Published: September 28, 2008 12:17 am            

Rose-Hulman knocks off prestigous D-III program

Cincinnati — Rose-Hulman knocked off a Mount St. Joseph squad that has qualified for the NCAA Division III National Playoffs for four consecutive years by a 27-21 count in the Heartland Conference football opener on Saturday night.

The victory was Rose-Hulman’s first win over Mount St. Joseph in seven tries and was the first Engineer victory in a league opener since the 2003 season.

Junior Calvin Bueltel led the offensive effort with a career-high 168 rushing yards and two touchdowns. Sophomore Derek Eitel finished 14-for-22 through the air for 178 yards and one touchdown to balance the attack.

“I’ve never been more proud of our team. It was a total team effort. We came up with a couple of big turnovers and the huge special teams play at the end. This is a great victory for our program, and I could not be more proud of these guys,” said Engineer coach Steve Englehart.

The Engineers dominated the statistics against a Mount St. Joseph team that had allowed just seven points in their first two games. Rose-Hulman held the ball for more than 40 minutes of the game and outgained the Lions by a 405-268 margin in the contest.

“Derek Eitel knew that he did not play well last week, but he had a fabulous game this week. He did exactly what we as coaches asked him to do. Calvin Bueltel had a huge night rushing the ball. When he gets the ball, he just goes after it,” said Englehart.

Rose-Hulman jumped out to a 7-0 lead on its first offensive possession, a 14-play marched that covered 86 yards. The drive included a pair of fourth down conversion running plays, before Eitel connected with sophomore Reed Eason on a four-yard touchdown pass.

The Engineers relied on a fumbled punt return to take a 27-21 lead with 4:41 left in the fourth quarter. Senior Phil Poetter mishandled a punt inside the 10-yard line, and Schrock recovered the fumble at the two-yard line. Bueltel scored from two yards out on the next play to give Rose-Hulman the lead, but Poetter blocked the extra point to keep the margin at six points.

Rose-Hulman improved to 3-1 on the season and won their first league season opener since 2003 with the victory. Mount St. Joseph dropped to 2-1 on the campaign and 0-1 in league play. The Engineers return to action for their Homecoming game against Manchester College on Saturday.

        

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