STAFF REPORT
The Tribune-Star
TERRE HAUTE —
Rose-Hulman scored 33 points in the middle two quarters and held off a Defiance rally to earn a 33-20 victory in the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference football opener for both schools Saturday.
Senior Mitch Snyder of Casey, Ill., threw two first-half touchdown passes and the Engineers relied on two key defensive stands to take a 12-0 lead into the intermission.
Snyder connected with freshman Jacob Dye on a 45-yard strike with 12:43 left in the first half to give Rose a 6-0 lead. The pass capped a nine-play, 77-yard drive that featured a 12-yard third-down pass from Snyder to freshman Aaron Abbott to keep the drive alive.
Snyder hooked up with Abbott on a 25-yard scoring strike to push Rose-Hulman’s lead to 12-0 before halftime. The four-play, 71-yard drive started with a 30-yard run by Abbott.
Two key defensive stands helped Rose hold the lead at the break. Defiance reached the Engineer 1-yard line before a key 6-yard loss on a tackle by junior Marcus Tucker and junior John Burt — a former West Vigo High School standout — forced a 29-yard field-goal attempt. Tucker then blocked the field goal to keep the Yellow Jackets scoreless.
In the final 10 seconds of the first half, Defiance reached the 10-yard line with a fourth-and-3 situation. The Yellow Jackets reached the 3-yard line on a fourth-down conversion, but a tackle by Burt forced the clock to hit zero before the next play.
Rose-Hulman scored 14 points in 59 seconds to push the lead to 26-0 midway through the third quarter. Senior Kyle Kovach scored on a 3-yard touchdown at the 11:46 mark, with the score pushed to 19-0 on an extra point by freshman Craig Larew. The scoring march featured two third-down conversions.
Rose-Hulman 0 12 21 0 — 33
Defiance 0 0 0 20 — 20
RH — Dye 45 pass from Snyder (kick failed)
RH — Abbott 25 pass from Snyder (pass failed)
RH — Kovach 3 un (Larew kick)
RH — Burt 20 interception return (Larew kick)
RH — Abbott 29 run (Larew kick)
DC — Smith 5 run (kick failed)
DC — Carrabino 80 pass from Teague (Saunders kick)
DC — Smith 3 run (Saunders kick)
Individual statistics
RUSHING — Rose, Kovach 33-88, Abbott 4-73, Snyder 7-16, Francis 2-4, team 1-(-1). Defiance, Burrell 15-77, Smith 12-55, Teague 15-52, Chester 6-23, Carrabino 2-11, Lopez 1-7.
PASSING — Rose, Snyder 12-26-0 149. Defiance, Teague 16-34-1 248.
RECEIVING — Rose, Dye 6-91, Abbott 4-35, Kovach 2-23. Defiance, Carrabino 6-167, Burrell 4-20, Garces 2-24, Mircovich 1-17, Smith 1-9, Lopez 1-7, Chester 1-4.
Next — Rose (1-2 overall, 1-0 HCAC) will play host to Manchester for homecoming at 2 p.m. next Saturday at Cook Stadium. Defiance is now 0-3 and 0-1 respectively.
