TERRE HAUTE —
Jeff Sokol hasn’t been a college head coach for very long, so it’s probably safe to say that Saturday’s Rose-Hulman game was one of the tougher losses he’s ever endured — or ever hopes to endure.
“You score more touchdowns than the other team, you score more points … it’s heartbreaking,” the Engineers’ second-year mentor said after a 29-28 loss to visiting Kalamazoo in the season opener for both Division III teams.
Rose entered the final period trailing 29-15, but got freshman wide receiver Jacob Dye open for a 40-yard touchdown pass from Mitch Snyder just 16 seconds into the quarter. A successful extra point cut the lead to seven points.
After an exchange of three-and-out offensive series, the visiting Hornets marched into Rose-Hulman territory threatening to score the clinching touchdown, but a sack by Dean Griffin — he had 21⁄2 of those — stopped the drive. Gray Vreeland, a surprising weapon for Kalamazoo all evening, lofted a punt that died on the 8-yard line.
With less than eight minutes left in the game, the Engineers marched to what looked to be a tying touchdown. On the 11th play of the drive, Snyder lofted a ball into the end zone and Dye came down with it. The official standing nearest the play signaled touchdown, and the Engineers brought their kicking team onto the field.
Not so fast. After a discussion among the officials, the play was overruled, the six points taken off the scoreboard, and Rose faced a third-and-7. Two incomplete passes turned the ball over to Kalamazoo.
“I still haven’t received a good explanation,” Sokol said after the game when asked about that play. “The official at the front pylon saw a good catch … but then someone came in and said they saw [Dye’s] foot on the [out-of-bounds] line.
“I’ve never seen a team lined up for a PAT and had the referee take the touchdown off the board.”
The Engineers may have been discouraged, but they weren’t finished. They forced the Hornets to punt, using their final timeout to prevent Kalamazoo from running the clock on fourth down, and got the ball back at the 40-yard line with 2:29 left.
Rose-Hulman, you may remember, has an All-America running back named Kyle Kovach. The Hornets had certainly remembered, and for about 30 of Kovach’s carries Saturday night they’d bottled him up. And with the clock threatening to run, it seemed the last thing Rose would do would be to run its man up the middle.
On second-and-10, however, the Engineers did just that. Kovach barreled into a couple of potential tacklers, kept his feet churning, and was suddenly on his way to the end zone, a 60-yard scoring run to go with a 65-yard breakaway he’d had in the second quarter. One of the longtime observers in the Rose-Hulman pressbox surmised it was the best run in Rose-Hulman history.
The crowd was ecstatic, the band was playing loudly … and the Engineers messed up the extra point, a high snap leading to a bobbled hold and a desperation pass. After a mad scramble that failed to recover a nicely executed onside kickoff, the Engineers were unable to get the ball back.
Rose-Hulman had the lead three times in the first half, starting with a safety recorded on Kalamazoo’s second play from scrimmage. Lineman D.J. Lawson led the charge as running back Dimeko Price was smothered in the end zone.
That play may have been quarterback Aaron McGuire’s only bad decision on a read-option play, however — had the quarterback kept the ball, he might have gone 97 yards to the end zone — and McGuire soon proved difficult for the Engineers to contain (246 yards passing, 111 rushing despite 35 yards lost in sacks).
Kalamazoo took its first lead after turnovers on consecutive plays gave the Hornets the ball at the Rose 6-yard line later in the first quarter. Rose countered with a 70-yard scoring drive, Snyder completing a fourth-down touchdown pass to Dye, but the Engineers missed this extra point on a kick pulled wide left and the score was 8-7.
Kalamazoo went back on top 14-8 early in the second quarter, McGuire capping a 73-yard drive with a 23-yard fourth-down run — untouched — through the Rose defense. Later in the quarter, however, Kovach broke free for his 65-yard score and a 15-14 advantage for the home team.
