Blaine Bursey of Middleburg, Fla., Earns Liberty League Football Accolades

2016 Sep 8

Blaine Bursey was one of three WPI football student-athletes to earn recognition from the Liberty League for their performance at MIT Friday night.

Senior Blaine Bursey was named the league's special teams performer of the week while freshman Sean McAllen was tabbed as the rookie of the week. Senior Brian Murtagh was named an honorable mention.

Bursey converted all four PAT attempts and all three field goal opportunities, including the overtime game-winner to lift WPI past MIT, 37-34 Friday night. His 23-yarder snapped a 14-14 tie in the second while a 37-yarder extended WPI's lead to 34-24 in the fourth. He only needed 19 yards to send the Boynton Hillers back to Worcester with the 37-34 victory.

McAllen ran for 215 yards on 29 carries and scored a pair of first half touchdowns in his Engineers debut. The total was aided by a 74-yard score to even the game at 14-14 in the second. McAllen became the first Crimson and Gray player to eclipse the 200 yard rushing mark in over a decade.

Murtagh led all student-athletes with 15 tackles (five solo), narrowly doubling up MIT's top defenders total. His sum included a pair on special teams and was in on four of five stops in the first series of the second half.

Football (1-0) hosts crosstown rival Worcester State Friday night at 7pm.

About Worcester Polytechnic Institute

Founded in 1865 in Worcester, Mass., WPI is one of the nation's first engineering and technology universities. Its 14 academic departments offer more than 50 undergraduate and graduate degree programs in science, engineering, technology, business, the social sciences, and the humanities and arts, leading to bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees. WPI's talented faculty work with students on interdisciplinary research that seeks solutions to important and socially relevant problems in fields as diverse as the life sciences and bioengineering, energy, information security, materials processing, and robotics. Students also have the opportunity to make a difference to communities and organizations around the world through the university's innovative Global Projects Program. There are more than 45 WPI project centers throughout the Americas, Africa, Asia-Pacific, and Europe.