Game Leaders
Team Stats
Passing Yards
Rushing Yards
Turnovers
Time of Poss.
WORCESTER -- Senior running back John Chau (Suffern, NY) ran for 48 yards and two first-half touchdowns on 11 carries as the WPI Engineers executed in all three phases of the game to overwhelm the visiting University of New England Nor'Easters, 31-13, Friday night.
The Engineers improved to 2-0 on the season, while the Nor'Easters fell to 0-2.
Chau's first touchdown — a 9-yard scamper — capped an 8-play, 60-yard drive in the first quarter following a 3-and-out forced by the Crimson & Gray Defense. He also hit paydirt from seven yards out in the second quarter to culminate an 6-play, 62-yard drive.
Graduate quarterback Mike Ingraffia (Kings Park, NY) threw for 107 yards and two touchdowns on 13-of-27 passing and added 57 rushing yards on nine carries. Ingraffia connected with fellow grad students Josh Castro (Pittsburgh, PA) and Douglas Cain (Holden, MA) for 19-yard and 8-yard strikes, respectively. Castro finished the night with 2 receptions for 35 yards, while Cain's touchdown was his only catch of the night.
Eight different receivers had a catch for the Boynton Hillers, including graduate student Jay Mezzo (Naugatuck, CT) and senior Preston Van Fleet (Marshfield, MA) who had three receptions apiece. Seniors Chau, Aaron Skaling (Bedford, NH) and Sam Wing (Oxford, MA), and sophomore Garrett Ranieri (Templeton, MA) all had one catch.
Senior defensive back Rashad Stepney (Yortktown, VA) and sophomore linebacker Michael Doherty (Woburn, MA) paced WPIs defense with 7 tackles each. Graduate Student Frankie Polito (Shrewsbury, MA) had six tackles, including a sack for a 2-yard loss, and classmate Ryan Antes (Conway, MA) made five tackles and had a sack of his own. Meanwhile, senior Gavin Chieff (Bernardsville, N.J.) had four tackles and an interception, and junior Nate Ambrad (Wakefield, RI) made two tackles and also hauled in an interception.
Graduate student Brock Dubey (Dudley, MA) connected on a 34-yard field goal and made all four PATs, while senior Nick Demasi (Chapel Hill, NC) averaged 32.7 yards-per-punt on seven punts, including 1 inside the 20.
Sophomore quarterback Chris Lang (Freehold, N.J.) had 247 all-purpose yards, throwing for 187 yards on 18-of-34 passing and running for 60 yards on 14 carries for the Nor'Easters. Classmate Damien Jones (Fitchburg, MA) rushed 10 times for 30 yards and a touchdown, and junior quarterback Will Ledbetter (Windham, ME) was 2 for 3 passing for 22 yards and a touchdown.
Senior JT Moran (Seekonk, MA) and juniors Kese Higgins (Denver, CO), Tommy McGuire (Boonton, N.J.) and Oscar Clark (Mendon, MA) all had four tackles for the University of New England, with Clark also collecting an interception.
WPI will try to win back the Transit Trophy, as it will travel to upstate New York to take on RPI at 7pm on Friday. The Nor'Easters play host to Gallaudet Saturday at noon.