Tribune-Star staff report
TERRE HAUTE — The Rose-Hulman football team established two offensive school records, highlighted by 589 yards of total offense, in a 34-21 Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference victory over Franklin College on Saturday.
Junior Reed Eason established a school record with 225 yards on 15 receptions with two touchdowns.
Senior Derek Eitel recorded the second 400-yard passing game in school history to spur on the attack. Eitel finished 27-for-45 through the air for 422 yards and three scores for the second most passing yards in a game in school history.
Eitel also became Rose-Hulman’s career leader in touchdown passes with 48, breaking the previous mark held by 1989 graduate Jason Duff (45).
The offense featured 422 yards through the air and 167 on the ground for its school record 589 yards of total offense. The effort marked the third time this season that Rose-Hulman has gained 500 yards in a game and the second time the total offense school record has fallen.
On the ground, Eitel rushed for a game-high 64 yards and one touchdown on 10 carries. Freshman Kyle Kovach added 43 yards rushing and junior J.D. Hill rushed for 36 yards and his first college touchdown.
Eason led a receiving effort that featured five different receivers with at least three catches. Junior Andrew Huddleston had three receptions for 90 yards, graduate student Thomas Reives added 50 yards on three catches, junior Ben Hopf had three catches for 43 yards, and senior Tyler Thornton hauled in three receptions for 14 yards.
Defensively, senior Kyle Stevens led the defensive effort with two interceptions. Junior Andrew Couch added an interception, two pass breakups, two tackles-for-loss and one sack.
Other key contributors to the defensive included senior Patrick Duncan of Terre Haute South with five tackles, two sacks, two forced fumbles and two pass breakups; junior Scott Eaton with a team-high nine tackles; and junior Robby Alumbaugh with seven tackles and two pass breakups.
Rose-Hulman jumped out to a 20-0 lead at halftime with 20 points in the second quarter despite heading into a strong wind. Eitel tossed three touchdown passes in the second quarter to give the Engineers the lead. Eason hauled in scoring strikes of nine and 32 yards, and Reives scored on a 38-yard catch in the corner of the endzone with 2:58 left in the half.
Rose-Hulman improved to 5-4 overall and 3-3 in HCAC play with the victory, while Franklin fell to 5-3 overall and 3-2 in league games. The Fightin’ Engineers close the 2009 season at Anderson University next Saturday.
Rose-Hulman 34, Franklin 21
Franklin 0 0 14 7 — 21
Rose-Hulman 0 20 7 7 — 34
R-H — Eason 9 pass from Eitel (Schneider kick), 14:56 2Q
R-H — Eason 32 pass from Eitel (kick blocked), 10:23 2Q
R-H — Reives 38 pass from Eitel (Schneider kick), 2:58 2Q
F — Mellencamp 58 pass from Purichia (Magdalinos kick), 9:15 3Q
R-H — Eitel 4 run (Schneider kick), 2:31 3Q
F — Purichia 64 run (Magdalinos kick), 2:15 3Q
R-H — Hill 4 run (Schneider kick), 5:15 4Q
F — Deffner 13 pass from Ray (Magdalinos kick), 3:34 4Q
FC R-H
First downs 20 29
Rushes-yards 30-193 44-167
Passing yards 277 422
Att-Comp-Int 44-16-3 46-27-0
Fumbles-lost 3-2 2-2
Return yards 6 35
Punts-avg 7-42.1 6-34.7
Penalties-yards 6-50 5-30
Individual stats
Rushing — Franklin: Purichia 11-119, Mongan 4-27, Cook 5-20, Downs 5-17; Ray 5-10. Rose-Hulman: Eitel 10-64, Kovach 19-43; Hill 5-36, Reives 2-21, Thornton 5-11, Coleman, Sutton 1-0.
Passing — Franklin: Purichia 8-24-1 153, Ray 8-20-2-124. Rose-Hulman: Eitel 27-45-0 422, Kovach 0-1-0 0.
Receiving — Franklin: Zmich 4-98, Momberger 4-48, Mellencamp 3-65; Deffner 3-52, Mongan 2-14. Rose-Hulman: Eason 15-225, Huddleston 3-90, Reives 3-50, Hopf 3-43, Thornton 3-14.
