Saturday, October 6, 2018

Statesmen Comeback to Stun Previously Undefeated Dutchmen, 29-28

What a game.

What else can you say about a gritty Hobart College Statesmen team that revived their season, coming back from being down 14-3, 21-10 and 28-19 today?!?

With Ali Marpet '15 and other alumni in the stands, Hobart (3-2, 1-0) sent the Union College Dutchmen (the Fighting Dutchmen, not Flying, sorry Ted ;) back to Schenectady with their first loss of the 2018 season.

A lot of great Statesmen, including Mike Berkowitz '15, Jarrid Blades '12, Ali Marpet '15 and former HC Mike Cragg were there to cheer on Hobart today.

Union (4-1, 0-1) saw SO PK Kyle Hackett make the first of his three FGs (which tied a Hobart record for most FG made in a single game) early on, as he connected on a 31-yarder with 3:31 remaining in the first quarter. This gave Hobart it's first and pretty much only lead for the majority of the game, as the Dutchmen stormed back with back-to-back TDs by FY RB Ike Irabor. Irabor caught a 19-yard pass from SO QB Will Bellamy and ran one in from three yards out to post the Dutchmen to a 14-3 lead.

The Statesmen only needed one play to make it a game again, as JR WR Ray Conley took a screen pass and ran it 43 yards to the house. Bellamy would find Beal for another TD catch to push the Union lead to 21-10.

Once again JR QB Ryan Hofmann would make another long TD pass, this time to JR WR Jake Catalioto for 66 yards to bring Hobart back within a TD, but the PAT snap was low and FY QB David Krewson's head's up scramble ended up just short of the pile on for the 2-point play. Catalioto would finish with a game-high eight catches, 148 yards and 1 TD. Hofmann finished with 326 passing yards and three TDs.

Hackett would keep the Statesmen in striking distance with 36 and 41 yard FGs, which was important, especially after Bellamy found Andre Ross, Jr for a 27-yard score to make it 28-19 with 9:47 left in the 3rd quarter. Ross ended up with six catches for 152 yards on the game.

JR TE AJ Perlino would not be denied, breaking tackles as he tied the game from 16 yards out with 8:28 remaining. The Hackett PAT, and a couple of key defensive plays by FY CB Jay McCoy and SO FS Cal Sullivan with big INTs down the stretch, not to mention a huge sack by SR DE Al Smith in the final seconds, sealed the comeback win for Hobart.

Hobart will face off against the UofR (1-4, 0-1) next weekend for the Centennial Cup. More on that game plus look for an appearance by HC Kevin DeWall '00 on ITH early next week!

Thanks for reading and go 'Bart!


No comments:

Post a Comment