After a dramatic comeback and a thrilling triple overtime finish, the Engineers still found themselves on the short end of a 56-48 decision against Hobart College in Geneva, N.Y., on Saturday.
In just his second game in an Engineer jersey, Jimmy Robertson found himself down 24-0 with two minutes to go in the first half, but the freshman did not back down. He led RPI back into the game with a little luck and a lot of help from junior tight end Jon Branche.
“I thought he did an unbelievable job,” Head Coach Joe King commented on his young quarterback. “All the kids showed a lot of character, when you’re down and playing the defending [Liberty League] champion like that.”
Branche caught 12 balls for 217 yards, and set a school record with five touchdown receptions. After not being involved much in the first game of the year, Branche has quickly become the young quarterback’s favorite target.
Both Branche and Robertson were honored by the Liberty League for their performances. Branche received the nod for Offensive Performer of the Week, and Robertson was the conference’s top rookie for the second consecutive week.
Hobart “embarrassed” the Engineers a year ago, according to King, coming to ’86 Field and leaving with a 54-13 victory. This season, the team put up much more of a fight against the 2004 league champion Statesmen.
This year, the difference was 25 yards. In the third overtime period, Hobart drove down to the one-yard line on their possession, and the defense stopped them three consecutive times. Doug Blakowski, however, snuck in on fourth and goal and forced the Engineers to score again. Down eight points, the offensive unit was not able to move the ball at all to force another frame.
RPI’s defensive unit seemed lost in the first half, giving up 24 consecutive points, and was unable to stop some big plays from the Statesmen. The Engineer offense didn’t help matters, turning the ball over twice: once on Robertson’s first intercepted pass of the season, and again on a Jay Bernardo fumble.
“I don’t think we’ve started any of these games well,” King admitted. “We’re not playing well early defensively or offensively either.”
Late in the second quarter, the offense finally clicked. Robertson overthrew a ball, but Branche was in the right place at the right time and took the ball into the endzone for a 48-yard touchdown completion. The extra point was missed, but the Engineers gained a little steam going into the half.
RPI came out riding that momentum in the third quarter. On the opening kickoff, Adam LoGiudice took advantage of some nice blocking and sped his way to the Hobart 20-yard line. Then the Robertson-Branche show kicked into full gear. It took only two plays for Robertson to connect with Branche for a touchdown.
The result was the same on each of the next two Engineer possessions. The Statesmen could not find an answer for Branche, and he caught two more touchdown passes from 29 and 26 yards, respectively. He was able to find some holes in the secondary when the Statesmen applied lots of pressure on Robertson and had only single-man coverage for much of the game.
“You bring pressure, and you better be able to play some pretty good receivers one-on-one,” King said about Hobart’s defensive gameplan. “They blitzed like the devil.”
Robertson was able to avoid getting sacked thanks to a few scrambles and good protection from his line. Said King, “He’s a pretty cool customer.”
Meanwhile, the defense had bent early in the game, but didn’t break. From the two-minute warning in the first half, until the end of the game, they allowed only 10 points. With linebacker Jimmy Motzkin leading the way, they also limited the amount of time the Statesmen offense was on the field, giving Robertson enough time to lead the comeback.
Motzkin compiled 14 tackles, including 10 solo, two sacks, a hurry and a pass breakup. He was named Liberty League Defensive Performer of the Week for his performance.
King and the rest of the staff made some defensive adjustments at halftime, especially in the secondary, where they began to put more pressure on Hobart’s receiving corps.
“We were afraid to get beat, playing too soft, and they were picking us apart,” King confessed.
Entering the final quarter, the Engineers were down only eight points. On their first possession, Brent Kebea missed a 31-yard field goal, but after the defense held Hobart to a three-and-out, senior running back Jay Bernardo got his game going, scoring from a yard out to cap a 58-yard drive.
Even though the run game started off slowly, Bernardo was still able to rack up 122 yards with two touchdowns. The offense, which Bernardo carried through the first few games this season, got back to their roots as a pass-first, run-second offense.
RPI completed the comeback with a two-point conversion pass from Robertson to Brendan McGowan, knotting the game at 34.
The defense gave RPI a chance to win by getting the ball back to the offense with plenty of time on the clock, but Kebea missed another kick, and the game went to overtime. With two missed field goals, a missed extra point, and a botched two-point conversion that the team was forced to attempt, King is very concerned about the kicking game.
“We’re not where we should be.” King added, “And we’re not where we need to be.”
In the first overtime, the Engineers won the toss and elected to defend first. King had confidence in his defensive unit the entire overtime period. “I was thinking ‘the next series, we’ll stop them on defense, and beat them on offense’”.
Both teams scored on the first possession with Robertson hooking up with Branche for the fifth time.
RPI had possession first in the second extra period, and Bernardo punched it in from three yards out. But Hobart quarterback Shawn Mizro answered with a touchdown of his own and forced the third overtime.
Next weekend, the Engineers travel to Coast Guard Academy for the Bears’ Homecoming game. The victors will walk away with the Shotglass Trophy, and due to changes in the Liberty League, the Shotglass will stay with this year’s winner.
“Coast Guard is leaving [the league] so this will be the last time we’ll play for the Shotglass,” King acknowledged. The trophy has resided in Troy for the past three years, and it’s no secret that King and the rest of his squad would like to keep it here at home when the rivalry ends.
