TROY, N.Y. - Sophomore quarterback Jake Kazanowsky led a 10-play, 70-yard drive that ended with an 8-yard touchdown pass to senior D.J. Palmer with 24 seconds left in the fourth quarter to give the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) football team a 14-13 lead and Engineers defeated Hobart College 16-13 in a Liberty League game at East Campus Stadium. RPI improves to 5-2 overall and 3-0 in the conference, while the Statesmen are now 3-3 and 0-2.
Trailing 13-2 early in the fourth quarter following a Hobart touchdown, the Engineers pulled to within one score midway through the frame when Kazanowsky found Palmer, a senior, in the end zone from 29 yards out. The 2-point conversion failed and RPI trailed 13-8 with 7:44 left in the fourth. The Statesmen began the ensuing drive on their own 25 yard line and gained a first down on a 15-yard RPI penalty and another on three rushing plays. A Statesmen penalty of 15 yards later in the drive eventually led to a punt and RPI got the ball back on its own 30 yard line with 2:50 to play.
Following a rush, Kazanowsky hit receivers for 7, 14, 1, 16, and 10 yards to get the home team to 1st and 10 at the Hobart 21 yard line. Dylan Burnett rushed for four yards and on 2nd and 6 from the 17-yard line, Kazanowsky and Palmer hooked up for a 9-yard gain. It was on the next play that they connected for the fourth time in the game to put RPI ahead for the first time since it led 2-0 in the third quarter. Kazanowsky's 2-point conversion made it 16-13.
The Engineers had the only points of the first half when an errant Hobart snap ended up going out of the back of the end zone. The first 30 minutes saw RPI register eight first downs while allowing none and Rensselaer out-gaining the Statesmen 137-11, including 102-12 on the ground and 35- -1 through the air.
Hobart's offense heated up in the second half with senior quarterback David Krewson hitting two receivers on long touchdown passes. The first was a 38-yard strike that Alex LaBella reached over a close-covering defender and pulled down to finish a 10-play, 60-yard drive at 3:02 of the third quarter. On the second, Rane Daramola was open inside the 10 yard line and reached the pylon for a 33-yard touchdown and a 13-2 lead at 12:51 of the fourth quarter.
Kazanowsky completed 20 of 33 passes for 168 yards and two touchdowns with one interception. He also rushed for 13 yards on three attempts. Burnett led all runners with 97 yards on 29 attempts and Palmer had four catches for 62 yards and two scores.
Defensively, RPI registered seven tackles for lost yards, led by senior CJ Shumaker's three (9 yards). Joe Deptula added two (6 yards) and Conner Noyes also had a pair (5 yards). Deptula led the way with 12 tackles (5 solo), while Amaechi Konkwo had eight (1 solo). They helped hold the Statesmen to 201 yards of total offense (60 rushing).
Anthony Romano had a game-high 15 tackles (5 solo; 1 TFL) for the Statesmen, who had six tackles for lost yards. Peterson Monexant had 11 stops with four unassisted and one for a loss (2).
Krewsom was 8 of 18 passing for 141 yards and two touchdowns with one interception. Daramola had three catches for 92 yards and a score for Hobart, which plays at St. Lawrence next weekend.
RPI, which tied the all-time series with Hobart at 32-32-1, next plays on October 29 at Ithaca.
RPI Scores Two Fourth Quarter Touchdowns to Win 16-13
/seasons/2022/boxscores/20221015_j04p.xml
2022
Hobart
13
RPI
16
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | T |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hobart (3-3) | 0 | 0 | 6 | 7 | 13 |
| RPI (5-2) | 0 | 2 | 0 | 14 | 16 |
Oct 15, 2022