The Hobart Statesmen (5-2, 3-1) used a combination of turnovers and a balanced offensive game to defeat visiting WPI (3-5, 1-4) last Saturday at Boswell Field.
It was a very impressive defensive performance by the Statesmen who ended up collecting seven turnovers off of the Engineers including three interceptions, two fumbles, and two stands on 4th down. Hobart also held the #1 rushing offense in WPI to only 116 yards - a season low for the Engineers.
JR LB Reggie Robinson made several big plays including returning a 41 yard interception return to the WPI 9 yard line which set up FY RB Steven Webb's second TD on the day. Robinson also forced a fumble that was returned 53 yards by FY S Devin Worthington to post the Statesmen to 21-0 halftime lead. This fumble return for a TD was the longest by a Statesman in over 10 years!
SR S John Kelliher returned from injury and had two interceptions off of the newly minted WPI starting QB Johny Antonopolous (who was a lone bright spot for the Engineers rushing for 52 yards and passing for 198 and two TDs). SR LB Kyle O'Laughlin lead the Hobart defense with 10 tackles and a forced fumble.
Although WPI out gained the Statesmen 324 yards to 294, most of that yardage came in "garbage time" with the Statesmen ahead by a comfortable margin.
While the Hobart offense did struggle a bit (only accumulating 137 passing yards) against the #1 pass defense in the nation; given the field position and big plays afforded by the defense, didn't matter at the end of the day. The Statesmen rushed for 163 yards and were lead by Steven Webb (12 carries for 60 yards and two TDs). Webb's classmate, FB Juan O'Farrill scored his first career TD and SO RB Bobby Dougherty scored a TD as well.
Perhaps my favorite stat of the game is this one:
Penalties: Number-Yards 4-30
This tied the season low for number of penalties and was the lowest amount of penalty yards that the Statesmen have been flagged for all season. Hopefully this will become the norm for Hobart going forward.
Looking ahead
WEOS play-by-man Ted Baker got Coach Cragg to state that the ECACs "were possibility" for the Statesmen this year in the event Saint Lawrence (4-4, 4-0) wins one of its last two games and thus clinching the Liberty League title. The Statesmen will need to win out as well to benefit from a SLU stumble for a NCAA berth.
The Saints' next opponent is the Rochester Yellow Jackets (2-5, 1-3) who upset #20 Alfred University (6-2, 3-0) 24-14 at Alfred last Saturday.
Hobart will travel to league rival RPI (4-3, 2-2) who regained the "Dutchman Shoes" trophy from rival Union College (2-5, 2-3) at the ECAV in Troy, NY.
I'll have more on that game later this week - you can also catch a preview of said game from the "In the HuddLLe" (http://www.inthehuddlle.com/) archive.
Until then, thanks and go 'Bart!
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