Box Score
TROY, N.Y. - Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) enjoyed a balanced offensive effort and a solid defensive performance to defeat Utica College, 41-10, in a non-league Division III football game at ’86 Field. The Engineers, who are now 2-0, rushed for 215 yards and passed for 259 while holding the Pioneers to 170 yards of total offense. With the loss, Utica falls to 2-1.
Running back Jay Bernardo (East Greenbush, NY/LaSalle Institute) and quarterback Jimmy Robertson (Yonkers, NY/Iona Prep) led Rensselaer’s offensive attack. A junior, Bernardo rushed 19 times for 132 yards and three touchdowns while Robertson, a freshman, completed 24-of-32 passes for 259 yards and three touchdowns. He did not throw any interceptions in what was his first varsity game. Bernardo also caught five passes for 37 yards.
Utica opened the scoring when junior kicker Michael Blanchfield (Hoosick Falls, NY/Cambridge) connected on a 27-yard field goal with 6:44 remaining in the first quarter. Rensselaer came right back, however, to take the lead, 7-3, when Robertson found sophomore Brendan McGowan (Mesa, AZ/Mountain View) for a 15-yard touchdown with 2:26 left in the opening quarter. RPI’s scoring drive covered ten plays and 65 yards in 4:08. The Engineers added six points when Robertson hit junior tight end Jon Branche (Schenectady, NY/Colonie) for a 34-yard touchdown as the first quarter expired. The extra point was missed and RPI led, 13-6, after one.
Rensselaer increased its lead to 20-3 when Bernardo capped a seven-play, 30-yard drive with a four-yard touchdown run with 3:24 left in the second quarter.
RPI exploded for 21 points in the third quarter to go ahead, 41-3. McGowan caught a 16-yarder from Robertson with 9:32 left before Bernardo scored two more times within a minute late in the stanza to close out Rensselaer’s scoring. He scored from 25 yards out with 1:42 left and from two yards away with just 35 seconds left in the third. Bernardo’s third touchdown of the game was set up by a 19-yard fumble return by senior defensive lineman Honorio Borba (Freeville, NY/Dryden). Utica finished the game’s scoring just 17 seconds later when quarterback Nick Martin (Rome, NY/Rome Free Academy) hit senior tight end Brian Barth (Greene, NY/Greene Central) from a yard out. Sophomore Anwaar Muhammad (Elmhurst, NY/Continental) set up the touchdown with an 86-yard kickoff return to the RPI 1-yard line.
Martin, a junior, finished the game with 128 yards and a touchdown on 14-of-26 passing. Barth was the primary receiver, catching five passes for 54 yards. Defensively, junior defensive back Jon Klosner (Ilion, NY/Ilion) made a game-high 11 tackles, including ten unassisted, while Dominic Tripp (Utica, NY/New Hartford) had ten stops, including seven solos.
Defensively for RPI, which held Utica to just 40 yards rushing, sophomore Tom Rayhill (Grand Island, NY/Grand Island) had seven tackles, including four solos and a nine-yard sack, two forced fumbles and a fumble recovery. Senior Jimmy Motzkin (Lynnfield, MA/Lynnfield) added a team-high eight tackles.
Rensselaer is back in action next Saturday when it travels to Hobart for a Liberty League contest at 1pm. Utica is idle until October 1 when it hosts Empire 8 foe Springfield College (1:30pm).
