Rochester 24, WPI 17

Box Score

ROCHESTER, NY --- Clarence Onyiriuka (Painted Post, NY) ran for 142 yards and two touchdowns to lead the University of Rochester to a 24-17 victory over WPI at Edwin Fauver Stadium.

Rochester's other scores came on a 19-yard TD pass by Braezen Subick (Mahwah, NJ) to Adam Barrett (Avon, NY) and a 24-yard field goal by Zachary White-Stellato (Albany, NY). White-Stellato made three PATs. For WPI, Mike Swanton (Foxboro, MA) threw a 15-yard TD pass to Cody McGregor (Westfield, MA) and Mitch McClune (Pembroke, MA) ran two yards for a score. Cody Beckel (Jupiter, FL) kicked two PATs and made a 29-yard field goal.

The Yellowjackets improved to 3-4 overall, 3-2 in the Liberty League. WPI is 3-4 overall, 0-4 in the Liberty League and has lost four in a row.

Rochester's first scoring drive was helped by a roughing the kicker penalty. The Yellowjackets punted on fourth-and-10 from their own 36. The Engineers were flagged after running into Rochester's Kapps Killingstad (Dallas, TX). The penalty moved the ball to the WPI 49. Three players later, Subick hit Mike Coolbaugh (Weedsport, NY) with a 28-yard pass, moving the ball down to the 10. Onyiriuka scored two plays later.

Swanton directed an 11-play, 53-yard drive on WPI's first series that led to the Beckel field goal with 6:16 left in the quarter. Midway through the second quarter, Swanton hit Scott Brady (Westboro, MA) for 42 yards down to the Rochester 33. Four plays later, he found McGregor in the middle of the end zone. Beckel's PAT put the Engineers ahead, 10-7. Rochester drove 37 yards in 11 plays, tying the game at 10-10 on White-Stellato's field goal with 30 seconds left in the half.

Midway through the third quarter, WPI drove from its own 39 to the Rochester 18. The Engineers converted one third down and one fourth down (a 15-yard sprint by McClune down to the UR 19). Swanton's pass over the middle was intercepted by Rochester's Ed Dauphin New Hartford, NY) at the four and returned 32 yards to the UR 36. That set up the go-ahead touchdown drive. Rochester took the lead for good on Onyiriuka's one-yard run with 14:00 to play. He carried the ball six times for 47 yards on the drive.

After a WPI punt, Rochester drove 86 yards in eight plays for a 24-10 lead. Subick hit Coolbaugh with a 14-yard pass to the UR 44. On second-and-seven, he found Barrett over the left side for 37 yards, pushing the ball to the 16. Todd LeClerc (Middletown, MA) dropped Subick for a three-yard loss before Subick found Barrett in the corner of the end zone for a TD.

The Engineers drew within striking distance immediately. Swanton hit three key passes as part of a 10-play, 65-yard TD drive. He found Mohammed Yatim (Shrewsbury, MA) for nine yards, then hit McGregor for 23 yards down to the Rochester 21. On second-and-nine, he hit McGregor again, this time moving the ball to the two. After the defense stopped Aaron Champagne (Fairfield, ME), McClune plunged through left tackle for a TD with 3:15 left.

Rochester took a short kickoff at its own 46 and converted a clutch fourth-and-three (Subick found Coolbaugh for eight yards to the WPI 39) to seal the win in the final minute.

Subick completed 14 of 24 passes for 187 yards. He was sacked once, but not intercepted. Swanton had mostly identical numbers: 14 of 124 for 187 yards with one TD and one sack. He threw two interceptions.

McClune led the Engineers on the ground with 57 yards on 13 carries. Ernie Mello (Wilmington, MA) gained 26 yards. McGregor caught four passes for 66 yards. WPI rushed for 116 yards and passed for 187 for 303 in total offense.

For Rochester, Coolbaugh caught six passes for 73 yards. Barrett had three catches for 70 and the TD. The Yellowjackets rushed for 133 and passed for 187 for 320 total.

Defensively, Chris Boudreau (Rensselaer, NY) had 11 tackles, eight solo. Tom Thackeray (Braintree, MA) had seven tackles.

Chris Bickford (Willits, CA) led Rochester with 10 tackles, four solos. Chris Pesota (Dickson City, PA) had a 60-yard interception return to end the first half and Dauphin had the other interception. He also had eight tackles.

Release Courtesy of Rochester Athletics