Quarterback-receiver chemistry fuels Engineers
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Being together with someone for that long gives you a pretty strong bond.
"Eren's a great player, I've played with him for four years," Robertson said. "I know what he's going to do, and he knows what I'm going to do."
The two put their close-knit relationship to good use on a picture-perfect Saturday, as Robertson hit Savasli for two first-quarter touchdowns en route to a 35-14 win over Liberty League opponent Susquehanna at ’86 Field on Homecoming.
"It's great as a quarterback to have a receiver that no matter what kind of ball you throw him, he's going to get it," said Robertson, who added a Liberty League Co-offensive player of the week award to his list.
Just as on the field, Savasli, who had 161 yards receiving to go along with his two scores, echoed his quarterback's thoughts afterwards.
"[We've] been roommates since freshman year, we're best friends on and off the field," Savasli said. "We have a good connection, we've been working together for four years now. We know each other really well, I know what he's thinking and he knows what I'm thinking."
That makes things much easier for the RPI offense.
"When he's scrambling, he's knows where I'm going to be and where I'm going to break off my route," Savasli said.
RPI head coach Joe King said the combination of Robertson and Savasli makes the rest of the Engineers that much better.
"Those two kids have been playing together a long time. They looked pretty good," King said. "They've done a lot of work. They get together during the summer to throw ... great combinations don't show up and just play in the fall. These kids really care about the program."
 Eren Savasli has 32 catches for 596 yards and six touchdowns. Rochester photo by Jeffrey Levy |
"One of our goals was to go undefeated on 86 since we're the last class to play on it," Robertson said.
"We want to make sure we win every game to go undefeated," Savasli said.
At 5-0 overall and 3-0 in the Liberty League this season, RPI seems to be in the driver's seat, but no one will look forward -- all they see is a long trip on Saturday to St. Lawrence and a date with the Saints.
"Coach King's motto is that the most important game is this one," Savasli said. "Every week we're taking it one game at a time and that's how we'll continue to do it."
"We're looking at St. Lawrence next week and nothing beyond that," said King, who has coached at RPI since 1989. "The last two times (in 2004 and 2006) we got beat up there. It's a tough place to play. Records mean nothing in this league this year. Sometimes they do, but this year they don't. Everybody has knocked everybody else off, we're going to try to have a good week of practice and see if we can play our best game."
Slowing the Aggie train
Delaware Valley was untracked on their way to a lead in the Middle Atlantic Conference as the Aggies fell to conference rival FDU-Florham 19-14.
FDU-Florham senior quarterback Bill Winters threw for a touchdown and ran for one to lead the Devils to their first win over Delaware Valley since 1999.
Delaware Valley sophomore linebacker Kyle Gesswein had a great day statistically, making 17 tackles to lead the Aggies, including 5.5 tackles for loss and 3.5 sacks.
Five teams -- five! -- Delaware Valley, Albright, Lebanon Valley, Wilkes and Lycoming are all 2-1 in conference, but it's going to take a crowbar to wrench a division title from these five teams.
Staying in the MAC, Lebanon Valley helped make it a five-team race with a 20-13 overtime win over Widener. Freshman Ben Guiles caught a 2-yard touchdown pass to give the Dutchmen the win. Anthony Pezzella had six tackles and two sacks for Lebanon Valley. More on this game later.
Wilkes moved to 2-1 as well with a 27-13 win over Lycoming. Defensive back Kevin Gerhart made 11 tackles and had three interceptions to lead the Colonels to the win. In the loss, Lycoming's Brad Shellenberger caught eight passes for 164 yards and a touchdown. The touchdown was a 98-yard pass play, one of the longest in Division III football this season.
Ithaca returned to the Top 25, at No. 23, and the Bombers made good on the new ranking by blowing out Frostburg State 51-24. IC held Frostburg State to 84 total rushing yards on the day and Thomas Bergerstock ran for 196 yards and four touchdowns to up their record to 5-1 overall.
Montclair State broke out of its offensive funk in a big way against NJAC member Buffalo State on Saturday as the Red Hawks won 45-28. Freshman quarterback Tom Fischer threw for 220 yards and four touchdowns as Montclair State recorded a program-high 560 yards of offense, beating the old record by 2 yards. The Red Hawks are 4-1 in conference, with only a loss to Cortland, so they will be fighting it out for a Pool C at-large bid the rest of the year.
Another Liberty League running back had a pretty big day on Saturday. Rochester's Clarence Onyiruka carried the ball 39 times for 134 yards and two touchdowns as the Yellowjackets took down the Merchant Marine Academy.
Chris Pesota helped the cause by returning a fumble 85 yards for a touchdown.
The Mariners' Karl Heimbrock tried to keep his team in the game with a 61-yard interception return, but the Yellowjackets were too much.
Great performances
RPI's Nick Costa ran for two touchdowns in the 35-14 Homecoming win over Susquehanna, but was hurt in the third quarter and didn't return. King said Tuesday it was still a day-to-day thing, and wasn't sure yet when Costa could be ready to play.
