RPI beats Union, keeps Dutchman Shoes trophy

PHOTOGRAPHER: Peter R. Barber

Members of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute football team hoist the Dutchman Shoes trophy after the Engineers defeated Union 21-12 Saturday.

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute head football coach Ralph Isernia challenged his team’s offensive line to dominate the line of scrimmage against archrival Union College in the annual battle for the Dutchman Shoes trophy.

The Engineers’ big men in the trenches accepted the challenge, piling up 373 rushing yards and winning the time of possession by a 2-1 margin en route to a 21-12 victory Saturday at East Campus Stadium in the final game of the season for both teams.

Union, which ran the ball successfully the last several weeks but registered only 117 yards on the ground Saturday, finished its campaign under first-year head coach Jeff Berhman 2-5 in the Liberty League and 3-7 overall. RPI finished 3-4 and 5-5.

It was an unprecedented fourth straight victory for RPI over Union in the oldest collegiate football rivalry in the state. Union still leads the fifth oldest NCAA Division III rivalry in the country 81-29-4, including a 47-20 advantage since the Dutchman Shoes trophy was introduced in 1950.

But Saturday belonged to the Engineers, who scored the first 21 points of the game.

“The key was to control the clock and control the line of scrimmage,” Isernia said, adding that this win was special for him personally, as well for the program.

“This was my first senior class that I had all the way through. It was the first class that came in when I came in, which was March of 2013,” Isernia said. “This win means a whole lot for me and for our seniors.”

Isernia said he invited former RPI head coach Joe King to practice on Thursday to explain to the younger Engineers what the rivalry with Union is all about. Isernia also decided to put the game’s outcome in the hands — and feet — of his offensive linemen.

“We challenged them all week to play up to their potential and to the way we thought they could play. We grade them on film and watch them on Sunday. We challenged them on the offensive line to win every blocking battle. I told them, ‘Let’s go 5-for-5 and get your blocks done.’ We had more 5-for-5s than we had all year long.”

RPI senior offensive lineman Steve Mills said the Engineers’ big men took this game personally.

“The idea was to just dominate,” Mills said. “We had a rookie QB [Tommy Avery] in there, and we tried to make it as easy as possible for him. We wanted to get 5-6 yards on first down every time. Our mentality was to run until they stopped us. He [Isernia] challenged us, and we met the call. It’s fun. That’s the game you want to play in as an offensive line. It comes down to the five men on up front. You get complete elation out of that. The whole thing is trying to make them quit. They knew it [the run] was coming. On every play, I was coming up to them and saying to them we’re running right here.”

The Dutchmen couldn’t stop the RPI rushing attack all afternoon.

Mike Tivinis, coming back from an ankle injury that kept him out of a couple of games, ran for a pair of touchdowns, and Ethan Wells added a 1-yard scoring run.

Union came back with a 32-yard TD pass from Blake Geller to Alex Kaplanovich late in the third quarter, and then the Dutchmen made it interesting when Justin Waller, who earlier intercepted Avery in the end zone to thwart another RPI scoring drive, returned a punt 68 yards for a score with 2:26 remaining.

“They executed better than we did,” Behrman said about the Engineers. “The positive was that we played right to the end, and we kept grinding. I’m disappointed for our seniors, but I thank them for a fine season. I’m proud of all of our guys.”

“We didn’t quit,” said Union senior safety Brian Alebiosu, who was in on 15 tackles for the Dutchmen. “We literally kept fighting to the end.”

Union 0 0 6 6 — 12

RPI 0 7 14 0 — 21

RPI — Tivinis 3 run (Kapp kick).

RPI — Tivinis 8 run (Kapp kick).

RPI — Wells 1 run (Kapp kick).

U — Kaplanovich 32 pass from Geller (kick failed).

U — Waller 68 punt return (pass intercepted).