When: Saturday, October 13, 2007, at 1:30 p.m.
Where: Terre Haute, Indiana - Cook Stadium
On the Radio: Listen live to Bluffton University football on WDOH 107.1 FM.
Bluffton University travels to Rose-Hulman for the second of back-to-back Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference road contests between the visiting Beavers and the Engineers.
Greg Brooks is currently in his fifth year as the head coach of the Bluffton University football team. The Beavers have put together a 13-32 mark during Brooks’ tenure at the helm. He previously served as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach for Bluffton, leading the Beavers to their best offensive seasons in school history.
Steve Englehart is in his second season as head football coach at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology. He led the Rose-Hulman football team to its first winning season since 1995 as the nation's youngest NCAA football coach in 2006. The Engineers finished 6-4 overall and 3-4 in their first year in the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference with a squad that featured 11 all-league selections. Entering his sixth season on the Fightin’ Engineer coaching staff, Englehart previously served as the team’s offensive coordinator and recruiting coordinator from 2003-05.
The Beavers and Spartans have met on the football field three times, dating back to 1974. Rose-Hulman is a perfect 3-0 in those meetings, including a 21-12 victory over Bluffton at Salzman Stadium a year ago.
A rocky first quarter cost the Bluffton University football team as Manchester College put two touchdowns on the board in the first 14 minutes of the game and held on for a 20-13 victory over the Beavers on Saturday, October 6, 2007. Bluffton tightened up its defense and limited the Spartans to a fourth quarter score following an interception at the home 43, but the Beavers could not get over the hump and Manchester pulled out its first victory over Bluffton in four years to cap off its Homecoming weekend.
The Beavers went three-and-out on their first two possessions before Manchester opened its second drive from the home 18-yard line. A pair of Joel Hawkins completions and five Brandon Wells rushes for 39 yards set up a three-yard Hawkins plunge that made the score 6-0 in favor of Manchester with six minutes to play in the first quarter. Manchester picked up five first downs and went 82 yards on only nine plays in 3:34.
On Bluffton's ensuing possession, junior Kyle Coleman (Etna/Watkins Memorial) was intercepted by J. Jones giving Manchester the ball on its own 30-yard line. The Spartans capped a six-play, 70-yard drive with a 23-yard strike to J. Yoder, making the score 13-0 and causing the Beaver faithful to wonder if they were witnessing another Franklin-like performance.
Two more possessions in which the Beavers failed to move the chains were followed by a fumbled punt return that the Spartans recovered at the Bluffton 36-yard line. Showing that they were not ready to concede the defeat, Bluffton's defense rose to the occasion. Following three Wells rushes, Taylor Iceman (Lucas/Lucas) picked off Hawkins in the end zone for his third interception of 2007.
With only 1:12 left on the clock in the first half, Brock Miller (Cincinnati/Oak Hills) took over under center and engineered an 80-yard drive that included a 57-yard strike to Mike Brown (North Wales, Penn./Calvary Christian Academy) and a six-yarder to Brown for a touchdown with less than two seconds remaining in the half. The 1:10 possession made the score 13-7 in favor of the home team at the break.
To open the fourth quarter, Manchester marched 57 yards on nine plays and found the end zone when Schell caught a quick hitter in the flats and did the rest to make the score 20-7 with 10 minutes to play in the contest.
With a heightened sense of urgency, Bluffton responded with a 13-play, 68-yard scoring drive that included passes to Cameron Campeau (Pfafftown, N.C.), Drew Lovelace (Trumansburg, N.Y./Charles U. Dickerson) and Mike Brown before fullback Ed Jackson (Dayton/Northridge) went in from one yard out for his first career touchdown.
The Beavers' defense shut down Manchester on three straight plays to give Bluffton the ball back with just over three minutes left on the clock. Coleman found Joel Sienicki (Goshen, Ind./Northridge) for 16 yards and A.J. Ramthun (Springfield/Southeastern) for 13 yards giving Bluffton a first down at the home 47 with less than a minute to play. With 28 seconds remaining, Coleman threw into coverage and J. Sams came away with the pickoff at the home three-yard line, preserving Manchester's 20-13 Homecoming day victory over Bluffton and moving the Spartans to 3-2 overall and 1-1 in the Heartland Conference while the Beavers fell to 0-5 and 0-2 in HCAC action.
