Football loses to Becker College 17-10 on alumni day
Áron Ricardo Perez-Lopez–The Tech
Áron Ricardo Perez-Lopez–The Tech
MIT (0-2) dropped their second straight game losing to Becker College 17-10 this past Saturday. The Engineers rallied after being down 17-0 in the third quarter but their comeback bid was thwarted after failing to recover an onside kick.
MIT quarterback Udgam Goyal ’19 completed 23 of 41 passes for 193 yards and a touchdown while wide-receiver Eddy Garcia-Montes ’19 caught 7 passes for 94 yards. Running back John Robertson ’20 ran for 69 yards on 14 carries.
On the other side of the ball, linebackers Anthony Emberley ’17 and Kodiak Brush ’17 lead the team with 9 tackles each.
Becker quarterback Nas Sinkfield-Shelton completed 16 of 30 passes for 180 yards and carried the ball 12 times for 37 yards and a touchdown.
The first quarter proved to be sloppy. An unexpected rain shower passed through, leaving some fans in attendance scrambling. The weather seemed to leave obvious effects on the field. The two teams collectively turned the ball over three times and had a few inadvertent snaps that didn’t help their cause. Neither team was able to score, ending the first quarter scoreless.
At the start of the second, the weather cleared but neither offense seemed to pick up any traction. MIT’s defense played well, but the offense struggled to get the ball down the field.
After starting a drive around the 50-yard line, Becker gambled on a fourth-and-two and it paid rich dividends. Sinkfield-Shelton was able to run it into the end zone and score the first set of points in the game.
As the half dwindled down, MIT defensive back Rob DiSanto ’18 made a great interception that seemed to give the Engineers some momentum. However, they committed another turnover on the first play of the drive that let Becker get into scoring position and up the score 14-0 to end the half.
Through the start of third quarter, both sides failed to make significant movement up the field. A three-and-out drive by MIT and a 30-yard completed pass by Becker got the opponents in field goal range which they converted making the score 17-0.
MIT seemed to find some life at the start of the fourth quarter. Robertson was able to find holes in defense and Goyal completed a few passes, including a 53-yard bomb to Eddy Garcia-Montes that got them in field goal range and allowed them to finally get some points on the board.
After slowly chugging their way up the field and draining the clock down to around five minutes, Becker was in scoring position once again. However, MIT’s Matt Nicolai ’18 picked off a pass and ran it back 44 yards before being taken down at the Becker 47 yard line. MIT fans, especially those that witnessed the near comeback last weekend, were excited.
With 2:35 left on the clock, MIT got the ball again. Goyal was great on the ensuing drive, going 5-7 on passes before making a 6-yard completion to Jared Hanson '18 for the touchdown. The score was 17-10 with just over a minute left in game.
The Engineers lined up for the onside kick, hoping to recover it as they did last week against WPI. They got the bounce they wanted and were able to get in on the scramble.
MIT plays again next week against Rensselaer on Saturday, September 17th, hoping to claim their first win after starting the season 0-2.