Saint Lawrence Recap

All good things must come to an end, but I honestly wasn't expecting Saint Lawrence to break Hobart's 18 game winning streak this weekend. To the Saints credit, they made the big plays necessary to win the game.

The SLU defense basically shut down the Statesmen's running game and it was apparent later in the second half that the offense didn't quite know what to do and seemed to rely on running out of the shotgun formation (not a great option in my opinion).

Vella's four interceptions definitely were a back breaker but some of the blame could fall on the Statesmen defense who blew a few key one on one assignments (the Walker TDs) and rarely sacked Saint QB JP Kearney - particularly on third and fourth down when the Saints scored their first and last TDs.

That said, it's clear the Statesmen weren't 100% focused given six penalties for 70 yards - the final one giving the Saints the ball on the Hobart 35 with under two minutes to play and the game on the line.

Hobart was sloppy and deserved to lose, but ironically, even after the Sutton 33 yard TD catch; the Statesmen had one more chance to either tie or win the game. Fittingly, Vella was picked off twice when he under threw his receivers and the Saints hung on to win the game.

The bottom line is Hobart failed to protect the ball (-4 in turnover margin), continued their struggles on third down going six for 15 (40%), had zero sacks and failed to convert their only interception on defense into points.

I can only imagine how long a bus ride it was for the team last Saturday and this weekend it doesn't get any easier. The 0-1 hole means that for all intents and purposes, Union is a "must win" if Hobart harbors any hopes to make it back to the NCAAs. Even then, a win against Union is no guarantee the chips would fall into place for the Statesmen, who's only hope in winning the league (and the accompanying automatic bid) would be the (somewhat complex) LL tiebreaker rules.

Basically Hobart has to win out from here forward, but the Dutchmen have beaten Hobart three of the past four seasons, including two straight and are the de facto defending league champions.

I'll have more to say on this weekend's Union match up but unless the Statesmen correct some basic fundamentals, I think a third and season ending loss may be in store for Hobart....