PHOTO GALLERY / VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. -- Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology gained 474 yards and junior Mike Riley set a single-game school record with five sacks as the Fightin' Engineers topped Defiance College 37-14 in Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference action on Saturday afternoon.
Parker Lappin finished 15-21 through the air for 145 yards and four touchdowns to lead a balanced offensive attack, while the defense combined for eight sacks and held the Yellow Jackets under 300 yards of total offense in the victory.
Rose-Hulman led 24-14 at halftime, then extended the eventual margin to 37-14 with a 13-point third quarter offensively and a second half shutout defensively. The Engineers rushed for 291 yards as a team, with 14 different players having a carry. Garrett Wight led the ground attack with 77 yards and had two touchdown receptions. Raymond Burtnick led the receiving corps with 59 yards on six catches and a pair of touchdowns.
Defensively, Rose-Hulman amassed eight sacks in controlling the line of scrimmage throughout the contest. Riley snapped a school record of 4.5 sacks shared by Jake Vieck and Dylan Tarr from a 2003 victory at Millsaps with the performance. John Kirby joined Riley with six total tackles. The balanced team performance included 25 players with at least one tackle, and the Fightin' Engineers held Definace to -26 rushing yards with the performance.
Defiance took the early lead at 7-0 late in the first quarter, before Rose-Hulman scored the next 17 points. Stanley Hogan started the scoring with a 3-yard touchdown run. Lappin and Wight connected on their first touchdown, a 25-yard screen pass, to make the score 14-7. Matt Murray added a 30-yard field goal to increase the lead to 17-7.
Another score before halftime pushed Rose-Hulman's lead to 24-7 at the break. Lappin connected with Burtnick on a 4-yard touchdown strike to cap an eight-play drive.
In the second half, two more Lappin touchdown passes provided the final margin of victory. He connected on a 5-yard pass with Wight early in the third quarter, then found Burtnick for the last points of the day on a 15-yard pass late in the third period.
Rose-Hulman improved to 3-1 on the season and 2-0 in HCAC play, while Defiance fell to 0-4 and 0-2 in league games. The Fightin' Engineers travel to in-state foe Anderson University next week.
