Greencastle, Ind. - DePauw's defense picked off five Rose-Hulman passes and stopped the Fightin' Engineers with a goal line stand another time and the Tigers held on for a 26-21 win in opening round of the NCAA Division III Football Championship. DePauw moved to 9-2 with the first NCAA postseason win in program history and advances to play Wis.-Whitewater which defeated Greenville 69-7. Rose-Hulman finished its season at 8-3.
DePauw jumped out to a 13-0 lead with scores on two of its first three possessions. After the teams exchanged punts to start the game, DePauw took over on its own 49 and quarterback Chase Andries found Jaylon Smith for a 28-yard gain on first down. Four plays later Andries again teamed with Smith for a 10-yard score. Joe Sullivan missed his first point-after of the season and the Tigers held a 6-0 lead.
Rose-Hulman drove to the DePauw 35 but, faced with a third-and-14, quarterback Andrew Dion was intercepted by Jonathan Bruder at the DePauw 22. The Tigers marched on a 10-play, 76-yard series that concluded with Andries tossing a 3-yard scoring pass to Aaron Candiano with 2:00 left in the opening quarter.
On their first drive of the second quarter, the Fightin' Engineers made their first trip into the red zone, but DePauw's defense held and David Guhl blocked Jonathan Oliger's 32-yard field goal try. DePauw was forced to punt on its next series and Rose-Hulman took over on its own 10. After picking up three first downs, the Fightin' Engineers were faced with fourth-and-one from the DePauw 13 and Shane Welshans picked up the first before Dion connected with Adam Tice-Saliu for a 12-yard score on the next play to cut the DePauw lead to 13-7 with 49.7 seconds remaining in the half.
Danny Sheehan returned the ensuing kickoff 57 yards to the Rose-Hulman 28 and swung the momentum back to the Tigers. Andries tossed three-straight passes to Trey Shaw with the final going for 21 yards and a score to make it 20-7 with 5.9 seconds left.
Oliger missed a 34-yard field goal try early in the third and, following a DePauw punt, the Engineers pushed back into DePauw territory to the 33. After incomplete passes on second and third down, Dion's fourth-and-15 throw was intercepted by Liam Pooler at the DePauw 13 and returned 54 yards to the Engineers' 33. However, the Tigers gave the ball right back on the next play as Winston Amankwah picked an Andries pass at the Rose-Hulman 3 and returned it to the 20. A pair of penalties moved the ball back to the Fightin' Engineers' 5.
Dion led Rose-Hulman out of trouble with a 15-yard completion to Tice-Saliu and a 42-yard connection with Daniel Huery. A DePauw offside penalty moved the ball to the DePauw 33 and Welshans gained 23 on a run to the 10. However, on third-and-goal from the 8 DePauw's Dane Young intercepted Dion in the end zone.
Four plays later, Chaikou Sow forced Andries to fumble and Kyser Bowen recovered at the DePauw 20. The Fightin' Engineers picked up a first down at the DePauw 8 and advanced to the 1, but Charlie Gruner's tackle on Welshans on fourth down ended the threat with 1:35 left in the third.
After picking up 15 yards on two-consecutive runs, Andries called his own number again, but the Tigers turned it over as Riley Roberts forced the fumble that Michael Stevens recovered. Noah Thomas picked up 22 yards on the first play before Dion connected with Welshans for a 6-yard score on the first play of the fourth. Oliger's point-after made it 20-14.
On the ensuing kickoff, Rose-Hulman kicker Brett Tuttle popped the ball high and short and the Engineers appeared to recover, but were called for interfering with a DePauw fair catch at the Tigers' 39 yard line.
DePauw was forced to punt and the Engineers turned the ball over as Bruder picked off Dion for the second time and the Tigers took over on the Rose-Hulman 23. The Tigers had to settle for a 36-yard field goal from Sullivan which pushed the DePauw lead to 23-14.
Later in the fourth, DePauw punter Danny Wilkinson landed a kick that was downed at the Engineers' 4. On the first play of the drive, the Tigers' Daniel Rafeedie intercepted Dion at the 10 and returned it to the 3. Gus Baumgartner picked up two yards on first down, but was stopped for no gain on second and for a 3-yard loss on third. After a delay of game penalty, Sullivan booted a 27-yard field goal to extend the lead to 26-14 with 4:33 left.
The Fightin' Engineers started their next drive on their own 25 and converted three third downs and a fourth before Dion tossed a 3-yard scoring pass to Tice-Saliu with 35.5 seconds left to make it 26-21.
Tuttle successfully executed an onside kick that Tice-Saliu recovered at the DePauw 47. Following three-straight incomplete passes, Dion converted on fourth down with a 19-yard play to the DePauw 28. Dion spiked the ball on the next play and Pooler swatted away the second-down pass in the end zone with 4.6 seconds remaining. Dion then completed a short pass to Welshans and the Young made the tackle at the DePauw 22 and seal the win.
Rose-Hulman outgained the Tigers, 514-293, including 355-169 through the air and had a 25-16 edge in first downs.
Andries led the Tigers with 69 rushing yards and completed 17 of 24 passes for 169 yards and three touchdowns. Trent Veith hauled in five for 18 yards, while Smith had 82 yards in four catches.
Dion completed 27 of 58 for 355 yards and three touchdowns. Thomas caught nine for 145 yards, while Welshans rushed for 124 yards on 30 tries.
Evens Cribs totaled 10 tackles and had four pass breakups, while Luke Marsh totaled nine stops. DePauw totaled 15 pass breakups with Henry Locke adding three.
Roberts finished with 11 tackles for the Fightin' Engineers including 2.5 tackles for loss.