TERRE HAUTE — Facing third-and-goal at the Earlham College 1-yard line with the score tied in the final seconds, Rose-Hulman football coach Steve Englehart gave quarterback Derek Eitel the option to change the call from a handoff to a sneak if he thought the defense looked vulnerable to a sneak.
Lined up behind center, Eitel saw something he liked and made that change, diving in for what ended up being the winning touchdown in a wild, season-opening 42-35 victory Saturday night at Cook Stadium.
The triumph enabled the Engineers to keep the “Battle of the Borders” broadsword — presented to the winner of the annual Rose vs. Earlham game — for the eighth straight year.
A go-ahead field goal on third down would have been from extra-point range for Rose-Hulman freshman placekicker Nick Schneider, who finished 6 for 6 on extra points for the night, but Englehart felt confident in his team’s short-yardage running attack and decided to try for the touchdown.
“I never thought about kicking it on third down,” Englehart said. “For third down, we got it down to the 4-inch line. It was Eitel’s call. It was going to be a handoff. But I’ve always told him, if he can get it in on the sneak, get it in on the sneak.”
The Engineers put themselves in position for the TD when junior safety Kyle Stevens intercepted a long pass by Earlham quarterback Randy Kerns and returned it 26 yards to the visitors’ 8.
From there, Eitel ran for 2 yards and Tim Schrock ran for 5 yards to set up Eitel’s heroics.
A long bomb attempted by Earlham on the final play was knocked down to preserve the win for Rose.
The entire game was an offensive shootout that probably left both defensive coordinators shaking their heads afterward.
Rose-Hulman opened the scoring midway through the first quarter on a 20-yard TD pass from Eitel to Schrock to culminate a seven-play, 59-yard drive.
The Engineers increased their margin to 14-0 early in the second period when they ran a reverse that started with Eitel handing the ball off to running back Calvin Bueltel, who then handed it off to tight end Reed Eason, who was coming from the opposite direction. Eason then stopped behind the line of scrimmage and fired a perfect pass to wide receiver Nate Richter, who faked out a defender at the Earlham 15 on the right sideline and completed an entertaining 48-yard touchdown play.
“It seemed like the right time and the right place [for the trick play],” Englehart said. “We had worked on it a couple days in practice… We have a couple guys on offense who can throw the ball pretty well.”
Soon after Earlham cut its deficit to 14-7 on a 13-yard TD pass from Kerns to Kyle Ripperger midway through the second quarter, the home team padded its cushion to 21-7 on an 8-yard TD run by Eitel.
A 33-yard TD burst up the middle by Ben Marschand pulled the Quakers within 21-14 with 1:48 to go in the first half, but Bueltel took the ensuing kickoff and returned it 92 yards down the right sideline for a TD of his own to push Rose’s advantage to 28-14 for halftime.
Earlham tallied the only touchdown of the third period — a 36-yard connection between Kerns and Bryant Foreman.
The visitors opened the wild final period by tying the score at 28-28 on a 22-yard strike from Kerns to a diving Chris Owens in the back of the end zone.
Rose-Hulman gave its large contingent of fans a reason to breathe easier with 5:31 remaining. Eitel, who was getting hit as he dropped back, found a streaking Schrock at the Earlham 10 and Schrock sprinted the rest of the way to put the Engineers back on top 35-28.
But Earlham answered with a 45-yard Kerns-to-Ripperger hookup, which set up a score-tying 1-yard TD run by Marschand with 2:42 left.
Eitel and Kerns, who both played well for the most part, traded interceptions in the final minutes to set the stage for Eitel’s final TD sneak.
“It was exciting,” Englehart admitted. “It’s always good to be 1-0. It gives you confidence going into the rest of the season… We won this game tonight because we made a couple more big plays than Earlham. But as far as consistency, we’ve got to work on being more consistent on both sides of the ball.”
Englehart seemed particularly disappointed in Earlham’s 422 passing yards, which included 10 receptions for 176 yards by Ripperger.
“Earlham’s a passing team,” Englehart pointed out. “That’s what they like to do. We knew they were going to get some passing yards, but probably not that many. We did not get pressure on their quarterback. You can’t just let him sit back comfortable and throw the ball.”
Rose will hit the road next Saturday to play North Park.
Rose-Hulman 42, Earlham 35
Earlham College 0 14 7 14 — 35
Rose-Hulman 7 21 0 14 — 42
RH — Schrock 20 pass from Eitel (Schneider kick)
RH — Richter 48 pass from Eason (Schneider kick)
EC — Ripperger 13 pass from Kerns (Crumley-Effinger kick)2Q
RH — Eitel 8 run (Schneider kick)
EC — Marschand 33 run (Crumley-Effinger kick)
RH — Bueltel 92 kickoff return (Schneider kick)
EC — Foreman 36 pass from Kerns (Crumley-Effinger kick)
EC — Owens 22 pass from Kerns (Crumley-Effinger kick)
RH — Schrock 29 pass from Eitel (Schneider kick)
EC — Marschand 1 run (Crumley-Effinger kick)
RH — Eitel 1 run (Schneider kick)
EC RH
First downs 26 15
Rushes-yards 30-73 31-92
Comp-Att-Int 30-45-3 15-26-2
Passing yards 422 187
Penalties-yards 5-42 10-63
Fumbles-lost 4-1 1-0
Punts-Avg. 3-32.0 5-37.4
Individual statistics
Rushing — Earlham, Marschand 13-72, Foreman 5-11, Plummer 2-5, Owens 1-3, Kerns 6-(-3), team 3-(-15). Rose, Bueltel 9-27, Wong 7-22, Eitel 10-20, Thornton 3-16, Schrock 2-7.
Passing — Earlham, Kerns 30-44-3 422, Jenkins 0-1-0 0. Rose, Eitel 14-25-2 139, Eason 1-1-0 48.
Receiving — Earlham, Ripperger 10-176, Owens 7-59, Foreman 6-93, Marschand 5-60, Murphy 1-24, Metcalf 1-10. Rose, Eason 5-32, Schrock 4-75, Richter 3-61, Somerall 3-19.
Tackles leaders — Earlham, Randall 5-4-9, Metcalf 5-2-7, Painter 6-0-6, Clark 4-2-6, McCullough 3-3-6. Rose, Eaton 8-5-13, Stevens 8-3-11, Spreen 3-3-6.
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