The Hobart College Statesmen evened their LL record at 1-1 and improved to 5-1 on the season with an resounding beat-down of defending conference champion, RPI. The Engineers (4-2, 1-1) had no answers for an attacking Statesmen defense (until the starters were pulled in the 4th quarter as Hobart was up 38-7) that forced two INTs and sacked JR QB George Marinopolous twice and had 6 TFL.
JR OLB Emmett Forde is making a serious case to be named the LL DPOTY, if not All-American, based on his stats to date. He led the Hobart defense (unofficially) with 12 tackles and 4 TFL, including a FF.
It looked like this might be more of a defensive struggle early on, as Hobart's first offensive play ended up as an INT and RPI's early tries ended up in punts. JR PK Kyle Hackett even had a rare FG miss. He would redeem himself with two successful FG tries later in the game.
The tide started to turn in Hobart's favor as a tough defensive stand held the RPI offense at the 39 yard line. The Statesmen offense would drive 61 yards and SR RB Brian Haeffner would rumble into the end zone, dodging would-be tacklers, to give Hobart an early 7-0 lead. The Engineers would capitalize on a second Statesmen turnover; however, a recovering a fumble by FY RB Tim Denham, Jr., then tying the game off a misdirection gadget pass play.
Hobart quickly would take the lead back on a 65-yard SR QB Ryan Hofmann to JR WR Mike Giacobbe pass and run. The Statesmen never looked back and rattled off 31 unanswered points.
Hofmann finished the day with 294 pass yards to go with 3 TDs, recovering well from the early INT. Hofmann has passed for over 3,000 yards in his Hobart career. SR WR Ray Conley was his favorite target, catching six passes for 111 yards, but Giacobbe was the most opportunistic, converting both of his catches for TDs. Haeffner and SO QB David Krewson combined for 50 rush yards and two scores.
Today's win sets up the highly anticipated rematch between Hobart and #10 Ithaca. As has been well chronicled, the Statesmen have never won at Butterfield Stadium. They will need to next Saturday to force a potential tiebreaker situation with unbeaten Union still in control of their destiny. Today's loss for RPI basically means the Engineers will need to win out, hope for some help in order to not be eliminated from the NCAA playoffs for the first time since 2016.
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