chris James was tipped by RPI senior John Tesiero and landed in the hands of sophomore Cam Richardson for a 35-yard touchdown.
Early in the second quarter, the Engineers took the lead, 14-7, off another touchdown run by Costa, this time with a three-yard run capping a 78-yard drive.
A pair of missed kicks for the Lions and an unusually high total five turnovers by the Engineers set the stage for TCNJ to score one last touchdown on a 90-yard drive and the final game-winning field goal with 13 seconds left. RPI received the ball for a last attempt but turned the ball over to end the game.
Robertson led the Engineers with 20 of 34 passes completed for 324 yards. Two receivers posted 100-yard days—McGowan and junior Eren Savasli—but the offense was held to just three yards rushing.
Finishing the 2007 season with an 8-2 overall record, the Engineers have 12 athletes who earned All-Liberty League honors, including four on the first team, six on the second team, and two honorable mentions. On the first team for his fourth year was McGowan, who had a team-leading 67 catches for 852 yards and five touchdowns this season, and is the school record-holder in career receptions with 245 and career receiving yards with 2,977. Junior right guard Jasmin Ibric was an integral part of the offense who averaged 29 points and 403.3 yards per game, and was second in the league in a number of categories, including scoring and passing offense, turnover margin, and sacks against. Junior defensive lineman James McLaughlin was the leader among linemen with 41 tackles, with 24 of them being unassisted, 11.5 were for lost yards (41), and 5.5 were sacks. Senior linebacker Anthony Casale had 93 tackles, of which 48 were unassisted, and 6.5 were for lost yards. He was second in the Liberty League in tackles per game with 10.3.
Named to the second team wereRobertson, junior defensive linebacker Nick Casale, junior Khaly Merot, senior linebacker Tom Rayhill, and defensive backs Tim Acker, a sophomore, and Tesiero.
