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TERRE HAUTE, IND.-- Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology scored two touchdowns in the fourth quarter to claim a 41-38 shootout victory over Hanover College in Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference football action on Saturday.

Freshman Kyle Kovach (Munster/ Andrean) led the offense with 244 yards of total offense and three touchdowns.  Kovach rushed for 153 yards and two scores and returned a kickoff 76 yards for a touchdown.

Senior Derek Eitel (Marshall, Ill.) finished 16-27 through the air for 170 yards and one touchdown to move within 27 yards of the career school passing record. 

Junior Reed Eason (St. Louis, Mo./ Parkway North) hauled in seven catches for 50 yards and one touchdown, while graduate student Thomas Reives (Indianapolis/Arsenal Tech) hauled in a key 64-yard reception on the final scoring drive to help the receiving effort.

Scott Eaton made 10 solo tackles and had seven assists in a career-high performance.

Defensively, junior Scott Eaton (Fishers/Hamilton Southeastern) amassed 17 tackles, including 10 solo efforts, to pace the Engineers.  Eaton added two tackles-for-loss and one sack and was joined with double figures tackles by sophomore Matt Green (Cincinnati, Ohio/La Salle) and junior Andrew Couch (Glendora, Calif./Citrus College).

Freshman quarterback C.J. Croft completed 28 of 54 passes for 287 yards and five touchdowns to lead the Hanover offense.  Daniel Passafiume hauled in 12 catches for 116 yards and four scores for the Panthers.

Hanover jumped out to a 7-0 lead late in the first quarter for a 12-yard strike from Croft and Passafiume.  Rose-Hulman tied the score midway through the second quarter on a 69-yard scoring run by Kovach.

The Fightin' Engineers pushed their lead to 21-7 with two more second quarter touchdowns.  Senior Tyler Thornton (Willard, Ohio) scored from one yard out with 6:04 left in the half and Kovach scored again from 13 yards to give the squad a two-score lead.

Tyler Thornton rushed for two touchdowns in the win.

Croft and Passafiume connected on a 27-yard scoring strike to move within 21-14 with 1:20 left in the half.  Rose-Hulman scored on the final play of the first half, when Eitel hit Eason with a two-yard scoring strike to make the score 27-14 at halftime.

Hanover closed to within 27-24 on a 17-yard touchdown pass from Croft to Passafiume and a 30-yard field goal by Pavel Polochanin.  The Panthers earned their second lead of the day at 31-27 on the fourth scoring strike from Croft and Passafiume at the 13:49 mark of the fourth quarter.

Following the touchdown pass, Kovach returned the ensuing kickoff 76 yards for his third touchdown of the day as Rose-Hulman regained the lead at 34-31.  Hanover regained the lead at 38-34 with an 11-play, 68-yard drive that ended with Adam Miller hauling in a 28-yard pass from Croft with 9:30 left in the game.

After the teams exchanged possessions, highlighted by a critical three-and-out by the Rose-Hulman defense, the Engineers marched 76 yards in four plays for the victory.  Eitel and Reives connected on a 64-yard strike to move the ball into scoring position, and Thornton scored his second touchdown of the day from one-yard out to give Rose-Hulman a 41-38 lead with 1:55 left.

Hanover gained one first down on its last possession, but a hurry and a key tackle by senior Patrick Duncan (Terre Haute/South) put the Panthers in a third-and-long situation.  Rose-Hulman held Hanover without a first down to secure the victory.

Rose-Hulman improved to 3-3 overall and 1-2 in HCAC contests, while Hanover dropped to 1-4 and 1-1 in league play.  The Fightin' Engineers host Defiance College next Saturday at 1:30 in Cook Stadium.