The football team struggled for the second striaght year against Utica College this weekend, losing to the Pioneers 9-7 in Saturday’s contest.
“Two years in a row we haven’t made the plays we need to make offensively,” Coach Joe King commented after the game. Last season RPI escaped with a win against Utica, mainly due to a strong defensive effort.
The Pioneers’ defense was the story in this game. They held the Engineers’ offense to 230 yards, including only 83 on the ground.
“We need to be able to run the football better than we did,” King said. “When you become one-dimensional, it’s pretty easy to defend.”
A bright spot on offense for the Engineers has been the continued success of sophomore tight end Jon Branche. Branche, who was named to the National Team of the Week for his performance against Endicott, had a team high of 72 receiving yards and the only touchdown of the day for RPI.
“We haven’t had a real good tight end like [him] in years” King said about Branche. “We have to get the ball to him, but we have to get the ball to some other people also.”
On the other side of the ball, the Engineers defense had mixed success. They shut down the Pioneers passing game, but were unable to stop Utica’s running backs, including Tyrell Robinson, who ran for 137 yards.
King attributed this to a lack of success in forcing three and outs. “The longer you’re out there, the more advantage the offense has.”
The defense made a huge stop late in the fourth quarter to give the offense a chance to win the game, but Chad Wysocki tried to force a pass and the Pioneers came down with the interception.
Coach King’s emphasis on special teams seems to be paying off. He credited them with giving Utica’s offense bad field position all game.
“Our punt team kept us in the game. [Collin Adalian] had three punts down inside the 20.”
The Engineers return home this weekend to begin conference play against Hobart, a team that handed RPI their only regular season loss last season, and one of two the year before.
King expects the loss to help refocus the team and coaching staff as they begin conference play. He also admits that it will be nice for him, and his young team to be back within the friendly confines of ’86 Field.
“It’s hard to win your first two games on the road, I don’t care who you’re playing against.”
