Week 10 - Saint Lawrence Game Preview

While I thought this game would have LL title implications for both teams, Hobart (5-3, 1-2) and Saint Lawrence (2-6, 1-3) will be playing for pride this Saturday. Last season the Statesmen went to Canton and dominated a supposedly strong Saints squad, giving them their only loss of the season by a score of 34-18. SR QB Shane Sweeney passed for 363 yards and five TDs in the game, two of those TDs and 241 of those yards were collected by SR WR Brandon Shed. The defense gave SLU SR QB Sean Richardson a long day, sacking him three times and intercepting him once in the win.

This season the Hobart-SLU game coincides with Senior Day for the Class of 2018 and these players will be suiting up for their final regular season home game at the Boz:

1			Joe Letizia	RB	SR	5-9	195	Blauvelt, N.Y.	Trinity-Pawling School
3		C	Shane Sweeney	QB	SR	6-1	200	Phelps, N.Y.	Geneva
5			Brandon Shed	WR	SR	6-4	195	West Palm Beach, Fla.	Benjamin School
21			Daryl Scales	CB	SR	6-1	180	Parlin, N.J.	St. Mark's School
23			Tom D'Antonio	CB	SR	6-0	195	Greenwich, Conn.	Salisbury School
34			Will Hoffer	OLB	SR	5-11	210	Round Hill, Va.	Woodgrove
38			Christian Coons	ILB	SR	6-0	220	Windham, Maine	Windham
40			Dylan Quay	FB	SR	6-0	225	Latham, N.Y.	Shaker
42		C	Zach Withers	TE	SR	6-4	245	Webster, N.Y.	Webster Schroeder
50			Michael Clancy	ILB	SR	5-10	208	Lawrenceville, N.J.	The Pennington School
52		C	Almamy Conde	ILB	SR	5-11	232	Bronx, N.Y.	St. Peter's Prep
55			Stephen VanHoesen	RT	SR	6-2	270	Niskayuna, N.Y.	Niskayuna
61			TJ Adams	DT	SR	5-10	270	Brockton, Mass.	Berkshire School
62		C	Zackary Robak	NG	SR	6-0	285	Haddam, Conn.	Xavier
69			Liam Murphy	C	SR	6-4	275	Whitesboro, N.Y.	Whitesboro
72			Alex Helm	LG	SR	6-3	300	Fallston, Md.	Fallston
92			Brandon Ball	DE	SR	6-2	242	Springville, N.Y.	Springville Griffith Institute
96			Rio Schmidt	P	SR	5-11	195	Mason, Texas	Mason

These 18 players have earned a 33-9 mark over the past four seasons and two LL titles. It's been a pleasure covering their careers and I wish them the best in these final two games and their post-Hobart careers.

Scouting the Saints

The graduation of several key offensive and defensive stars have the Saints in a rebuilding mode. They have been competitive, however, losing three games by a combined 10 points, including last week's 21-17 loss to RPI (6-2, 2-1). On paper the Statesmen have a clear edge in scoring offense, averaging 33 PPG vs. SLU's 17.6 PPG. However, both squads are basically even on defense, with Hobart having allowed 20.4 PPG to the Saints 21.4 PPG.

The Saints are also similar to Hobart in that they've evolved to be more of passing, than running,  team. SR QB Sean Richardson missed one game this season due to injury, but he's averaged over 200 YPG passing, throwing for 1403 yards, 12 TDs and six INTs on the season. JR RB Roderick Payne averages over 88 YPG rushing, but has only scored two TDs this season.

Richardson's favorite targets are JR WR Travis Marnell (630 receiving yards and six TDs) and SR WR Vincenzo Ferraro (486 receiving yards and two TDs). Vincenzo's little brother, FY WR Anthony Ferraro, scored on a 49 yard TD to give the Saints a brief lead late in the RPI game last weekend.

Defensively, SLU is led by SR LB Skyler Williamson, who has 86 tackles on the season, the most by any defender in the league. JR DL Tyler Mirabile has emerged as a strong pass rusher, leading the Saints in sacks with eight and adding 14.5 TFL.

SR PK Daly Hebert handles KOs, PAT and FG duties for SLU. SR WR/PK Austen Lauricella handles punting duties.

Keys to the Game:

1. Back to Basics - The Statesmen should have both a size and speed advantage against SLU this Saturday, and the Saints have allowed more rushing (13) than passing (7) TDs this season. When Hobart has lost this season, they've called 24 runs and 46 passes per game. In their wins, they've called 36 runs and 31 passes, on average. A more balanced attack should help get Hobart back into the win column, especially when you consider the three top RBs the Statesmen have combined for over 1000 yards and 16 TDs (and a 5+ yards per carry average) on the season.

2. Reel in Richardson - The SLU QB is one of the more, if not the most, mobile ones the Statesmen defense will have faced this season. It'll be imperative for assignments to be executed well and tackles made upon initial contact. Richardson can break long runs if allowed. The Hobart defense will need to be ready. While it was in a losing effort, Richardson did have 350 yards passing against the Statesmen defense last season.

3. Just Win - The Statesmen have a shot, albeit a long one, of possibly qualifying for the newly created New York State Bowl if they can end the season 3-2 in the LL. It'll come down to tiebreakers and/or other schools potentially opting out, since Ithaca and RPI have already had a lot of overlap with Empire 8 teams this season. There is no requirement that both second place teams from the respective conferences have to play in the bowl game (e.g., I would be very surprised if Ithaca would play Cortland in back-to-back weeks), so a bid could fall into Hobart's lap. Regardless of what happens, the Statesmen must win their final two contests to even have a chance.

Prediction:

I think the Saints will come to play spoiler, but the Hobart offense will surge late like they have on occasion this season. I'll take the Statesmen to win on Senior Day, 35-21.

Thanks for reading and go 'Bart!