TERRE HAUTE, Ind. -- The Rose-Hulman football team fell short in their home opener against #13 DePauw on Saturday night with a final score of 31-23.
Brock Zanetell was exceptional in his Rose-Hulman debut, going 27-47 with 259 yards passing and two touchdowns. He also led the team in the ground game, totaling 53 rushing yards and one rushing touchdown.
Avery Cody was the top receiver with five catches for 100 yards and one receiving touchdown.
Joseph Coveliers had a monster night defensively with 11 total tackles, one tackle for loss, and one sack.
Austin Hastings totaled five tackles and had a spectacular interception.
Wyatt Bell led the secondary with four tackles and two pass breakups.
DePauw got on the board first after an eight-play, 82-yard drive in the first quarter that ended on a 38-yard touchdown run to jump ahead 7-0 with 10:14 left in the first quarter.
Rose-Hulman answered with a drive of their own, going 78 yards in 11 plays to tie the game after a 19-yard touchdown pass from Zanetell to
Drew Dalton.
On the next DePauw drive, the Rose-Hulman defense made their presence felt. Hastings forced a fumble that he recovered on the DePauw 44-yard line. The Fightin' Engineers took advantage of the great field position, driving down to the DePauw 30-yardline to set up a 47-yard field goal by
Cohen Peters. The score put Rose-Hulman ahead 10-7 to end the first quarter.
After a back-and-forth second quarter, DePauw found themselves in Rose-Hulman territory. With the ball at the Rose-Hulman 25-yardline,
William Fleck came up with a huge sack that pushed the Tigers back into a 3rd and 6 situation at the 30-yardline. The next play, Hastings came up with an incredible interception, tipping the ball out of the air to himself to give possession back to the Rose-Hulman offense.
Later in the second quarter, Rose-Hulman put together an impressive 10-play, 85-yard drive that ended in a 10-yard touchdown reception from Zanetell to Cody. After the missed extra point, the score stood 16-7 as the game headed to halftime.
The Tigers went all the way down the field on their opening drive of the second half. DePauw took five plays to go 71 yards to score a touchdown and cut the deficit to 16-14 with 12:32 left in the third quarter. After a defensive stop, DePauw drove down the field again, capping off a four-play, 55-yard drive with a two-yard rushing touchdown to take the lead 21-16.
The Tigers extended their lead after an 82-yard punt return to the end zone made the score 28-16. This would be the score as the game headed to the fourth quarter.
The Fightin' Engineers were not done yet. The team started the quarter by driving 76 yards in seven plays to get in the end zone on a one-yard rush by Zanetell, cutting the DePauw lead to 28-23.
DePauw later drove down the field to hit a 30-yard field goal to make the score 31-23 with 4:25 remaining on the clock.
On the next drive, Rose-Hulman drove down to the DePauw 35-yardline before turning the ball over on downs. The Fightin' Engineers defense did their job, earning a three-and-out to give the offense the ball back with 1:15 left in the game.
The DePauw defense closed the door on the Rose-Hulman comeback with a strip sack to take back possession and run out the rest of the clock to claim the win, 31-23.
Rose-Hulman football will return to action on the road, facing Kalamazoo on Saturday, September 12, at 1 PM.
