Maybe it was the Saturday Night Lights / Ithaca revenge game hangover, but the #18/22 ranked Hobart College Statesmen needed a late comeback and some luck to defeat rival Union College, 27-23, Saturday at Boswell Field.
The Statesmen (4-0, 1-0) were flagged 11 times for -116 yards with four or five unsportsmanlike penalties that included a (very questionable) targeting call against SR OLB Michael Harper. The Hobart DL and basically front seven was once again suspect as Union (1-3, 0-1) gashed the young Statesmen defense to the tune of 170 rushing yards and two scores. SO RB Connor Kinzelmann had both of those Dutchmen TDs, the third went to SR QB Blake Geller who had a workman like eight for 18, 124 yard passing day.
Turnovers also hurt Hobart who gave Union the ball at their own nine yard late in the first quarter. Another turnover and a couple of sacks allowed by the Hobart OL put the Statesmen in a 10-7 halftime hole.
Things looked worse for Hobart after Geller led Union on a five play, 68 yard drive that gave the Dutchmen a 17-7 lead with 11:47 remaining in the 3rd quarter. That drive included a long pass where a wide open Dutchmen receiver benefited from blown coverage by the Hobart secondary.
SR FB Sean Bright (#36!) would pull the Statesmen within four points with a one yard TD. Kicking woes would start then, with SR PK Sean Kirshe missing the first of two PATs. Hobart would take the lead on JR WR Brandon Shed's second TD of the game with 2:01 remaining in the third quarter. Shed, who was celebrating his 22nd birthday, had a 50 yard catch to open the scoring back in the first.
Union would regain the lead after a 15 play, 77 yard drive ended in Kinzelmann's second rushing TD, a one yarder with 6:33 to go in the game. The Dutchmen elected to go for two but Geller was intercepted by JR DB Tommy D'Antonio, who returned it 95 yards to clip the Union lead to 23-21!
Shed would score what would be the winning TD on a 23 yard pass from JR QB Shane Sweeney with 2:16 left. The Hobart defense would hold, dodging a bullet on a would be TD that was called out of bounds (replays in the press box confirmed this according to the game announcers).
After one of the sloppiest first halves I have seen in several years, you have to give the Statesmen credit for finding a way to comeback and win this game. The officiating was bad on both sides of the ball, but even though Hobart didn't show what they were really capable of, they still found a way to win.
This was the second year in a row that Shed had a 100+ yard and multiple TD game against the Dutchmen. Sweeney finished with a solid 22 for 35, 246 passing yards and three TD game. D'Antonio and FY LB Jedh Downey led the Statesmen defense with 11 tackles each. With SR OLB Marcus Jemison out, D'Antonio has really stepped up and is the MVP on this team, at least in my opinion.
Hobart will learn a lot from this game tape and will need to improve on all the mistakes they made in this game after a tough nosed United States Merchant Marine (2-1, 1-0) team destroyed Rochester by a 55-7 margin today.
We will discuss this game and others, Sunday night on ITH. More on that soon.
Thanks for reading and go 'Bart!
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