Game Leaders
Team Stats
Passing Yards
Rushing Yards
Turnovers
Time of Poss.
TROY, N.Y. - Graduate student Riley Conboy caught two touchdowns in the fourth quarter, including a game-tying 20-yard reception off a deflection with 18.4 seconds remaining, to lead the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) football team to a 21-20 come-from-behind victory over Montclair State University at East Campus Stadium. The game was the opener for both teams.
Trailing 20-14 with just over two minutes to play in the final quarter, the Engineers forced a punt and started their final drive at their own 17-yard line. They eventually moved the ball to the Montclair 20-yard line, aided by 30 yards of penalties against the Red Hawks. Highlighting the series was a 13-yard completion from George Marinopoulos to Vinnie McDonald on a 4th-and-9 play with under a minute on the clock. Two plays later, Marinopolous looked for McDonald on the right side of the end zone, but the ball bounced off the graduate student's hands, going to Conboy, who secured it for the game-tying score. Senior Connor MacDougall split the uprights on the extra point attempt for the lead.
Conboy and Marinopoulos combined to pull the Engineers to within six points five minutes earlier when they connected on a 2-yard slant. RPI made it to the edge of the end zone on a 44-yard catch by senior Peter Lombardi on a 4th-and-2. Conboy's TD, which capped a 6-play, 54-yard drive that took 2:20, was the first of the career for the wide receiver who previously played running back.
Rensselaer's comeback was made necessary because of three consecutive defensive touchdowns from Montclair State. Linebacker Michael Stefkovich intercepted a pass and outran everyone to the end zone for a 59-yard touchdown to tie the score at 7:13 of the third quarter. Less than two minutes later, cornerback Jalen Harris jumped a route and ran 46 yards down the left sideline untouched for a 14-7 lead. Seamus Nelson then forced a fumble at his team's 8-yard line, which he recovered and ran 92 yards for a 20-7 lead. The extra point was missed.
RPI took the initial lead with just 15 seconds left in the first half when Marinopoulos found McDonald in the far left corner of the end zone for the first of his three touchdown passes. He finished with 292 passing yards by completing 24 of 49 attempts. McDonald had seven receptions for 139 yards, while Conboy made five catches for 35 yards. Lombardi had six receptions for 74 yards.
JaQuill Burch was 12 of 22 for 61 yards passing, while Abellany Mendez rushed for 55 (20 attempts) of the Red Hawks 101 yards on the ground. Dimitri Pali led the defense with eight tackles, including six unassisted and 4.5 for lost yards (17). He had 2.5 of Montclair's six sacks.
Spencer Brockdorff had seven tackles for RPI, which hosts Stevenson on Saturday at noon. He had five unassisted and two for lost yards (7). C.J. Lyons had six solo tackles and Joe Deptula made six stops (2 solo) with a forced fumble and a pass breakup.