CARLISLE, Pa. - For the second straight season the Dickinson football team began their campaign with a matchup against the Engineers of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and unfortunately for the Red and White RPI did just enough to hold off DC earning a 38-27 non-conference win in front of a big crowd at Biddle Field on Saturday afternoon.
After the opening drives for both teams stalled out RPI began their second possession of the season at their own 4-yardline after a booming 55-yard punt from
Matt Maiona. A couple of short runs coupled with a 24-yard Jake Kazanowsky pass to Hayden Faraday along with a defensive pass interference brought the ball to the RPI46. Three consecutive completions of 8, 5 and 39 yards set the stage for Kazanowsky to find Jimmy McGoey for a two-yard touchdown strike (Jared Elstein kick). Two more empty possession put the rock back in Dickinson quarterback
Presley Egbers hands at the RPI39 with 1:02 left in the first. A rush of two yards by
Diante Ball and a six-yard pass to
Devlin McCool had the ball on visitors 31 to end the first. Dickinson continued their march to begin the second as a five-yard scamper by Egbers made it first-and-ten on the 26. The drive lasted just one more play with Egbers flipping the ball out to
Princeton Douglass who bounced off a few tacklers and raced 26-yards to the house (
Justin Worobel kick).
After Dickinson stuffed Kazanowsky on a fourth-and-one from the RPI48 on a joint hit by
Anton Jacobs and
Brendan Walker the Red and White began a drive with 11:10 left in the half in plus territory. The running back tandem of Ball and Douglass along with a six-yard pass to
Bryce Peterson gave DC the opportunity to line up for a 42-yard field goal. Unfortunately, the attempt by
Kieran O'Neill missed to the left keeping things at 7-7. The ensuing Engineers possession saw Kazanowsky do a majority of the damage through the air hooking up with Anthony Meissner, Paisley Nickelson, Sterling Walker-Sutton and Faraday, before culminating in a one-yard plunge for Kazanowsky (Elstein kick) to take a 14-7 edge to the break.
The Devils would begin the opening march of the third on their own 24 and used passes to Douglass and Ball, as well as an Egbers charge to advance the drive to the RPI43. Two Ball rushes picked up 18 yards, while
Noah Boyd collected a single yard making it 2nd-and-9 on the 24. Unfortunately, two straight incompletions led to a 41-yard crack for O'Neill, but for the second time on the day he would be unable to convert. Kayden White totaled 43 yards on the ground on the opening two plays of the RPI to move the ball to the DC33, before Kazanowsky hit Faraday (17) and McGoey (6) on consecutive plays to the 10. A delay of game penalty backed RPI up five yards, but it was not enough to keep them off the board as White plowed ahead from a yard out (Elstein kick) to make it 21-7 through three.
RPI would be back on the attack to start the fourth as they began the period in the midst of a drive that had them down at the DC36. The Engineers used a "ground-and-pound" approach with Christian Buckley and Kazanowsky running the ball on six straight plays to set the stage for a 31-yard field goal by Elstein for the 24-7 advantage with 11:56 left. Egbers then embarked on an "air attack" to try and bring the Devils back into the game hitting four different receivers (
Calder Shanks, Ball, Maiona and McCool) to get down to the RPI1, before Ball capped the 12-play march with a one-yard rush pulling to within 24-14 (Worobel kick). However, it took the Engineers just three plays for Kazanowsky to connect with Faraday for a 55-yard TD (Elstein kick). The Red and White continued to ride the arm of Egbers in a valiant attempt to mount a comeback hitting five passes in a row to
Kellen Boyer,
Keesean Campbell, Douglass, and Markey to advance to the RPI1. After three straight incompletions, Ball posted his second rushing TD of the game (Worobel kick) to close within 31-21 still with four minutes left. Once again the Engineers had the answer as on first down from the RPI44, White took the handoff and turned the corner to race 56 yards to the house (Elstein kick). The Devils added one more score of their own with a 13-play "two minute drill" that culminated in Egbers hitting Boyer from a yard out on the final play of the game to set the 38-27 final.
Defensively, Dickinson was led by
John Prochniak who posted 13 tackles, including eight solo stops. The duo of
James Basilii and Walker accounted for 15 stops and one pass breakup. The group of
Lewis Baer,
Bram Leys and
Jeremy Reid each tallied six hits on the afternoon.
Up Next
Dickinson (0-1) continues their two-game homestand to open the season when the Pioneers of William Patterson University come to Biddle Field on Saturday, September 9th for a 1pm kickoff.
