Northfield, VT -- John Chau (Suffern, NY) and Noah Herzig (Hubbardston, MA) each registered a pair of touchdowns and Jimmy Espinal (Salem, MA) returned an interception for his first career score to help the WPI football team open the NEWMAC portion of its schedule with a 38-17 road win at Norwich on Saturday afternoon.
The Engineers, who have now won eight straight over the Cadets, are 3-1 on the season and 1-0 in conference play. Norwich, which leads the all-time series with WPI 38-34-1, dips to 1-3 overall and 0-1 in NEWMAC action.
The WPI defense forced a quick three-and-out and, after a short Norwich punt, the Engineers tallied the only score of the first quarter. Herzig took a jet sweep from Stephen MacDonald (Georgetown, MA) and ran it in from eight yards out from the left side for the opening touchdown just 1:53 into the contest.
The Cadets leveled the score early in the second quarter as Will Thornton (Cape Elizabeth, ME) capped an eight-play, 85-yard drive by hauling in an 18-yard pass from Ryan O'Keefe (Scarborough, ME). The guests regained the lead on the ensuing possession when Chau scampered in from three yards out following a nine-play, 66-yard drive. The Engineers took a 17-7 edge into the locker room after Brock Dubey (Dudley, MA), who had connected on both PATs, banged in a 36-yard field goal as time expired.
The Crimson and Gray turned to its defense for scoring in the third quarter as Espinal jumped a route in the middle of the field and took his first career interception back 52 yards for a touchdown with 7:52 remaining. Norwich answered back as O'Keefe hit Justin Bryant (Eliot, ME) for a 35-yard score 2:29 later only to see the visitors respond with another MacDonald to Herzig scoring connection, this time a 50-yard touchdown pass, with 2:36 left in the third.
After Norwich closed the gap 31-17 following a 33-yard Zach Buchy (Suffolk, VA) field goal early in the fourth quarter, the Engineers put the game away with a seven-play, 84-yard drive, punctuated by a Chau one-yard touchdown plunge to close out the scoring.
Chau ended the day with his first career triple digit rushing performance. The junior gained 107 yards on 20 carries, including the two touchdowns. Backfield mate Sam Wing (Oxford, MA) was also effective, amassing 77 on 12 carries. Herzig led all players with six receptions for 68 yards and MacDonald finished 15-for-29 for 195 yards and the two touchdowns.
Mohamed Barry (South Windsor, CT) and Nate Ambrad (Wakefield, RI) each had a sack and half with Barry having two additional tackles-for-loss and a forced fumble. Rashad Stepney (Yorktown, VA), Elized Soule (Kennebunkport, ME) and Espinal had interceptions with Espinal also recovering a fumble. Beck Carrier (McDonald, PA) and Berry posted a team-high seven tackles while Soule chipped in with six stops.
As a team, the Engineers held a 422-285 edge in total yards, held a decisive advantage in time of possession (35:36-24:24) and accounted for 20 of the game's 34 first downs.
Next up for WPI is its annual Homecoming next Saturday with the Engineers squaring off with Springfield in a game slated to kickoff at noon at H. Carr Field at Alumni Stadium. Norwich heads to Long Island next Saturday for a noon matchup with NY Maritime.