Last Saturday was Senior Day for the Hobart Statesmen. The Senior Class consisting of 19 future graduates of Hobart College had earned a 30-10 record and three consecutive NCAA tournament bids. In the wake of the announcement that Hobart would not participate in the ECACs, Coach Cragg didn't see a let down coming from this group of student-athletes:
“We just talked,” he said. “I said, ‘Is it the time to whine and cry about it and point fingers and mope about it, or is it time to see if we can win two more games and end our careers with two more victories?’
“This senior class is special. How much it must have broken their heart not to be able to return back to the NCAA playoffs, and then this week to find out they’re not going to the ECAC playoffs. I’m so happy that if we’re not going to the playoffs, that this was the group because this group could handle it. I’m not sure many of the others could.” (credit to ALAN BRIGNALL, Finger Lakes Times, 11/9/09)
Not wanting to let Coach and their fellow teammates down, the Hobart Seniors lead the way against the RPI Engineers on a windy day in Geneva, NY.
Although the game was dominated by turnovers, Hobart collected four off the Engineers and the first came when RPI’s Nick Herrera muffed a Hobart punt at his own 12. The loose ball was recovered by SO CB Drake Woodard and three plays later classmate Conor Callahan booted a 28-yard field goal for a 3-0 lead with 6:07 left in first quarter.
Hobart nearly returned the favor as a Statesman fell on an RPI punt near midfield that the Engineers recovered, but SO and JR LBs Reggie Robinson and Kyle O’Laughlin stopped RPI’s Zach Scruggs short of the first down marker on fourth and two from the Hobart 16.
Midway through the second quarter, Hobart JR FS John Kelliher set up the Statesmen for the only touchdown of the game when he intercepted FY RPI quarterback Mike Hermann at the Hobart 46 and returned it 43 yards to the RPI 11.
Four plays later, JR Andrew Marlier just barely gained enough on fourth and one from the two to get a first down. The Chicago native would then dive into the end zone on the next play for the touchdown – his 8th on the season. Callahan’s PAT was good and would give the Statesmen a 10-0 lead with 5:45 remaining before the half.
Neither team would see the end zone in the second half nor did the Hobart defense allow RPI to cross midfield. In general both offenses struggled in the contest, as the Statesmen and Engineers were a combined 2 for 32 on third down. The Statesmen’s efforts were bolstered by winning the field position battle; as well as Tyler Vincent converting two fourth downs and averaging 36.6 yards per punt. Vincent especially hurt RPI’s field position by dropping four of his nine punts inside the Engineers’ 20 and sending four more into the end zone for touchbacks. Vincent was named the co-Special Teams Player of the Week by LL for his outstanding kicking (and scrambling) on Saturday.
Although a bad day for both offenses, Hobart’s defense pitched its second consecutive home shutout (the first of RPI since 2000) bolstered by the aforementioned takeaways. Linebacker and SR Co-captain Ryan Robinson (led the charge in his final game at the “Boz” with a team-high 10 tackles, including two for a loss, while O’Laughlin and Kelliher recorded an interception each to go with seven and five tackles, respectively. Robinson was named the LL co-Defensive Player of the Week for his efforts.
RPI linebacker Stefan Schulz (the other co-Defensive Player of the Week by the LL) produced a game-high 14 tackles for the Engineers, while defensive end Colton Hill and defensive tackle Colin Elliott added 12 and 10 stops, respectively. Hermann led the RPI offense with 41 yards rushing, while completing 10-of-27 passes for 87 yards with three interceptions.
Marlier led the Hobart rushing attack with 77 yards on 21 carries and a touchdown. SO QB Doug Vella struggled against a strong RPI defense going five for 18 for only 37 yards and an interception. Vella also added 24 rushing yards for the Statesmen. To Vella’s credit several passes were dropped by Statesmen receivers, as Hobart only made six catches overall on the day.
Hobart, which moves to 5-3 overall, 4-2 in the league, guaranteed the Statesmen a program record 13th consecutive winning season. Hobart will wrap up the regular season on Nov. 14, when it travels to Rochester for the third annual Centennial Cup game.
With the loss the Engineers dropped to 4-4 overall and 3-3 in the league. RPI will close out the 2009 season looking for a winning season at home against Merchant Marine (4-5, 2-4).
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