Hartwick had nearly 700 yards in total offense and special teams in the Hawks' 49-12 win against Becker. Jason Boltus threw for 361 yards and five touchdowns in the rout.
Montclair State's Matt Jimenez carried the ball only 12 times, but ran for 192 yards and two touchdowns in their big win over Buffalo State.
Cortland's Andrew Giuliano ran for 131 more yards and three more touchdowns as the Red Dragons moved to 6-0 overall and in the New Jersey Athletic Conference with a 41-14 win over Western Connecticut.
Union spotted St. Lawrence 14 points on two Connor Hackett touchdowns, but then held them scoreless afterward as the Dutchmen won 35-14. Union's Chris Coney only ran for 79 yards, but scored three touchdowns, and quarterback Andrew Connolly completed nine passes for 218 yards and two touchdowns.
Marc Fabiano made eight tackles and had three and a half sacks as The College of New Jersey rolled to a 24-7 win over NJAC foe William Paterson.
Springfield freshman quarterback Josh Carter had 255 total yards -- 161 passing and two touchdowns, 94 rushing and one touchdown -- in the Pride's 43-23 win over Mount Ida in a non-conference matchup on Saturday.
Pride freshman linebacker Brenden Moore made a season-high 17 tackles in the win.
In a matchup of the top two teams in the Empire 8, Alfred beat Utica 27-10 at Charles A. Gaetano Stadium. Alfred receiver Jared Manzer had seven catches for 138 yards and a touchdown. The Saxons' Marc Mangovski made nine tackles, two for loss, a sack and a pass knockdown, to hold the Pioneers to 10 points.
Recordbreakers/milestones
Brockport State put a kink in Kean's playoff chances with a last-second 36-34 win on Saturday. Brockport senior running back scored the winning touchdown from 1 yard out with six seconds left to beat the Cougars. A bunch of records were broken in this one.
For Brockport State, Garet Lynch ran for 125 yards and three touchdowns. The three scores give him 14 on the season, a new Brockport record, and the 86 points he's scored in the first six games is another new record.
On the Kean side, senior Durell Dukes became the all-time leader in receptions and touchdown catches. In three seasons, Dukes has 145 catches, breaking the record of 142 set by Kevin McGuirl from 1985-1988. He has 32 career touchdowns, breaking McGuirl's record of 30.
He tied the record for touchdown catches in a game with four, too. Dukes has 13 touchdown catches this season, a new Kean record, first held at 12 by Joe Troise (1974).
Ithaca receiver Zach Connett caught his first career touchdown pass in the Bombers' win over Frostburg State.
Lebanon Valley sophomore kicker Brittany Ryan kicked the first two field goals of her varsity career, a 30-yarder and a 22-yarder, in the Dutchmen's 20-13 overtime win.
FDU-Florham senior kicker Michael Barnard kicked a career-long and school-record 47-yard field goal in the Devils 19-14 win over Delaware Valley.
Rowan quarterback Frank Wilczynski combined for three touchdowns in the Profs' 58-14 win over Morrisville. Wilczynski broke the Rowan school record for rushing touchdowns by a quarterback with seven, set by Mike Orihel '05 and Larry Lewis '85.
The Profs' defense and special teams did a pretty good job too. Matt Hoffman was all over the field on defense, making eight tackles, including four for loss, three sacks, one forced fumble and one pass defense. Jerome Gordon blocked two punts and returned one for a score in the blowout. Rowan is 4-1 in conference, and could be in a good Pool C position.
Other minutiae
Hartwick senior receiver Jack Phelan only caught four passes for 79 yards against Becker. So what's so great about that? All four were for touchdowns.
Albright held King's to only 40 yards rushing as the Lions shut out King's 16-0 in a MAC matchup on Saturday.
The score doesn't show it, but both teams played pretty good defense in the St. John Fisher-Norwich matchup on Saturday. The Cadets held St. John Fisher to 77 yards rushing, while the Cardinals held Norwich to 162 yards of total offense.
In the end, a 69-yard interception return by Kenny Bostick and a fumble in the fourth quarterback helped contribute to a 45-6 blowout for St. John Fisher. The Cardinals are 4-3 overall, but 2-1 in conference, so we'll have to see how the Empire 8 shakes out.
Top 10
1. Cortland State
2. RPI
3. Ithaca
4. St. John Fisher
5. Hartwick
6. Hobart
7. Alfred
8. WPI
9. Rowan
10. Montclair State
So many teams worthy of being in the top 10, I think I need a top 17 this week,
Some of the other teams right below the threshold include Delaware Valley (who I had to boot out ... even though the FDU game was a conference game, it's one the Aggies should win), Lycoming, Lebanon Valley, Kean, and others.
Also, just wanted to give a shout-out to Frank Rossi and Eric for "In the HuddLLe" the Liberty League talk show. It's on blogtalkradio.com at 7:30 p.m. Sundays and Frank and Eric have on many different guests, including that week's Gamebreaker, coaches from the different Liberty League teams, and even a D3 columnist or two.
It's an excellent show, and a nice fix for the D3 and/or Liberty League fan.