By Tom Reck
TERRE HAUTE — Defiance got two touchdowns in the fourth period Saturday to rally for a 28-21 Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference football victory over Rose-Hulman.
Rose-Hulman had more yards in total offense than the Yellow Jackets but gave up the football four times in the contest played in cool, mostly cloudy conditions at Phil Brown Field.
One of the turnovers was turned into one of the Defiance touchdowns in the last quarter that enabled the Ohio team to gain a 21-21 tie.
After holding Defiance and forcing a punt, the Engineers began their next drive at their own 17-yard line. On the third play of the series, Anthony Sierra picked off a Derek Eitel pass and returned it 30 yards for a touchdown. He then kicked the extra point and the game was tied 21-21 with 11 minutes, 39 seconds left to play.
Defiance forced the Engineers to punt on their next series and began what turned out to be the game-deciding drive at its own 28-yard line.
After picking up a first down, Jon Carrabino made a great reception of a pass from Rick Powell for a 32-yard gain and Defiance had a first down at the Rose-Hulman 28.
Six plays later, Austin Karcher scored on a quarterback keeper from a yard out for the final touchdown of the day and Sierra’s kick made it 28-21 with 6:43 to play.
Rose-Hulman went three and out on the ensuing possession but got into Defiance territory on its last possession, the big play being a 26-yard pass from Eitel to Thomas Reives that gave the Engineers a first down at the 37.
That’s where the drive ended as time ran out on the Engineers.
Rose-Hulman scored all of its touchdowns in the second stanza and got one of them with time running out in the first half. Rose-Hulman called timeout with the Engineers at their own 37 with less than five seconds left on the clock.
Back on the field, Eitel found Andrew Huddleston in the end zone and the Engineers took a 21-14 lead into the intermission after Nick Schneider converted the PAT.
Freshman Kyle Kovach was hurt late in the first stanza but came back and scored the first Rose-Hulman touchdown on a 9-yard run to cap an 84-yard drive, putting the Engineer up 7-0.
Defiance tied it about two minutes later in the period on Carrabino’s 23-yard run and the first PAT by Sierra.
Rose-Hulman took a 14-7 lead on Eitel’s 8-yard pass to Reed Eason, but Defiance responded with its second touchdown, Carrabino scoring on a 26-yard pass from Powell with 1:33 left in the half.
That set the stage for Rose-Hulman’s play of the game.
Powell did it all for the Yellow Jackets, now 2-4 and 1-2 in the conference.
He netted 104 yards rushing and passed for 66 yards and the touchdown while Carrabino rushed for 41 yards and had 125 yards in pass receptions.
Eitel put himself in the Rose-Hulman record books with his first pass completion of the day in the first period, surpassing Jason Duff’s career passing total of 6,292 yards.
Eitel completed 19 of 40 passes for the day for 274 yards and was intercepted three times.
Kovach rushed for a net 55 yards on 10 carries with the touchdown before leaving the game and Eason had 93 yards in eight receptions and the touchdown.
Rose-Hulman coach Steve Englehart said the combination of inconsistency on offense, Kovach’s injury and turnovers led to defeat.
“We did not play consistently on offense. Kovach got hurt early … an ankle injury. He tried to come back but it tightened up on him too much.
“It was hard to get things going without him. We [don’t do as well] when he’s not in there. And you’re not going to win many games when you lose the turnover battle 4 to 1,” said the coach.
Defiance 28, Rose-Hulman 21
Defiance 0 14 0 14 — 28
Rose-Hulman 0 21 0 0 — 21
R-H — Kovach 9 run (Schneider kick) 10:49 2Q
D — Carrabino 23 run (Sierrra kick) 8:05 2Q
R-H — Eason 8 pass from Eitel (Schneider kick) 3:33 2Q
D — Carrabino 26 pass from Powell (Sierra kick) 1:33 2Q
R-H — Huddleston 63 pass from Eitel (Schneider kick) 0:00 2Q
D — Sierra 30 interception return (Sierra kick) 11:39 4Q
D - Karcher 1 run (Sierra kick) 6:43 4Q
D R-H
First downs 20 19
Rushes-yards 44-187 35-96
Passing yards 173 287
Com-Att-Int 11-18-0 10-42-3
Return yards 54 1
Punts-avg. 5-36.4 4-35.5
Fumbles-lost 2-1 1-1
Penalties-yards 2-15 4-30
Individual statistics
Rushing — Defiance, Powell 18-104, Carrabino 3-41, Kuesel 14-40, Bell 4-9, team 1-(-2), Karcher 4-(-5). Rose-Hulman, Kovach 10-55, Eitel 11-25, Reives 2-17, Thornton 8-12, Gray 2-8, Snyder 1-(-6), team 1-(-15)
Passing — Defiance, Karcher 6-11-0-107, Powell 5-7-0-66. Rose-Hulman, Eitel 19-40-3-274, Snyder 0-1-0-0, Kovach 1-1-0-13
Receiving — Defiance, Carrabino 5-125, Powell 2-22, Cessna 2-5, Kuesel 1-16, Reyes 1-5. Rose-Hulman, Eason 8-93, Hopf 5-52, Huddleston 2-72, Reives 2-44, Thornton 2-21, Somerall 1-5
Next — Next Saturday, Rose-Hulman (3-4, 1-3 HCAC) is at Bluffton and Defiance (2-4, 1-2 HCAC) is at Anderson.
