TERRE HAUTE, Ind. -- Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology relied on four touchdown passes from Andrew Dion, three touchdown receptions by Raymond Burtnick, two touchdown runs by Stanley Hogan and a strong defensive effort to handle Manchester University 44-13 in Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference football action on Saturday afternoon.
Dion finished 15-26 for 252 yards and four touchdown passes, with Burtnick hauling in seven catches for 173 yards and three touchdowns. Garrett Wight crossed the 100-yard mark with 108 yards on 21 carries, and Hogan rushed for 79 yards and a pair of scores to provide offensive balance.
Defensively, Rose-Hulman held Manchester to just 49 passing yards and 246 yards of total offense. Kaelen Garner led the defensive effort with eight tackles, three tackles-for-loss and two sacks. Mike Riley also had a pair of sacks among seven tackles. John Kirby had eight tackles, Mike Henry and Josh Vincent recorded seven each.
Rose-Hulman was on fire in the first half, jumping out to a 30-0 lead in the first 24 minutes. The scoring started with a squence that featured two touchdowns just three seconds apart.
Hogan scored from two yards out with 7:55 left in the opening quarter to make the score 7-0 after an extra point from Matt Murray. The kickoff was booted into an open area near the Manchester 30-yard line by Murray and was recovered by the Fightin' Engineers with no time going off the clock. On the next play, Dion hit Burtnick with a 29-yard strike in just three seconds to increase the lead to 14-0.
Rose-Hulman added another three points in the opening quarter on a 24-yard field goal by Murray to make the score 17-0. Hogan pushed the lead to 23-0 with a seven-yard run to cap a seven-play scoring march.
The lead reached 30-0 when Dion and Burtnick connected on a 35-yard pass that followed a short punt by the Spartans. Although Manchester answered with a 24-yard touchdown pass late in the quarter, the Fightin' Engineers took a 30-6 lead into the locker room.
In the second half, two more Dion touchdown passes pushed the lead to 44-6 in the third quarter. He connected with Burtnick on a 35-yard touchdown strike, then hit Zack Murphy on a five-yard scoring pass to provide the final points of the day.
Rose-Hulman outgained Manchester 552 yards to 246, with the balanced attack featuring 287 yards on the ground and 265 through the air.
Rose-Hulman improved to 6-1 on the season and 5-0 in HCAC play. The win sets up a showdown with 4-0 Franklin next week at Cook Stadium in Terre Haute. The winning team on Saturday would need to lose twice in the season's remaining games to not earn an automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Playoffs. Rose-Hulman represented the HCAC in the playoffs in 2016; Franklin was the representative from 2010-15.
