The Hobart Statesmen and the US Merchant Marine Academy Mariners came into Saturday’s contest looking to rebound after tough Liberty League losses. On a wet and rainy day in Geneva, both teams traded punts to start the game. Turnovers are always a concern in wet weather and Hobart stuck first when Statesmen JR OLB Kyle O’Laughlin caused and SR OLB Orlando Patterson recovered a JR RB Karl Heimbrock fumble set up Hobart with a 1st and 10 from the MMA 39 yard line with 4:12 to play in the first quarter.
With a short field and momentum, Coach Cragg opted to give JR QB and Illinois State transfer Preston Earl a chance to complete his first touchdown drive as Statesman. The young man from Lincolnshire did not disappoint. With a balanced mix of short passes and SO RB Pat Julian runs, Earl drove Hobart to Mariner 15 yard line. The USMMA nearly capitalized on a Hobart fumble, but Earl fell on the ball to make it 2nd down and 19 from the Mariner 24. The JR QB’s next pass fell incomplete but on 3rd down Earl connected with SR WR Tyler Vincent for 24 yards and the score. A Conor Callahan kick followed and the Statesmen were up 7-0 with 1:22 to play in the first quarter.
Hobart didn’t waste any time getting back to the end zone. After holding the Mariners to another three and out, Hobart opened their first drive of the second quarter with a 31 yard burst from SO RB Kyle Tritten. Starting QB SO Doug Vella then found classmate Garth Muratori for a 16 yard strike to the USMMA 11 yard line. After an 8 yard Vella rush, Tritten hit pay-dirt from three yards out to push Hobart to a 14-0 advantage with 12:57 to play in the second quarter.
The teams would continue to trade possessions to end the half highlighted by the Statesmen defense thwarting the Mariners best offensive possession of the day – an 11 play, 55 yard drive – which ultimately ended on downs at the Hobart 25 after four failed pass attempts by Derrick Ventre.
It was more of the same for the Mariners who opened the third quarter with another three and out. Hobart would embark on its best drive of the day – a 10 play, 75 yard march down Boswell Field behind the arm (four for four passing for 39 yards) and legs of SO QB Doug Vella (3 carries for 22 yards including two first downs). After another long pass (19 yards) to Muratori, Hobart was once again knocking on the MMA red zone.
Although Vella primarily moved the chains on this particular drive, it was JR RB Andrew Marlier who got the call on a 1st and goal from the MMA seven yard line (set up by a personal foul penalty to Alex Coviello on a late hit to Vella as he scampered out of bounds). Marlier scored his sixth TD on the season to make it 21-0 8:16 to play in the third.
The Statesmen’s final scoring drive was set up by a big play on special teams. On the final play of the third quarter, reserve DE James Rayhill blocked the Mariners’ punt attempt and WR Kevin Grogan (who apparently has the majority of his best games – having both forced a fumble in 2007 and blocked a punt that was recovered for a TD in last year’s game - against the Mariners) recovered for Hobart at the Merchant Marine 45.
The punt block put the Statesmen in prime position to start the fourth quarter. Hobart quickly rattled off with a four play, 55 yard drive that was capped off by a rare carry for SR FB Andrew Miller. He would not waste this special opportunity and the SR from Washington, PA would rumble 10 yards for his first career touchdown. After another successful PAT, Hobart led 28-0 with 13:36 to play in the game.
By the end of the game, the Statesmen defense had shutout the USMMA for the second consecutive season, holding the Mariner offense to only 159 total yards (71 rush, 88 pass) on the day. The MMA only crossed the 50 four times and never advanced into the Statesmen red zone. The Hobart defense was lead by O’Laughlin (10 tackles) and SR DT Mike Arduni (7 tackles including 1.5 TFL and 1 sack).
While the Mariners offense only converted two of 16 on third down, Hobart racked up 334 yards of total offense, holding the ball for over 33 minutes and, most importantly, went a perfect four for four in the red zone. Also of note is the fact that the Statesmen had their first game of the season without any penalties (by contrast, Hobart was flagged for over 100 yards in penalties against Union two weeks ago).
The Statesmen used five quarterbacks in the contest with starter Doug Vella completing 10-of-15 for a game-high 105 yards. Merchant Marine starter Derrick Ventre was 8-of-24 for 66 yards. Hobart also used 10 different ball carriers, with Kyle Tritton the leading rusher with four carries for 46 yards. WRs Vincent, Muratori and Lazore each had three catches for 38, 38 and 31 yards, respectively. Chris Adema lead the Mariners with 38 yards on three receptions and Karl Heimbrock tallied 41 yards on 16 carries.
The win brings Hobart back to .500, both 3-3 and 2-2 overall, while the loss drops the MMA to 4-4 and 2-3 in the league. Next week Statesmen will look to earn their first road victory of the season in Worcester, MA against WPI while the Mariners are on a bye week.
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