The Engineers broke open a tight football game with three touchdowns in under three minutes and routed the St. Lawrence Saints, 35-10.

RPI held the Saints to zero yards rushing and forced three turnovers. The defense also forced St. Lawrence to punt the ball away 11 times and amassed 10 sacks, including two apiece from linemen Tim Westcott and John Menjik, who was last week’s UCAA Defensive Player of the Week. In addition, the Engineers got solid special teams play—Matt Verenini went five-for-five on extra points, and Mike Dodge blocked a punt, recovered the ball himself, and returned it 23 yards for a touchdown.

The Engineers’ offense was somewhat less effective than usual, picking up only 332 yards—their previous season average had been 401. They also committed an unusual five turnovers, including three interceptions by Quarterback Dan Cole, nearly doubling his season total.

Despite these setbacks, the RPI offense was able to repeatedly take advantage of excellent field position—three of the four touchdowns scored by the offense were on drives that started in the St. Lawrence half of the field.

The Engineers hit the ground running, starting the game with their two best drives of the game. RPI moved the ball 86 yards on its opening possession, with Cole hitting four different receivers in the march down the field, capped by a five-yard run by Flynn Cochran for a touchdown.

RPI forced the Saints back 11 yards on the following possession and took over at the St. Lawrence 36 after a weak punt. Eight plays later, Cole took the ball in on a bootleg from nine yards out to give the Engineers a 14-0 lead.

The offense stalled after that, with no drives longer than 20 yards until late in the third quarter. The Saints fared little better, with the exception of one play. Wide Receiver Tim Gavin beat the Engineers’ Jai Echols deep, and Bret Conrad hit him with a 55-yard pass that put the Saints on the RPI six-yard line. Three plays later, Conrad scored on a one-yard sneak, reducing the RPI lead to seven.

St. Lawrence picked off Cole on the Engineers’ opening drive, giving them the ball on their own 45. The Saints took a whopping 6:13 off the clock with a 14-play drive, but elected to settle for the field goal after Echols sacked Conrad on a safety blitz, leaving St. Lawrence with a fourth-and-goal situation on the RPI 11-yard line. The kick by Brian Dunn was good, cutting the difference to just four points.

The Engineers finally got back on track late in the third, keyed by a 28-yard pass from Cole to Wide Receiver Joseph Gomez that put RPI five yards from the end zone. Flynn Cochran scored three plays later, ending a string of fruitless drives for the Engineers, who had turned the ball over on five of their previous six possessions.

The defense stuffed the Saints on three straight plays, setting up the Dodge punt block to start off the fourth quarter. Another three-and-out forced another punt, and the Engineers struck quickly: Senior Evan Cochran faked an end-around on the first play of the drive and hit an open Kevin Siska with a 46-yard touchdown pass, slamming the door on any hopes of a St. Lawrence comeback.

With the win, RPI improves to 7-0 on the season and clinches at least a tie for first place in the Upstate Collegiate Athletic Association. The Engineers’ final regular season game will be at home on Saturday against UCAA rival Hobart.

An RPI win would put them in sole possession of the UCAA title and would practically guarantee a bid to the NCAA Division-III tournament. A loss would put RPI, Hobart, and Union in a three-way tie for first in the conference—with the head-to-head records all the same, the three teams would all claim a share the title, casting doubt on whether any team from the conference would get an NCAA bid.

Game time on Saturday is at 1 pm.