Ending a disappointing season with two big wins is a sure way to take the sting off, and Rensselaer did just that as they took down 15th-ranked SUNY Cortland 26-7 on November 18. RPI took home the championship for the seventh time, so the team is still undefeated in ECAC Bowls.
The solid win shows that the Engineers’ 7-3 record doesn’t do them justice, and that after handing the Red Dragons only their second loss of the season, the goals weren’t unrealistic at the beginning of the season.
Cortland hosted the ECAC Northeast Bowl, where senior Jay Bernardo tied the all-time school touchdown record, with 48 in his career. “It was a great win versus a quality team, a total team effort,” said Bernardo. He continued, “They were highly regarded as one of the top teams nationally but we really played well and controlled all facets of the game.” Bernardo had a pair of one-yard TDs in his 122 yards of rushing.
Senior Drew Taranto also tied the school record for field goals in a game, drilling four. Linebacker Tom Rayhill was named MVP after finishing with a team-leading 11 tackles, nine of which were unassisted.
The win was a team effort, as the defense held Cortland to just 211 yards total and managed to take seven turnovers. The defense made five interceptions and recovered two fumbles.
Although the final score shows a decisive game, the Red Dragons actually took the lead when they returned a kickoff 85 yards in the second quarter, making it 7-6 after a pair of Taranto field goals to start the game off.
RPI took the lead for good after Bernardo ran in his first touchdown of the day. Taranto would make two more field goals from 27 and 31 yards before Bernardo would add his final score to bring it to 26-7.
Sophomore quarterback Jimmy Robertson completed 14 of 27 passes for 291 yards, with senior tight end Jon Branche and junior wide receiver Brendan McGowan as his favorite targets.
With nearly the entire starting lineup returning for the beginning of this season, lofty goals were set. Although an NCAA playoff bid was not in the works this season, the two final games saw the team finally pull together and play all four quarters of the game. “This was a good to way to end the season, a good way for the seniors to end their careers and it provides something to build on for next year’s team,” Bernardo said. “It was a frustrating season in many ways—we knew we were a team that was capable of being successful, it just never happened. It was a combination of many different things, but beating the 14th and 16th ranked teams back-to-back shows we were capable of being better than 7-3.”
