The Rochester Yellow Jackets came to Geneva this Saturday riding a league best three game winning streak while the Hobart Statesmen were looking to send off the 12 members of its football senior class with a win on Senior Day and Hall of Fame weekend.
The Statesmen would field a short kickoff and begin their first drive from their own 42 yard line. Hobart would use a balanced attack to get to the Yellow Jacket 10, but the Rochester defense would hold on third down forcing the hosts to settle for a 27 yard Conor Callahan field goal with 8:43 to play in the first.
The Yellow Jackets would take the ensuing possession on a short field as well, starting at their 49 yard line after a 24 yard kickoff by freshman Reyes Guevara. Rochester drove down the field and capped an eight play drive when quarterback Braezen Subick found Thomas Norman for a 10 yard touchdown pass with 3:56 to play in the first quarter. The White-Stellato point after was good posting the visitors to a 7-3 advantage.
The Statesmen and Jackets traded possessions until Hobart caught a break when Subick shanked a punt off the side of his foot for seven yards giving the Statesmen the ball on their own 47 yard line. Hobart made the most of the opportunity driving eight plays to the Rochester one yard line when on second down, freshman Steven Webb scored his 12th rushing TD of the season. The point after was good giving Hobart a 10-7 lead with 6:39 remaining in the first half.
Rochester would swarm right back however, converting two fourth down conversions to drive the ball to the Statesmen's eight yard line. On the 14th play of the drive Subick would connect with Norman for their second TD on the day, this time an eight yard pass on 3rd and goal. With the point after, the Jackets were back in front by a score of 14-10 with 16 seconds remaining in the first half.
To Hobart's credit, they made the most of the time remaining, taking another short kickoff to their 49 yard line. Quarterback Doug Vella would find wide receiver Garth Muratori on back-to-back 15 yard pass plays to advance the ball to the Rochester 21 with only four seconds to go in the half. Reyes Guevara would attempt his first career field goal and had just enough to convert the 38 yarder as time expired on the first half. The FG would pull the Statesmen within one, making the score 14-13 Rochester at the half.
The second half would be a defensive battle as both teams struggled to move the ball. Rochester however controlled the time of possession to a 10:24 to 4:36 advantage in the period.
The fourth quarter had an auspicious start for Hobart. Freshman Yosh Karbowniczak failed to convert a fake punt on fourth down giving Rochester the ball on the Hobart 43. The Statesmen would appear to catch a break however when three plays later Chris Bickford fumbled on a short yardage play giving Hobart the ball at the 35. The good luck would be short lived though as Vella would lose control of the ball on a play fake and fumble himself, returning the ball to right back to Rochester at the same spot the Statesmen initially received it.
The Jackets would fail to gain any yardage on their initial three snaps, running for no gain and throwing two incomplete passes setting up a 4th and 10. Subick would find Tony Messana for a 13 yard gain and a first down. On the ensuing first down, Subick would find Norman for the third TD of the day. This time on a 22 yard reception to make it 21-13 with 11:18 to play in the game.
The game would remain deadlocked at this point with both teams attempting and failing to convert fourth downs on successive drives. Hobart had the ball with a first and goal from the Rochester five yard line but failed to find the end zone. This gave the Yellow Jackets the ball with just over three minutes to play with a chance to ice the game – but from their own three.
Hobart would allow Rochester to escape the shadow of their goal line, but eventually clamp down leading to a critical fourth and one with 1:28 to play. Instead of punting the ball away, Yellow Jacket Scott Greene called for another Bickford short yardage play. The Statesmen stuffed the Rochester offense and gave the offense the ball on the Jacket 29 yard line.
Vella would drive the offense to the end zone, hitting Muratori twice on the drive – first on an improbable throw that bounced off a Hobart player's shoulder pads and went straight up in the air. Rochester, who looked poised to make the easy interception, somehow missed the ball and it dropped right into the hands of a prone Muratori, who had fallen to the turf, for a 20-yard gain. On the second pass, Vella hit Muratori for 12 yards and a TD. On the ensuing possession, Hobart's Junior Woodard was wide open in the end zone for the two point conversion, tying the game at 21 all with 34 seconds to play.
After a loss on the first play from scrimmage following the kickoff, Rochester kneeled on the ball and the teams were headed to overtime.
The Yellow Jackets won the toss and elected to go on defense first. After completing two short passes, Vella handed off to Webb who took off for 22 yards and the TD. The point after was good and Hobart had a 28-21 lead.
Rochester would send the game into a second overtime when Subick called his own number on a one yard TD run.
The second overtime began with an incomplete pass from Subick, but he found Byron Saggese for 19 yards to the Hobart six. Three RJ Napadono rushes later and the Jackets were back on top 35-28.
The Statesmen called Webb's number for a three yard gain on first down, but the Rochester defense would throw Webb for a loss on second down. Facing a third and 10, Vella would scramble for eight yards setting up a 4th and 2 from the Rochester 17. On the ensuing play, Vella completed a 13 yard pass to junior Matt Marsh – his first catch of the season – which was good for a first and goal from the Jacket four.
Webb would score on the next play to make it 35-34. Head Coach Mike Cragg – who was honored at halftime along with his fellow Hobart Athletics Hall of Fame inductees – decided to play for the win.
Unfortunately, the Vella pass would be just out of reach for Muratori giving Rochester a 35-34 double overtime win. It was the first time Rochester had beaten Hobart since 2003, which was the last time the Statesmen only had five regular season wins, and only the second time in Hobart history the Statesmen had lost in overtime.
The Yellow Jackets were lead by Subick who completed 21-of-31 passes for 202 yards and three touchdowns, all to junior tight end Thomas Norman who made seven catches for 76 yards.
The Yellowjacket defense kept Vella under pressure throughout the game, logging six sacks. Junior end Cainaan Webb led the charge counting three sacks among his five tackles. First-year linebacker Tony Ortega led Rochester with 10 stops (7 solo).
Vella was 22-of-35 for 222 yards and a TD. Muratori finished the game with 10 receptions for 116 yards and a touchdown. Webb rushed for a game-high 98 yards and three touchdowns.
The Hobart defense was led by senior linebacker and co-captain Kyle O’Laughlin and junior linebacker Reggie Robinson with 12 tackles a piece. First-year strong safety Devin Worthington added eight tackles and a sack. Senior free safety and co-captain John Kelliher had nine tackles and a forced fumble.
With its fourth straight win Rochester improves to 4-5 on the season and 3-3 in the league. Hobart drops to 5-4 overall (the first time Hobart hasn't won six games since 1999) and 3-3 in the league as well.
Although Hobart did receive an ECAC bid in 2003 with a 5-4 record (which they in turn took and defeated Norwich 34-18), that seems very unlikely given the number of teams with better records and the amount of bids submitted (only six teams will be given ECAC berths).
That said, barring a miracle tomorrow when ECAC games are announced, it would appear the 2010 Statesmen season is over.
More analysis to follow and you can catch further discussion on this game, the DIII national playoffs and much more tomorrow night on ITH - www.inthehuddlle.com - we're on at 7:30 PM ET.
No comments:
Post a Comment