After many long, hot, and humid practices, the Engineers put up a strong fight in the season opener and came out with a 34-10 win over Endicott College on the historic ’86 Field. Led by junior Jimmy Robertson at quarterback, the team scored four passing touchdowns as he threw for 272 yards. The team took the lead quickly and led confidently at the half 27-3.
With a team-leading two touchdowns during the game, junior Eren Savasli credits his height with his success—“One of my strengths, not only in the game but overall, is my size. Being a big receiver, I cause a lot of mismatch problems with smaller corners and am able to out-jump them as I did on one of my TDs on Saturday.”
Seniors Brendan McGowan and Drew Utschig also caught passes for a score. Junior Isaac Williams scored RPI’s only running touchdown of the day on a 12-yard play with 2:23 left in the first quarter.
“Getting a win in the season opener is a great way to start the season,” said Robertson of the first game. “It is a great way to gain some momentum and confidence, especially for some of the new guys we have playing. We played well and had a lot of guys make plays in key situations.”
“We only have nine games on our schedule and we work so hard for each one of them, so a win is always a great feeling,” said McGowan. “Another goal of ours is to be undefeated on ’86 Field, and that was the first of five.”
“The offensive line did a great job of giving me time to get the ball to our playmakers, who, once they got the ball, made play after play,” explained Robertson.
“I was very pleased to see how well our offensive line played, especially after we lost four starters at that position to graduation,” said senior Tom Rayhill. “Obviously, we can’t commit so many penalties on both sides of the ball.  We can’t expect to have that many penalties and win a lot of games.”
“On offense, we will also look to improve every game as some guys who haven’t played gain experience. I don’t expect any drop-off from our offense this season,” said McGowan. “I’m looking forward to one last football season—to play with the guys who I’ve worked so hard with for the last three years. I’m looking forward to being a leader on this team and I’m looking forward to trying to put together a special season.”
On the other side, the defense held the Gulls to just 168 yards, only 35 of which were on the ground. “Our defense played great and gave us great field position all day long,” said Robertson. “Having a short field to work with makes it a lot easier on us as an offense.”
“We have a lot of strengths on this team, especially on defense,” said McGowan. “I would never tell those guys, because I’m always competing with them at practice, but our defense has experience and should be a strong point for our team—from the three defensive captains, [junior] Nick Casale, [seniors] Tom Rayhill and John Tesiero, to some of the returning starters like [junior] Jim McLaughlin, [senior] Vince Scicchitano, and [sophomore] Tim Acker.”
Rayhill was also pleased with the defensive performance. “I thought that we played very well as a defense against Endicott; everyone was doing their job and we worked together as one cohesive unit,” Rayhill. “If we can continue to play together and trust one another, we can do some good things as a defense.”
“Our defense was great all-around and never gets the credit it deserves. Jimmy, Eren, and our offensive line all played well on the offensive side of the ball” said McGowan.
The athletes have many goals this season, for both themselves and the team, but mostly focused on the playoffs. “We want to win a league championship this year—to do so we must become a complete team and outwork every opponent we face,” said Robertson. “As one of the leaders of the team I have to step my game up to another level and let the team know that I will do whatever it takes to win. We are very optimistic about what will happen this season. If we play our game and continue to improve every week then we feel good things will happen.”
“We haven’t had the league title here for a few years now and its something we as a senior class and team want to accomplish,” said McGowan. “If we do win the league then we qualify for the playoffs and many of our other goals will fall into place.”
Savasli broke his goals for the season down into three categories, “My personal goals this year is to solidify myself as a sure target for Jimmy and to be one of many weapons on the offense that defenses will have to stop. Our offensive goal is always to score. We want to and expect to score on every possession. As a team we want to not only win the Liberty League but play into December.”
After just a single game, some freshmen have already stepped up and adjusted to the collegiate level. “It’s hard to say how the freshman are adjusting to the collegiate level of play after just one game but there are definitely some bright spots,” said Savasli of the incoming class. “Bob Munier showed good signs that he has adjusted well and can be a good player to come.”
The team will build off this early win and hope to continue it next Saturday at 1pm on the ’86 Field. “We will be trying to improve as a team every single day,” explains McGowan. “If you aren’t getting better then you are getting worse. The goal is to have your best game be the last game you played which means your always getting better.
We are inexperienced in some areas on this team but we have great chemistry and its something we will look to build off of.”
“Next week is another opportunity for us to become a complete team,” states Robertson. “Utica is a team that always plays us tough. We have to have a great week of practice and come out ready to battle for 60 minutes in order to get another W.”
