BEVERLY, Mass. — The Endicott football team fell to No. 18/20 nationally ranked Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), 20-14, on Saturday afternoon in the first round of the NCAA Division III Tournament at Hempstead Stadium in Endicott's first home playoff matchup in program history.
Down by 14 points in the second period of play (09:33), Mike Ingraffia (Kings Park, N.Y.) catapulted a deep pass towards the middle of the field and connected with Geoffrey Ingrando (Everett, Mass.) on a 66-yard touchdown score for the longest play of the game to help Endicott narrow the deficit 14-7.
Following Endicott's explosive play, RPI responded with another score of its own via a 5-yard pass from George Marinopoulos (Slingerlands, N.Y.) to Vinnie McDonald (Elmont, N.Y.) to extend the Engineers' lead, 20-7.
With just 2:50 remaining in regulation, Kobe Gaudette (Saco, Maine) climbed the ladder and hauled in a 20-yard touchdown to give the Gulls their second score of the afternoon, 20-14.
From there, Endicott's special teams unit attempted an onside kick but unfortunately could not recover resulting in visitors' victory by RPI.
BEYOND THE BOX
- Today was the first meeting between the two programs since 9/11/2010 (L, 6-3).
- The Engineers have qualified for the postseason three times in the past four seasons, 5-6 all-time in the NCAA Tournament.
- RPI's lone loss of the regular season came on the road by one point (10-9, 10/30).
- RPI is 4-1 on the road this season.
- The Engineers held the Gulls to only 27 rushing yards in the game.
- Endicott dropped its only game at The Nest in this matchup (5-1).
- The Engineers entered the matchup with 16 All-Liberty League Conference Honors, including the Coach of the Year, Ralph Isernia. As for Endicott, the Gulls accumulated 13 Commonwealth Coast Conference Football All-Conference honorees, including Coach of the Year, Paul McGonagle.
- Endicott's defense saw three defenders record over 10 tackles (Tim Russell (Stoneham, Mass.) (15) | Mehdi Squalli (Rochester, N.Y) (11) | Sam Opont (Bridgeport, Conn.) (11).
- Ingrando's 86 receiving yards in this contest are the highest of his collegiate career.
WHAT'S NEXT
RPI (10-1) advances to the second round of the NCAA Division III Tournament and will face No. 12/13 SUNY Cortland (11-0) on Saturday, November 27 (Time & location TBD). Endicott's season comes to a close at 8-3 overall.
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(Photo Credit - David Le '10)
