The Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) football team rushed for 198 yards and three touchdowns to defeat Buffalo State College 28-26 in a Liberty League contest at East Campus Stadium. The Engineers improve to 5-3 overall and 2-2 in the conference, while the Bengals fall to 1-7 and 1-3.
Sophomore Peter Lombardi had a 48-yard touchdown to open the scoring and then added a 28-yard TD reception to put RPI ahead for good midway through the fourth quarter. He finished with 57 rushing yards on two carries and 58 receiving yards on four receptions. Senior Marc Meislahn (43 yards on 7 att.) added a 9-yard touchdown in the second quarter and sophomore Joe Scaglione (team-high 86 yards on 8 att.) scored from 40 yards away in the third.
Following Lombardi's touchdown run, which he took on a jet sweep before breaking three tackles on his way to the end zone, the Bengals tied the game on their next series on a halfback pass. Lined up at quarterback, Bailey, a running back, threw the ball down the left side and connected with Joe Stewart in stride. Stewart cut to the middle of the field and found the end zone with 6:37 left in the first quarter.
Again lined up at QB, Bailey put the visitors in front with a five yard run 1:04 into the second quarter before Meislahn ran in from nine yards out to cap an 8-play, 62-yard drive with 4:57 to go in the half. Meislahn, a slot receiver, took the shotgun snap from center, ran to his left and then cut up the middle of the field to tie the game at 14-14.
A 32-yard field goal from Buffalo State's Tommy Carr six minutes into the third quarter gave the Bengals a 17-14 lead, but Scaglione scored three plays later when he ran up the middle and beat everyone to the end zone. Buffalo State wide receiver Jordan Evert countered three minutes later with a 3-yard, 1-handed touchdown catch from Zak Ciezki in the front of the end zone to finish a 73-yard drive. The catch was the third of the series for the senior, who had 54 receiving yards on three receptions on the drive.
The score remained 24-21 until midway through the fourth quarter when Lombardi caught a short pass coming across the line of scrimmage from George Marinopoulos, which the slot receiver cut up field and into the end zone for a 28-21 edge. Buffalo State added a safety when it tackled a runner in the end zone following a punt that was downed inside the 1-yard line, but it went 3-and-out on the ensuing possession and punted. RPI ran out the clock from that point.
Marinopoulos completed 16 of 24 passes for 186 yards, including 14 yards on three catches by Meislahn. Seven others had at least one reception, including freshman Sterling Walker-Sutton, who made a diving 35-yard catch. Senior defensive back Andres Guisasola led the Engineers with eight tackles, including five unassisted and one for lost yards (1), while John Sadak made seven stops (3 unassisted). Francis Perry had six unassisted tackles for RPI, which limited the Bengals to 94 rushing yards on 27 attempts.
Bailey had 37 yards on 13 carries on the ground and was 2 of 3 passing for 89 yards. He also caught five balls for 19 yards. Evert had nine receptions for 144 yards and a 31-yard pass on a fake punt. Ciezki was 23 of 37 for 239 yards with 33 rushing yards on eight carries. Gino Bonagura made eight tackles with five coming unassisted and one for a loss of two yards and Anthony Wasiyo had six tackles (4 solo).
Buffalo State is back in action on Saturday at Hobart College (6pm), while the Engineers host Ithaca College (12pm). Both games are Liberty League contests.
Rensselaer Runs Past Buffalo State, 28-26
/seasons/2019/boxscores/20191102_26u8.xml
2019
Buffalo State
26
RPI
28
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | T |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Buffalo State (1-7) | 7 | 7 | 10 | 2 | 26 |
| RPI (5-3) | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 28 |
Nov 02, 2019