Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology

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updated 09/23/2007

Long Touchdown Passes Lead Rose-Hulman Past North Park

Thomas Reives hauled in a 50-yard touchdown on this pass to lift Rose-Hulman to victory.

TERRE HAUTE, IND. -- Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology relied on second half touchdown passes of 67 and 50 yards from sophomore quarterback Derek Eitel (Marshall, Ill.) to senior Thomas Reives (Indianapolis/Tech) to defeat North Park University 21-14 on Saturday.

Eitel completed 17 of 37 passes for career-high totals of 311 yards and three touchdowns as Rose-Hulman rallied from a 14-0 deficit to win. Reives tallied career-highs of four catches for 147 yards and the two scores.

Kelvyn West led North Park with 124 rushing yards on 33 carries. Shelby Wood finished 16-32 through the air for 140 yards, with Chris Durr catching six passes for 63 yards and one score.

Defensively, senior Austin Hastings (Santa Ana, Calif.) led the Rose-Hulman defense with 10 tackles and two tackles-for-loss.

Senior Alex Dimoff (Stow, Ohio/Walsh Jesuit) added eight stops, one sack and a forced fumble, with senior Nick Klaserner (Cincinnati, Ohio/Elder) adding six tackles, 1.5 tackles-for-loss and one sack.

North Park jumped out to a 7-0 halftime lead on a 10-yard touchdown strike from Wood to Durr. Rose-Hulman's best opportunity to score came on a 12-play, 45-yard opening drive that ended in a narrowly missed field goal attempt.

Derek Eitel set career-highs of 311 yards passing and three touchdowns to lead the come from behind win.

In the second half, North Park pushed its lead to 14-0 on a two-yard scoring plunge by West with 11:15 left in the third quarter.

Rose-Hulman answered with its first score of the night to close the margin within 14-7. Eitel and Reives connected on the 67-yard scoring strike with 9:33 left in the third quarter.

The Engineers tied the score at 14-14 on their second drive of the fourth quarter. Eitel connected with junior Justin Meade (Middletown, Ohio/ Madison) on a 17-yard pass and freshman Reed Eason (St. Louis, Mo./ Parkway North) with a 10-yard strike to move the chains twice.

The drive ended with a 19-yard scoring strike from Eitel to junior Nate Richter (Zionsville). The first-team all-league receiver from 2006 made the catch at the 12-yard line and dove to the pylon at the corner of the endzone to knot the score.

Alex Dimoff (right) made a key play in the fourth quarter to help Rose-Hulman improve to 3-1.

The biggest defensive play of the game put Rose-Hulman in position for the game winning score. Dimoff forced Wood to drop the ball on a blindside hit, with junior Drew Sandahl (Hillsdale, Mich.) recovering the fumble with 7:53 left in the game.

Rose-Hulman took the lead for good just three plays later, when Eitel connected with Reives on a picturesque 50-yard scoring strike for the final margin of victory.

The Engineer defense secured the win a fourth down run by West was stopped by a team defensive effort that was led by freshman Scott Eaton (Fishers/Hamilton Southeastern) and sophomore Nick Murphy (Casey, Ill./Casey-Westfield).

Rose-Hulman improved to 3-1 on the season and will host Hanover College in the annual Homecoming game next Saturday at 2 p.m. North Park dropped to 1-2 overall and hosts North Central College next weekend.