DC Football Drops HCAC Opener to Engineers

DEFIANCE, Ohio – On a day with multiple career-highs by individual Yellow Jackets, Defiance came up short as a team and fell to Rose-Hulman by a 33-20 score. The contest was the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference opener for both squads. [Highlights]

Neither side put much together in the opening quarter but the Fightin' Engineers scored a pair of touchdowns in the second period and turned away Defiance on multiple extended drives to take a 12-0 lead into the intermission.

Rose-Hulman then opened the second half with a pair of quick scores to extend the lead to 26-0. A three-yard touchdown run from Kyle Kovach capped an 11-play drive from the visitors to open the third quarter, before John Burt intercepted a DC pass and returned it 20 yards for another R-H score 59 seconds later.

The Engineers capped their scoring later in the quarter, ending a five-play drive with a 29-yard touchdown scamper from Aaron Abbott that put the Jackets in a 33-0 hole with 17:35 to play in the contest.

Defiance battled back with a trio of fourth-quarter touchdowns to narrow the final margin to 33-20, as Aaron Smith ran for a pair of touchdowns and Jon Carrabino hauled in an 80-yard touchdown pass from Garrett Teague.

Carrabino ended the afternoon with six receptions and set career-highs with 167 receiving yards and the 80-yard reception, while Smith found the end zone twice in a single game for the first time in his young career.

Trevon Burrell also notched career-highs with 15 carries for 77 yards on the ground and Teague turned in his best collegiate showing with 16 completions for 248 yards through the air.

On the defensive side of the ball, D.J. Brigham had his finest outing in a DC uniform with 12 tackles and 1.5 hits for lost yardage. Gregg Pickett joined Brigham in the trenches and picked up 11 stops, while Hunter Robertson ended with nine tackles, two passes defended and one quarterback hurry from his linebacker position.

Punter Aaron Spence continued his strong 2012 campaign with his fourth boot of at least 50 yards in the first three contests. Spence ended with a 43.0 average over five punts in the losing effort.

Defiance (0-3, 0-1 HCAC) will play at home once again on September 22, when it looks to extend a seven game win streak against Anderson (0-2, 0-0 HCAC). Kick-off is slated for 1:30 pm as part of DC's 2012 Homecoming Weekend.