The visitors failed to pad their lead on their next drive, missing a 19-yard field goal after having second-and-goal at the 2-yard line. But McGuire scored on a 27-yard run with 54 seconds left in the first half and then on a 1-yard run in the third quarter, a 40-yard drive set up by an Engineer fumble.
“It wasn’t the officials’ fault [that we lost],” Sokol said afterward. “We played less than our best football in the first half.”
Kovach, despite the defensive concentration, still rushed for 223 yards on 34 carries while adding six pass receptions and four punt returns.
“We figured we could keep taking our shots [with Kovach] and eventually he’d pop one,” Sokol said later. “We tried to take advantage of our freshman receiver [Dye, a two-time all-stater at Tipton, had four catches for 73 yards plus the touchdown that was taken away] and get big plays out of Kyle.”
A down side, he added, was special teams performances.
“We gave up a first down [on an 13-yard fourth-and-10 run by the 240-pound Vreeland] and we missed two extra points that really hurt us,” the coach said. “We need to improve [special teams] all across the board.”
Next game for Rose is at Danville, Ky., against former Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference rival Centre.
“Centre won a playoff game last year, and it’s a long trip,” Sokol said. “But our kids are hungry and pissed off right now, and we’ll try to take advantage of that.”
College
Rose-Hulman comes up a point short in football season opener
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Manaea's shoulder causing him latest pain
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ISU baseball hoping Manaea can get its MVC Tournament moving in right direction
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ISU track sending record 22 to postseason
On the heels of their thrilling double victory at the 2013 Missouri Valley Conference Outdoor Track & Field Championships both the Indiana State men and women moved up in the national rankings which were released Tuesday by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA).
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ISU's athletic treasure trove
Think of every championship that Indiana State has won in each of its sports, past and present. Think of every tournament — postseason or regular season — which the Sycamores have claimed as their own.
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Ort sets ISU RBI record in 16-7 win
Robby Ort celebrated his Indiana State baseball Senior Day on Saturday by becoming the Sycamores’ all-time leader in RBIs as ISU ended its regular season with a 16-7 win over Bradley at Bob Warn Field.
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Bradley ends 16-game MVC losing streak against ISU
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Metro roundup: Woods softball takes seventh in national tournament
The St. Mary-of-the-Woods softball team finished seventh in the United States Collegiate Athletic Association softball tournament on Tuesday at Firestone Stadium.
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Metro Roundup: Indiana State’s Shakir Bell on Performance Awards watch list
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ISU baseball team builds on success with 14-2 rout
Indiana State’s baseball victory over Alcorn State on Friday would take on more meaning Saturday if the Sycamores could build momentum and pick up on the good work they did in Friday’s ninth-inning rally.
Mission accomplished.
The Sycamores were aggressive from the opening inning at the plate and starting pitcher Devin Moore gave them eight valuable and effective innings on the mound as ISU defeated Alcorn State 14-2 at Bob Warn Field.
“It was a really good experience for everybody. It felt great to finally come out here and put some things together. It’s also really nice when your offense puts a lot of runs on the board,” Moore said.
Moore’s eight innings of work were as valuable as gold to an ISU team that is short on quality arms due to injury and ineffectiveness. He didn’t allow a hit until the fourth inning and one of the two runs he conceded was unearned. -
Johnson, Lyke win MVC titles for ISU
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ISU earns badly-needed win
Alcorn State’s baseball team might be ranked in the bottom 10 in RPI and Indiana State might have never lost to a Southwestern Athletic Conference team. So it wouldn’t appear that a quality win was in the offing when Alcorn State visited Bob Warn Field on Friday.
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Metro roundup: RHIT’s Evans sets Div. III record in high jump
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ISU’s Mascari and Hope win MVC track & field titles
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ISU pole vault tradition continues with help from its author
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To catapult oneself about 14 feet into the air with a large $500 fiberglass pole on a daily basis is a risky endeavor.
