The COVID year off was an especially restrictive one for RPI, but Peter Lombardi and 53 other seniors and grad students are making sure the Engineers squeeze everything they can out of the 2021 football season. RPI athletics photo by Perry Laskaris

By Joe Sager
D3sports.com

Missing an entire season could be devastating to some football programs.

In addition to multiple games lost, various team practices and strength and conditioning sessions were wiped out by COVID-19 precautions over the past year or so for many teams.

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s seniors took it upon themselves to make sure that negative impact was limited. They organized informal gatherings throughout the fall, winter and spring to keep the team prepared for a return to official team activities this in August.

The initiative paid off as the Engineers built a 5-0 start.

“Our great senior leadership is a key to that. We have 16 graduate students that have returned for their final season here and have another 38 in their senior season right now. So, that’s 54 guys that have been with us for quite some time right now,” RPI coach Ralph Isernia said. “The preparation our guys put in throughout the whole pandemic is what allowed them to be ready to play that Week 1 game. We didn’t have the benefit of a fall season or spring practice. Our guys were lifting on their own off campus. None of the facilities were open to any of them. It takes a special type of person to put in the work day in and day out. I credit senior leadership for getting all that done.

“When we came back to camp this year, our first day of camp was the first day in 628 days our team was actually together.”

While some programs practiced last fall and played games in the spring, RPI did not. Faced with no season or any official team activities last fall, winter and spring, the squad’s seniors weren’t about to just sit on their couches watching TV after their classes were done.

“We had a lot of motivated guys – a lot of guys eager to work out as a group and improve and get better,” RPI senior quarterback George Marinopoulos said. “We had a good showing pretty much every week. We got together a couple times last fall. But, mostly we really got after it in the spring two or three times a week as a group.

“A bunch of us had public gym memberships in the area. We’d see each other there,” he continued. “I still remember in January, we had some big snowstorms. We had 20-25 guys shoveling snow off a field so we could do some work. We’ve definitely come a long way since then.”

George Marinopoulos's final season has been a productive one so far. RPI athletics photo by Perry Laskaris

The team’s last game before the pandemic was a 41-38 loss at Grove City in the 2019 ECAC James Lynah Bowl. So, the team was eager to get back on the field to erase that bad taste.

“Losing a season and all that practice was tough and it could have been something that really hampered our season this year,” RPI senior wide receiver Peter Lombardi said. “We weren’t going to let that happen. We went out and got a lot of good work in. You can see the chemistry we have. We didn’t lose a step and that’s playing a big part in our success this year.”

The Engineers rallied in the fourth quarter to win their first two games – 21-20 over Montclair State and 14-10 over Stevenson. They followed with wins over WPI (24-10), St. John Fisher (41-7) and Rochester (38-22) in their Liberty League opener.

“We knew that, coming into the season, we had some big tests, especially starting off with our nonconference schedule,” Isernia said. “We knew we had to be prepared. Coming to camp, our guys were in shape and ready to go and were prepared for the season.”

The players credit their extra work giving them the chance to come back in their first two games before most players had a chance to get acclimated.

“It definitely was a challenge last year. If we came out and lost a couple games to start the season, no one would have felt sorry for us for having no practices in the fall or spring,” Marinopoulos said. “Getting last season taken away, this season just means so much more after not having it last year. It just means a ton to be back playing again. It’s been a whole lot of fun being back this year.”

The chemistry remains strong, especially for RPI’s passing game. Already, Marinopoulos has passed for 1,261 yards and 16 touchdowns. He threw for 308 yards against Rochester and completed passes to nine different players.

“It all comes back to the work we put in,” Lombardi said. “We have an endless amount of playmakers on the team, whether you look at the receivers, running backs or line. George is playing well; we’re clicking. If we keep putting in the work, we’ll keep putting out a better product every single week.

“I would imagine it is really hard for a defensive coordinator to game plan for us because we really do use everybody. Having that kind of flexibility is a testament to how many playmakers we have and the willingness to trust guys and ride whomever has the hot hand. It makes us very unpredictable.”

With 32 catches for 336 yards and four touchdowns, Lombardi has been the top target for Marinopoulos. However, 15 Engineers have caught a pass and nine have at least a touchdown.

“That’s one of the things we’ve prided ourselves on in all five of my years here. We have a lot of depth and still have success. We’ve had some guys out, but other guys were ready to step up and play. It’s awesome having confidence in a bunch of different guys being able to make plays,” Marinopoulos said. “Our passing game has been awesome these past few weeks. The offensive line is playing well for us. We have a lot of playmakers on the outside and in the run game. It’s been a lot of fun playing with these guys. We’re going to try to keep this up for the rest of the year.”

Though the Engineers have been able to get back on the field this year, some of their family and friends have had to keep their distance. Attendance for all home RPI sports events is limited only to faculty, staff and students who are fully compliant with the Institute’s COVID-19 protocols. External spectators are not permitted on Rensselaer’s campus at this time.

“That’s not something we focus on. We’ve got around 128 guys on our roster and we have to bring our own juice and make our own noise on the sideline,” Isernia said. “The crowd and all that external stuff is something we don’t focus on. It was a decision made by our administration and those are things we can’t control.”

The lack of full crowds at East Campus Stadium, which has a capacity of 5,200, hasn’t been a negative, though. It’s brought the RPI’s sports teams closer together as other Engineers athletes are coming to football games and football players are attending other sporting events, too.

“We’re all going through the same things,” Isernia said. “That hasn’t gone unnoticed. Our guys are attending their games and making a lot of noise.”

“The support with the different teams has been awesome. Everyone knows we’re all that we got,” Marinopoulos said. “It’s been nice to see, especially with the different athletic teams supporting each other and going to everyone’s games.”

For now, family and friends are limited to watching home RPI games from afar – on a hillside outside of East Campus Stadium.

“It’s not the best view, but just having the parents there and knowing they will support us is huge. I know it weighs heavy for a lot of us and I love the fact that I know my parents are there each game,” Lombardi said. “We can only control what we can control. We can’t control the school’s policies or what happens with COVID. No matter how many people are in the stands, it doesn’t matter because we have to bring our own energy and focus.

“The support from the people that can come to the games has been great. I think it’s brought us, as student-athletes, closer together. l think we have a really tight-knit team. I think that’s a normal factor in our success, but, especially, this year. It just feels a little different.“