Utica was upended at home 34-10 by an offense playing a better game and a defense that knows how to get the job done. RPI’s well-trained and experienced machine, ranked 24th in the country, wore down the Pioneers to spoil their homecoming game last Saturday at Charles A. Gaetano Stadium.
The offensive strikes were led by senior running back Jay Bernardo, who tallied 135 yards and an incredible four touchdowns, leading to his naming as the Liberty League Offensive Player of the Week. “Jay had a real solid day, and I thought our offensive line played pretty well and the two go hand in hand,” Head Coach Joe King said of the scoring. King continued, “He got a lot of violent yards on his own, and when the game was over I never realized he had four touchdowns; he had some opportunities and he took advantage of them.”
Although Utica beat them to the board with a 22-yard field goal after sophomore quarterback Jimmy Robertson fumbled the ball in the first quarter, senior Adam LoGiudice’s 80-yard kickoff return for a touchdown quickly quieted the crowd and put the Engineers in the lead 6-3, where they stayed comfortably for the rest of the game. LoGiudice’s return for a touchdown was the first since 1997 for the Engineers.
Bernardo punched in his first touchdown of the day after the Engineers took over just a yard outside the red zone following a Utica fumble. That set of plays defined the game, as senior linebacker Armin Warner described it simply as “devastating” to the Pioneers.
Bernardo’s second score came when RPI’s offense put him in great position again at the end of the first half, giving the visitors a 17 point lead. “This game was a considerable improvement,” said Bernardo of the offense as a whole—who stressed the running game this week. Last week he felt the team “played a little tight,” and this week the team was much more focused. “A lot more comfortable,” said LoGiudice of the defense this week.
The second half was reminiscent of the first as Bernardo took two more to the house and rounded out RPI’s scoring, although Utica did put up a fight during their 99-yard scoring drive.
The defense got the job done for the second week in a row, having set the tone by previously holding Endicott to seven points and giving up only 10 to Utica. “If a few key plays had been made, it would have been much easier. In essence, we have a lot of work to do and a lot to clean up,” said Warner of the 305 total yards RPI’s defense gave up. He continued, “It was nice to see other players stepping it up if they bounced it to the outside; there were small glimpses of great defensive play, just not consistent like we want it.”
King saw the same things in the defense this week. He said, “Defensively we’re playing much better than last year and I think we can play even better yet. It starts up front. We watched some film from Saturday—there’s just so many things we could do better and I think it’s true of the linebackers and it’s certainly true of the secondary. I don’t think we’ve necessarily seen very good offenses yet, but we certainly will this week. Hobart has as good of an offense as anyone.”
Next week’s home opener against Hobart will be the game that defines this team. The Engineers have not beat them in four years neither home nor away including a triple overtime game last season. Hobart has 11 returning starters and the top offense in the league according to King.
Bernardo is all about the smart footballs concentrating on eliminating the minor breakdowns that a team like Hobart will grab a hold of. “Executing the way we know we can” is key says Warner of the team’s confidence, “We can’t deviate from our game.” LoGiudice agrees, “It doesn’t mean we change our game.”
Coach King knows that, “We can’t give up big plays and we need to make some plays ourselves” if they want to break the streak and upset the 19th ranked Statesmen in their showdown this Saturday at 1 pm.
