ALLIANCE, Ohio -- No. 1 ranked Mount Union showcased its overall team strength to top Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology 54-0 in the 2018 football season opener on Saturday night.

Rose-Hulman had a number of big plays in the opening half as the Fightin' Engineers lived up to their team motto "We Work."  The Fightin' Engineers opened the game by holding Mount Union to a pair of three-and-outs, before the Purple Raiders answered with back-to-back touchdowns in the first quarter.

Rose-Hulman nearly forced a fumble on the next drive.  The Fightin' Engineers knocked the ball loose from Mount Union quaterback D'Angelo Fulford, but the fumble came a fraction of a second after the first-team All-American broke the plane of the goal line to make the score 21-0.

Later in the second quarter, Fightin' Engineer Matt Michalak returned a Mount Union fumble 27 yards to the 5-yard line.  On fourth-and-goal from the one-yard line, and the officials ruled Garrett Wight was tackled just shy of the goal line in the final minute of the first half to keep the score 24-0 at the break.

Mount Union relied on its depth to take control of the second half.  D'Angelo Fulford finished 17-27 for 192 yards and two touchdowns through the air, and also rushed for 79 yards and two scores.  Josh Petruccelli led the ground attack for Mount Union with 115 yards and one score.

Wight led the Rose-Hulman offense with 43 rushing yards, and Andrew Dion rushed for 35 yards with a long of 32.  Riley Roberts and Sam Grant hooked up on a 22-yard pass for the longest gain through the air of the evening.

Defensively, John Kirby led Rose-Hulman with 10 tackles and one blocked extra point.  Caleb Brown added eight total tackles, seven solo, and Coleson Carmell contributed six tackles.

Defending national champion Mount Union stands 1-0 on the season, while Rose-Hulman dropped to 0-1.  The Fightin' Engineers open the 2018 season at home against Rhodes College at 7 p.m. next Saturday Sept. 8.