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Sycamores searching for answers after seventh loss in eight games
These are the bad times for the Indiana State baseball team.
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METRO ROUNDUP: ISU men's track picked first in MVC Championships, women second
The Indiana State men’s track team has won the last two Missouri Valley Conference outdoor championships, but the women have not stood on the top podium since 1999.
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North grad Welker helps Whitson earn first NCAA bid as coach
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METRO ROUNDUP: Rose-Hulman wins HCAC all-sports trophy
Rose-Hulman has won the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference men’s all-sports trophy for the fifth time in the past six year, the league announced Monday.
Rose tallied 66.5 points for its finishes in 11 men’s sports, just ahead of Franklin with 66. Hanover was third with 53 points. -
METRO ROUNDUP: Rose-Hulman tennis falls in HCAC semifinal
Rose-Hulman’s hot streak in men’s tennis came to an end Saturday in the semifinal round of the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference tournament at the West Indy Racquet Club.
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Manaea fights off bad hip, wet weather to toss four innings
Mother Nature has been the bane of the Indiana State baseball team’s existence all season. Eight games wiped due to weather are a testament to that. So it was no surprise, though no less disappointing, when she didn’t deal Indiana State pitcher Sean Manaea the greatest hand on Saturday as he tries to recover from a hip injury.
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ISU track enjoys big night at IU's Billy Hayes Invitational
The Indiana State Sycamores either won or finished as the top collegian in 12 events, led by the record-breaking performance of senior Brandon Pounds at the 2013 Billy Hayes Invitational Friday at Indiana University.
Pounds broke his own school record to win the men’s hammer throw. -
Lansing looking for more home games for next fall
Indiana State’s men’s basketball team is looking for a few good games.
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Secret weapon: Kelsey Rosselli finishing Woods career with a bang
At Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College, reporting game results to the Tribune-Star after a win or a loss is not always a high priority.
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In fact, her efforts almost seem like a government secret.
Rosselli’s name might sound familiar to longtime Terre Haute softball followers because she was a standout for North High School, from where she graduated in 2009.
Since then, she’s helped The Woods finish runner-up in three straight U.S. Collegiate Athletic Association (USCAA) national tournaments in 2010, 2011 and 2012. -
ISU baseball gets back into rhythm with victory
Baseball is a rhythm game. With contests every day or five times a week in the case of many college programs, you have the chance to build on success or wallow in a slump.
Mother Nature took that rhythm away from Indiana State’s team last week. After a 7-1 loss to Indiana on April 24, ISU was supposed to play a three-game series at Tennessee-Martin, but it was wiped out by rain.
So the rhythm was disturbed, but perhaps that wasn’t a bad thing.
ISU was in a five-game losing streak before its unintended vacation and the Sycamores made a move in the right direction Wednesday with a 7-0 win over DePauw at Bob Warn Field.
“It was a disappointing weekend. We went all the way down to Tennessee and didn’t get to play. We sat around in the hotel room. We came here and it was still raining. It was nice to get out and see some live pitching,” ISU center fielder Landon Curry said. -
Metro roundup: ISU hands out spring awards
The Indiana State University athletic community, along with family, friends and fans, paused Tuesday night to honor the spring sports teams at the Terre Haute Savings Bank Spring Sports Banquet.
Most of the ISU teams are still in competition with the baseball team having 13 games left of its regular-season schedule before beginning the Missouri Valley Conference tournament May 21, the softball team with just three games left of the docket this coming weekend against Southern Illinois and the track and field program with just one more meet before beginning its postseason events.
The ISU women’s golf team is the team that has ended at this time, with the group recording a sixth-place finish at the MVC championships one week ago. -
METRO ROUNDUP: Rose baseball wins another thriller
Rose-Hulman earned its third victory in its last at-bat in the last five days with a 6-5 win over Franklin in Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference baseball Tuesday night at Art Nehf Field.
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ISU relay teams enjoy strong day at Drake Relays
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