TERRE HAUTE, Ind. -- The Rose-Hulman football team completed an exciting comeback win over the Albion Britons on Saturday with a final score of 38-24. This advances the team to 2-1 overall this season.
Brock Zanetell had another great showing, finishing the game going 20 for 26 with 173 passing yards and one passing touchdown.
Alexander Marsteller was the lead running back, totaling 88 rushing yards and two rushing touchdowns.
Avery Cody was the top wide receiver with eight catches for 52 yards.
The Rose-Hulman defense was the star of the show, totaling two fumble recoveries and three interceptions, including two interceptions that were returned for touchdowns.
Antonio Barnes led the squad with eight tackles.
Joseph Coveliers led the team with 2.0 tackles for loss, totaling four tackles on the day.
The game got off to a rough start for the Fightin' Engineers. Albion took their opening drive all the way down the field in 11 plays for 62 yards, reaching the end zone on a three-yard pass to take the lead, 7-0.
On the next drive, a bad snap over the quarterback's head gave the ball back to the Britons in Rose-Hulman territory. Albion was able to take advantage of the field position and put up another touchdown on a nine-yard rush to make the score 14-0.
The next Rose-Hulman drive felt like deja vu. Another bad snap away from the quarterback turned the ball over to Albion in great field position. Once again, Albion was able to reach the end zone on a 13-yard pass to extend the lead to 21-0.
After a three-and-out on the next Rose-Hulman drive, Albion got the ball back on their own 32-yard line with 4:21 left in the first quarter. The Britons drove all the way down to the Rose-Hulman 43-yard line before the momentum shifted to the Fightin' Engineers.
Alex Shryock made a huge interception and returned it 56 yards for a Rose-Hulman touchdown as the first quarter came to a close to make the score 21-7.
The Rose offense fed off the defense's big play to put together an outstanding drive. The team went 59 yards in nine plays, finished off by a two-yard rushing touchdown by Marsteller to make the score 21-14.
The Fightin' Engineers defense came up big on the next Albion drive.
Jack LeCrone made an incredible diving interception to give the ball back to the Rose-Hulman offense in Albion territory. The offense tied the game after five plays, going 44 yards with a three-yard passing touchdown from Zanetell to
Joseph Culotta to even the score, 21-21.
After multiple stalled drives by the Britons, Rose-Hulman ended up with the ball on their own 42-yard line with 36 seconds to go before halftime. The team drove down the field to set up a 51-yard field goal attempt for
Cohen Peters. Peters drilled the kick, sending it through the uprights to give Rose the lead 24-21 heading into the halftime break. Peters' 51-yard field goal is the third-longest field goal in Rose-Hulman program history.
The Rose-Hulman defense was not done yet. On Albion's opening drive of the second half,
Antonio Barnes recorded an interception and returned it 53 yards for the team's second pick-six of the game to extend the Rose-Hulman lead to 31-21.
The Fightin' Engineers defense continued to cause havoc. On the Britons' next drive,
William Fleck forced a fumble that was recovered by
Nick Bueno. After Albion got the ball back, the Britons ran into
Rudy Griffing, who forced another fumble that was recovered by
Austin Hastings.
This set up the Fightin' Engineers on their own 28-yard line. After returning to action from a lengthy lightning delay, the team drove all the way down to the Albion 22-yard line. Marsteller broke free on an outside rush and dove for the pylon to punch the ball into the end zone for his second score of the day to extend his team's lead to a three-score game, 38-21.
Albion added one more field goal to make the score 38-24, but Rose-Hulman would hold the Britons scoreless in the fourth quarter to complete the comeback win.
The Fightin' Engineers football team will enjoy a bye week before returning home to host Franklin on Saturday, October 3rd, for Homecoming at 2 PM.