Sam McCullough (Bluffton/Bluffton) continued to add to his already gaudy numbers, making 15 stops which included seven solo tackles and 1.5 tackles-for-loss. He has 69 tackles through Bluffton's first five games. Senior safety Taylor Iceman had 11 tackles to go along with his second quarter pick. Ryan Christy (Snellville, Ga./South Gwinnet) added seven tackles while senior linebackers Jeremy Hanson (Oakwood/Paulding) and Gordon Hagen (Toledo/Libbey) chipped in with six stops each.
Brock Miller completed 7-of-8 passes for 102 yards and a touchdown before having to come out with an injury in the third stanza. Coleman was 8-of-21 for 112 yards but also threw three interceptions in the loss to the Spartans. Sienicki caught four passes for 39 yards. Brown went 80 yards on three receptions, including a touchdown, to lead the Beavers. Ramthun and Campeau hauled in three catches for 30 and 26 yards, respectively.
Defiance 33, Rose-Hulman 31
Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology senior Jeremy Sharp struck the left upright with a 32-yard field goal attempt in the final seconds as Defiance College held on to top the Engineers 33-31 in Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference football action on Saturday.
The Engineers had two final chances to capture the victory. Rose-Hulman reached the 22-yard line, before Dustin Supan hauled in an interception at the five-yard line to end the possession. The final drive took place when senior Austin Hastings forced a fumble that was recovered by sophomore Kyle Stevens with under one minute remaining.
Sophomore Derek Eitel led the Engineer offense with 29 completions in 48 passing attempts for 353 yards and two touchdowns. Three receivers led a balanced effort, with junior Nate Richter making nine receptions for 94 yards and freshman Reed Eason with seven catches for 52.
Senior Thomas Reives paced the receiving yardage statistics with 146 yards on five receptions, including catches of 50 and 43 yards.
Senior Luke Dillon paced the Defiance offense with 11 catches for 154 and a school record four touchdowns. Quarterback Hans Vetter finished 19-of-33 through the air for 240 yards and five touchdowns. Freshman David Thornton led the ground attack with 153 yards on 23 carries for the Yellow Jackets.
Rose-Hulman stands at 4-2, 1-2 in the HCAC heading into its 2007 Community Day contest against the Beavers.
Freshman tailback Cameron Campeau leads the Beavers with 128 yards rushing on 64 carries. He has also caught six passes for 47 yards. Adding to the Beavers’ ground game is sophomore Greg Mason who has picked up 107 yards. Sophomore quarterback Brock Miller has completed 26-of-40 passes for 274 yards and two touchdowns. Joel Sienicki is pacing the Bluffton receivers with 16 receptions for 146 yards and one of the Beavers’ three receiving touchdowns. Mike Brown and Drew Lovelace have 10 and nine catches, respectively, through the first five contests. They have both hauled in one touchdown reception for the Beavers
Two-time first team All-HCAC linebacker Sam McCullough has a team-high 69 stops, including 31 solos, three sacks, two interceptions and a blocked punt. Senior safeties Taylor Iceman, who has three interceptions on the year, and Ryan Christy have chipped in with 40 and 34 tackles, respectively. Kyle Rode (Delphos/Jefferson) has anchored the defensive line with 23 tackles, including five sacks for a loss of 39 yards and a fumble recovery.
Bluffton returns home to face Anderson University on Homecoming at Salzman Stadium after consecutive Heartland Conference road clashes at Manchester and Rose-Hulman. Kickoff against the Ravens is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. on Saturday, October 20. Rose-Hulman welcomes Franklin College to Cook Stadium on Saturday, Oct. 20, for the Engineers’ 2007 Hall of Fame Game. Kickoff from Terre Haute is scheduled for 1:30 p.m.
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