TROY, NY – Host Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute capitalized on a slow start from the University of Rochester and earned a 49-10 victory in a Liberty League football matchup on Saturday afternoon at East Campus Stadium.
RPI (7-1, 3-1 Liberty League), jumped out to a 21-0 lead just six minutes into the game and led 35-0 midway through the second quarter. Rochester got on the board late in the opening half with a Jordan Laudani 30-yard field goal, with RPI scoring the lone points of the third quarter to boost its lead to 49-3.
In the final quarter, Rochester (5-4, 2-3 Liberty League) provided the only scoring play, with Ryan Rose finding Aidan Papantonis for a 2-yard touchdown pass to reach the final score of 49-10.
The loss snaps UR's four-game road winning streak in 2023, as the 2023 team was looking to become the first team in school history to win five road contests in the same season.
Rensselaer's hot start on offense was fueled by a 47-yard passing play from Jake Kazanowsky to Anthony Meissner on just the second play from scrimmage, getting the Engineers deep into UR territory. Three plays later, it was 7-0 RPI after Christian Buckley rushed up the middle for a 9-yard touchdown.
On the Yellowjackets first drive of the game, Rose found Trey Johnson for eight yards and Will Varney plunged for a first down on the opening two plays. The next play ended with a score for the Engineers, as a pass down the left side was picked off by Anthony D'Agostino and returned 31 yards for a touchdown, boosting the lead to 14-0.
UR's next possession was a 3-and-out, eating up just over 90 seconds and the ball was punted right back to RPI. Sterling Walker-Sutton provided a nice return and the Engineers again wasted no time to find the end zone, needing just three plays to go 32 yards and reach pay dirt. This time it was Kazanowsky completing a 21-yard pass over the middle to Sean Kelly for the 21-0 Engineer lead.
Early in the second quarter, RPI's offense continued to churn out points, with Kayden White scoring from three yards out on a rush over the right end.
After Kazanowsky rushed up the middle for a 5-yard score to make it 35-0 RPI, the Yellowjackets finally got on the board with Laudani's field goal with under two minutes to play in the half.
The UR scoring drive was 61 yards over 11 plays, with the big play being a 30-yard pass from Rose to Johnson up the right side. Laudani's field goal was his eighth of the season, matching his career-high from the 2022 campaign. It also was his 16th career field goal made, moving him into a tie for second place on the Rochester career list, matching Tony Cipolla's total from the late 1970's.
During the second half, Rochester's opening drive ended with RPI blocking a punt, setting up the Engineers with just 19 yards to go for a touchdown. Rensselaer again needed just three plays to score, with Kazanowsky finding Walker-Sutton for the 16-yard score.
Walker-Sutton finished off the RPI scoring a couple drives later, rushing up the middle for 14 yards to the end zone.
Rochester's only touchdown drive of the game spanned the end of the third and start of the fourth quarters. Jay Zheng provided a 14-yard run up the middle to reach midfield and later converted a 3rd-and-7 play with a 14-yard scamper over the left end to move Rochester inside the RPI 5-yard line.
Four plays later on 4th-and-goal, Rose found Papantonis on a play-action just inside the pylon along the left side for the sophomore's fifth receiving touchdown of the season. Rose's 14th passing score of the season moves the junior into a tie for 7th-most in a single-season in Rochester history.
For the game, Rose ended 22-for-41 passing for 202 yards, tossing the one touchdown along with a pair of interceptions. His favorite target was Johnson who caught nine balls for 78 yards, who now has 67 receptions on the year, second most in a season at Rochester. Papantonis finished with six catches for 65 yards and a score.
On the ground, Zheng posted his first career 100-yard performance, finishing with 104 yards on 17 carries, averaging 6.1 yards a tote. Varney added 35 yards on his 17 carries.
Defensively, Rochester's Jordy Tawa and Happy Chane led the team with six tackles each. Tawa added two pass break-ups. Joe DeBonies recorded a sack from his defensive line spot.
Both teams ended up with 371 yards in the game. The difference was the total number of plays run, as RPI needed only 57 plays to get to that total, while UR needed 88. That equals a 6.5 yards per play average for the hosts, compared to 4.2 yards per play for Rochester.
UR gets its bye week next week before hosting Hobart College in the season finale on Saturday November 11, with kickoff set for noon at Fauver Stadium.