WORCESTER, MA – Senior running back
Tom Arcidiacono (Castleton, NY/Columbia) rushed for a season-high 205 yards with three touchdowns and senior quarterback
Anthony Marotti (River Edge, NJ/River Dell) passed for 284 yards to lead Union College to a 28-27 victory over Worcester Polytechnic Institute Saturday at Alumni Field.
The Dutchmen improved to 4-1 overall and 3-0 in the Liberty League, while WPI fell to 2-3 overall and 0-3 in the league.
Arcidiacono gave the Dutchmen a 28-21 lead with 1:24 remaining in the fourth, but the Engineers pulled to within one on a Matt Burger 40-yard reception from Rob Pantalone with 30 seconds left in the fourth. WPI went for the two point conversion to take the lead, but Union's
Doug Davis (Yonkers, NY/Fieldston School) intercepted a Pantalone pass in the back of the endzone.
The Dutchmen posted 520 yards in total offense, including 284 passing and 236 on the ground. Union also had the ball on offense for 34:45 in the game.
WR Ryan Twitchell (Fayetteville, NY/Fayetteville-Manlius) had eight catches for 100 yards and eight different receivers had a catch for the Dutchmen. Defensively, Union was led by defensive lineman
Dylan Walton-Yedlin (Seattle, WA/Lakeside School), who had 10 tackles and two sacks totaling 12 yards. Linebacker
Kevin Flike (Stillwater, NY/LaSalle Institute) had seven tackles for the Dutchmen.
Sophomore linebacker Matt Boudreau had a game high 16 tackles, including 13 solo hits, and Adam Haines had 10 tackles for the Engineers. Pantalone was 16 for 32 with a touchdown and 290 yards passing, while WR Matt Burger had a game high 175 yards on nine receptions and a touchdown.
The Dutchmen opened the scoring on their first drive, as Arcidiacono rushed in from five yards out with 9:12 left in the first quarter to cap a 10 play, 61-yard drive in 3:38. That was the only score of the quarter, but WPI took over with 2:23 left in the stanza and 10 plays and 85 yards later, Garret Vandette rushed in from five yards out 1:51 into the second to tie it at 7-7. Union had a 16 play drive that consumed 50 yards and six minutes and 50 seconds of the second quarter that ended on a
Ben Rapple (Queensbury, NY/Queensbury) 26 yard field goal with just 1:13 left in the half. Marotti completed five passes for 34 yards on the drive.
Arcidiacono, who was third in NCAA Division III in scoring entering the game with a 13.5 average, made it 17-7 Union with 12:35 left in the third. He scored on a 37-yard run to wrap a four play, 67 yard drive in 2:08, and it was the lone score of the third quarter.
On a 13 play, 96-yard drive, Alix Orton rushed from one yard out to pull WPI to within three at 17-14. It was the 13th play of a 96 yard drive that took 4:07, but on the ensuing Union drive, Rapple converted a season best 38-yard field goal with 6:43 left for a 20-14 visitor lead. It was a seven play, 47-yard drive that featured two passes for 43 yards from Marotti.
But back came the Engineers on the next drive that started with 6:37 remaining. On a fourth-and-three from their own 33, WPI kept the drive alive as Pantalone hit Burger for a 46-yard reception. Five plays later, Pantalone scored on a keeper and the Engineers took their first lead of the game, 21-20 after the Gregory Lyons kick.
WPI entered the game allowing just 85.5 yards a game on the ground. Arcidiacono has now scored a touchdown in 17 of his last 18 games, while Marotti has tossed a TD in 17 of his last 19.
Union hosts Franklin & Marshall next Saturday at 1 p.m. at Bailey Field for the annual Homecoming Game.
