Football Loses in HCAC Action at Rose-Hulman

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – On the road in Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference play, the Defiance College football team lost, 53-6, to the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology Fightin' Engineers at Cook Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

Rose-Hulman scored touchdowns on pass plays of 52 and 5 yards to lead 14-0 after one quarter. The Fightin' Engineers added a safety, fumble recovery for a touchdown and field goal in the second period, increasing their advantage to 26-0 at halftime.

After Rose-Hulman upped its lead to 32-0 on a 26-yard touchdown run, Defiance got on the scoreboard when Cole Recker (Monument, Colo./Lewis Palmer) found Machari Bighams (Homersville, Ga./Clinch County) with a 24-yard touchdown pass, which capped off a four-play, 47-yard scoring drive to make it a 32-6 game.

In the fourth quarter, the hosts reached the end zone three times, first on a 1-yard run and then with a 19-yard pass. The final score came on the ground from 4 yards out.

For the Yellow Jackets, Recker ended with 11 completions, throwing for a game-high 129 yards. Terry Geiger (Columbus, Ohio/Columbus Crusaders) caught three passes for 67 yards while Bighams also had three receptions. Amin Shaheed (Fayetteville, Ga./Sandy Creek) rushed for 40 yards on just two carries.

Defensively for DC, Steven Lucas (Warren, Mich./Center Line) recorded a game-best 10 tackles, forced fumble and fumble recovery while Andres Riley-Clark (Copperas Grove, Texas/Copperas Grove) and Jaylen Redd (Memphis, Tenn./Germantown) tallied nine tackles apiece. Freshmen Damon Thomas (Imperial Beach, Calif./Mar Vista) and Ja'qway Janvier (Miami Gardens, Fla./Mater Academy Charter) chipped in with two tackles for loss and two pass breakups, respectively.

The Fightin' Engineers move to 6-2 overall, including 5-1 in the HCAC. Defiance, which falls to 0-8 overall and 0-5 in conference action, returns home to host the Manchester University Spartans next Saturday. Kickoff of the HCAC contest is slated for 1:30 p.m. at Justin F. Coressel Stadium.