BOX SCORE
GAME PHOTOS
SENIOR DAY PHOTOS

TERRE HAUTE, IND. -- The Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology football team established two offensive school records, highlighted by 589 yards of total offense, in a 34-21 Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference victory over Franklin College on Saturday.

Junior Reed Eason (St. Louis, Mo./ Parkway North) established a school record with 225 yards on an impressive 15 receptions with two touchdowns for an individual historical mark.

Senior Derek Eitel (Marshall, Ill.) recorded the second 400-yard passing game in school history to spur on the attack.  Eitel finished 27-45 through the air for 422 yards and three scores for the second most passing yards in a game in school history.

Eitel also became Rose-Hulman's career leader in touchdown passes with 48, breaking the previous mark held by 1989 graduate Jason Duff (45).

Patrick Duncan led a strong defensive line charge in the victory over Franklin.

The offense featured 422 yards through the air and 167 on the ground for its school record 589 yards of total offense.  The effort marked the third time this season that Rose-Hulman has gained 500 yards in a game and the second time the total offense school record has fallen.

On the ground, Eitel rushed for a game-high 64 yards and one touchdown on 10 carries.  Freshman Kyle Kovach (Munster/Andrean) added 43 yards rushing and junior J.D. Hill (New Palestine) rushed for 36 yards and his first college touchdown.

Eason led a receiving effort that featured five different receivers with at least three catches.  Junior Andrew Huddleston (Chesterton) had three receptions for 90 yards, graduate student Thomas Reives (Indianapolis/Arsenal Tech) added 50 yards on three catches, junior Ben Hopf (Huntingburg/Jasper) had three catches for 43 yards, and senior Tyler Thornton (Willard, Ohio) hauled in three receptions for 14 yards.

Defensively, senior Kyle Stevens (Santa Cruz, Calif./Harbor) led the defensive effort with two interceptions.  Junior Andrew Couch (Glendora, Calif./Citrus College) added an interception, two pass breakups, two tackles-for-loss and one sack.

Other key contributors to the defensive included senior Patrick Duncan (Terre Haute, Ind./South Vigo) with five tackles, two sacks, two forced fumbles and two pass breakups; junior Scott Eaton (Fishers/Hamilton Southeastern) with a team-high nine tackles; and junior Robby Alumbaugh (Mooresville) with seven tackles and two pass breakups.  Sophomore Matt Green (Cincinnati, Ohio/LaSalle) added a fumble recovery.

Derek Eitel crossed the 400-yard passing mark for just the second time in program history at 422 yards.

The Franklin offense featured 16-44 passing for 277 yards and two touchdowns between quarterbacks Nick Purichia and Kyle Ray.  Purichia had a team-high 119 yards on the ground with a 64-yard touchdown.

Rose-Hulman jumped out to a 20-0 lead at halftime with 20 points in the second quarter despite heading into a strong wind.

Eitel tossed three touchdown passes in the second quarter to give the Engineers the lead.  Eason hauled in scoring strikes of nine and 32 yards, and Reives scored on a 38-yard catch in the corner of the endzone with 2:58 left in the half.

Franklin scored early in the second half on a 58-yard pass from Purichia to Adam Mellencamp to trim the margin to 20-7.  The Engineers marched 10 plays and 72 yards to regain a 20-point lead at 27-7 on a four-yard scoring run by Eitel.

Purichia closed the margin to 27-14 on a 64-yard touchdown run with 2:15 left in the third quarter.  The first college touchdown for Hill marked the final scoring as Rose-Hulman secured its fifth victory of the season.

Rose-Hulman improved to 5-4 overall and 3-3 in HCAC play with the victory, while Franklin fell to 5-3 overall and 3-2 in league games.  The Fightin' Engineers close the 2009 season at Anderson University next Saturday.