By: Trailing 13-0 in the third quarter, Illinois College scored 14 unanswered to give Ray DeFrisco a win in his first game as head coach of the Blueboys.
Box Score
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – The
Ray DeFrisco Era got off to a successful start on Saturday night as the Illinois College football team erased a 13-0 third quarter deficit to defeat Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology by a score of 14-13. The Blueboys did most of their damage on the ground in the win, piling up 263 rushing yards, but it was a pair of
Daniel Modelski-to-
Austin Ellsworth touchdown passes that proved to be the difference.
The past two seasons have seen incredibly high-scoring affairs between these two teams, but the defenses took center stage right away on Saturday. Neither team had much luck moving the ball in the first half. Illinois College moved just past the 50 on its second drive before Rose-Hulman stuffed the Blueboys on a fourth-and-one run. That turnover wouldn't hurt IC much because on the next play
Matt Graef forced a fumble and
Ryan Torrance recovered to give the ball right back to Illinois College.
The game turned into a battle for field position and as the first quarter moved into the second quarter, the Fightin' Engineers were winning. As Rose-Hulman moved into the red zone, a pair of penalties helped the Illinois College cause and the drive ended when Austin Swenson fired incomplete on fourth-and-goal from the IC six-yard line.
Late in the first half, Rose-Hulman forced a fumble and recovered at the 29-yard line of the Blueboys, setting itself up for a chance to take the lead into halftime. The drive would go all the way down to the IC one-yard line with 13 ticks left in the second quarter and Swenson took it himself into the end zone, only for a holding call to negate the touchdown and send RHIT back 10 yards. On third-and-goal from the 11, Swenson was intercepted in the end zone by Ellsworth to bring the threat to a close and send the teams to the break still deadlocked at 0-0.
The halftime adjustments made by Rose-Hulman paid immediate dividends as the Engineers went 74 yards in seven plays for the first score of the game on a nine-yard touchdown pass from Swenson to Raymond Burtnick. Bryan Gish missed the extra point however to keep the score at 6-0.
After an interception by Modelski, it took Rose-Hulman only three plays to go 28 yards for another score, this one a 12-yard pass from Swenson to Zack Murphy to push the lead to 13-0 with less than five minutes gone in the third quarter.
The Blueboys didn't panic and instead went on a sustained drive that took them deep into Engineer territory before a fourth down conversion attempt came up short. The defense would come through with an interception from
Steve Reyna though, and his 23-yard return put the Blueboys at the Rose-Hulman 48 to start their next drive.
Three first downs gave Illinois College a first-and-goal at the Engineer 9. Modelski took it himself for six yards down to the 3 and then connected with Ellsworth on a three-yard completion.
Zack DeWitt kicked the PAT to slice the deficit to 13-7 as the game moved into the fourth quarter.
The teams traded possessions to start the final quarter and a three-and-out from Rose-Hulman made it fourth down from its own 21 with nine minutes left. The snap on the punt would end up being bobbled and then fumbled away. With the ball on the deck,
Dyllan Bailey dived in and scooped it up to give Illinois College possession at the Engineer 9. The first play of the drive then went from Modelski to Ellsworth on a fade route for the score and DeWitt's extra point gave the Blueboys a 14-13 lead.
From there, the Illinois College defense stood firm. Swenson completed one long pass to get the Engineers near the IC red zone with less than five minutes remaining, but the drive stalled from there and the snap on a field goal attempt was bobbled by the holder and recovered by Graef. Rose-Hulman started its final drive with 1:13 remaining, but after three plays got the Engineers nowhere, Ellsworth stepped up and picked off his second pass of the game to seal it.
The Blueboys racked up 263 rushing yards in the contest, led by 134 from Modelski on 29 carries.
Tyrelle Hinton added 72 yards on 16 carries. Modelski was 5-of-13 with two touchdowns and one interception through the air. Ellsworth was on the receiving end of both touchdowns and
Logan Uyetake,
Alex Ausmus and
Andy Webb had the other catches for IC.
Graef led the defense with eight tackles (seven solo) along with a forced fumble and fumble recovery. Torrance ended with six tackles and two for a loss. Reyna and Ellsworth each had six tackles in the game as well along with three interceptions of Swenson.
Josh Brooks was in on a sack with Graef and also got his hand up for an important pass deflection of Swenson late in the game.
Illinois College (1-0) will be home at England Stadium next weekend for its home opener on Sept. 10. The Blueboys will meet Simpson College – a 45-30 loser to UW-Stout on Saturday – at 1 p.m.
