TROY, NY – The Alfred University football team moved to 2-0 on the season with a 33-17 victory over host RPI Saturday afternoon.
AU jumped out to a 27-0 halftime lead before the host Engineers made it close with a third-quarter rally. Two field goals by Alfred junior kicker Trevor Monk, his third and fourth of the game, helped the Saxons pull away late.
Alfred opened the scoring with a 24-yard Monk field goal, capping the Saxons' 11-play, 71-yard opening drive. RPI fumbled at the AU 40-yard line on its ensuing possession and the Saxons made the Engineers pay, driving 60 yards in six plays, with junior tailback Maleke Fuentes scoring on a six-yard run with 3:38 left in the first.
The Saxons went up 17-0 after scoring on their first drive of the second quarter. After an RPI punt gave AU the ball at their own 20, the Saxons marched 80-yards in 11 plays, with senior quarterback Tyler Johnson connecting with senior tailback Casey Bright on an eight-yard touchdown pass with 10:05 left in the half. Alfred took a 24-0 lead with 5:01 left before intermission, with senior wideout Brendan Buisch catching a 17-yard TD pass from Johnson to complete a six-play 46-yard drive. The Saxons closed out the first-half scoring on a 23-yard Monk field goal as time expired.
Alfred dominated play in the first 30 minutes, collecting 336 yards of total offense while holding the Engineers to 96.
RPI scored the first 17 points of the second half to draw within 10 points. The hosts took the second-half kickoff and drove 69 yards on 11 plays, with Ed Trimpert tossing a 30-yard TD pass to Johnny Ramsdell on fourth-and-5 with 9:15 left in the quarter. RPI hit a pooch kick that the Engineers rcovered at the AU 32-yard line and two plays later Mike Tivinis ran 17 yards for a touchdown to make it 27-14 with 8:29 left in the period. A Christian Kapp 26-yard field goal with 5:13 left in the third cut Alfred's lead to 10 points, at 27-17.
Monk's third field goal of the game, a 35-yarder with 13 seconds left in the third, gave the Saxons a 30-17 advantage, and his 42-yarder with 4:12 left in regulation closed out the game's scoring. On RPI's preceding drive, the Engineers drove to the AU 5-yard line, but Trimpert fumbled and AU senior tackle Dave Carloni recovered at the Saxon 8-yard line.
Johnson came up huge for the Saxons, rushing 15 times for 120 yards and completing 18 of 26 passes for 198 yards and two touchdowns. Bright added 99 yards on 21 carries while Buisch had 66 receiving yards on six catches and senior wide receiver Emile Frigon had two catches for 41 yards.
Monk was perfect on the day, making all three extra-point tries and all four field goal attempts. His three PATs ran his consecutive extra point streak (dating back to the beginning of last season) to 39.
Tivinis had 75 yards rushing on 13 carries for RPI. Trimpert was 8-of-16 passing for 80 yards and Ramsdell had five catches for 48 yards.
AU junior linebacker A.J. Licata had 15 tackles (two for loss, 1 ½ sacks) and freshman linebacker Isaiah Moak had 13 (one for loss, half-sack) to pace the Saxon defense. Senior end Charles Branwell and junior end Toby Hale each had a sack.
Bryan Hayes had 14 tackles And Alex Greenidge 14 for the Engineers.
AU opens Empire 8 Conference play on Saturday, Sept. 17, at noon at Buffalo State.