Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) beat rival Union, 31-28, in the 64th Dutchman Shoes Trophy Game on Saturday capping a fitting ending to the first season as a college head coach for Sachem alum Ralph Isernia.
The Engineers and Union have played one another 111 times, the longest football rivalry in New York State history.
“You could see it on the field, we were just grinding,” said Isernia, who graduated from Sachem in 1987 and was an integral part of the school’s 1986 championship team. “The way that we played today, we made some mistakes, but we capitalized on some mistakes as well. But our guys just kept fighting. I couldn’t be any prouder of those guys, and for those guys, especially for our seniors.”
Isernia has climbed the ranks at the college level, traveling around the country for more than 20 years in various positions before settling down this year at RPI for the head job. He’s spent time at colleges in Division 1-AA, now known as the Football Championship Subdivision, up to Division III.
At Division III Furman he was offensive coordinator for two years and at Division II Charleston he was assistant head coach for six years, where he was a regional finalist for Division II Assistant of the Year three times.
Rensselaer finished the 2013 season 5-5 and, of course, has two Sachem alums on its roster. Sachem North’s Steve Mills, the winner of last year’s Zellner Award as the top lineman in Suffolk County, as well as Sachem East’s Ryan Dippel, who caught a miraculous game-winning touchdown pass to beat Connetquot in last year’s Division I semifinals, are both Engineers.
Isernia was Sachem’s Team MVP in 1986 and scored the first and eventual game-winning touchdown to help the Flaming Arrows beat West Islip, 14-0, in the county championship that season. That team is the last in Sachem to win the Rutger’s Trophy.
-Words by Chris R. Vaccaro