Sweeney to Pfohl Saves Statemen, Hobart Survives, 38-35

The Hobart College Statesmen needed a 57 yard pass and run by SR WR Jack Pfohl to complete another furious comeback against a determined league opponent. This time it was the United States Merchant Marine Academy and their #1 ranked rushing offense which nearly broke the Statesmen. The Mariners (2-2, 1-1) rushed for 397 yards and five TDs but it was not enough to halt Hobart's "Team Air Show" and JR QB Shane Sweeney from accumulating 416 passing yards and five TDs.

A full recap from the HWSAthletics website can be seen here. The final play was so exciting it was nominated as the "Play of the Week" on D3football.com. You can view it and the other nominees here.

The LL's best rushing defense stifled the Hobart run game to a paltry 16 yards on 18 attempts. Three Statesmen rushers, including Sweeney (who was sacked twice), had negative yardage totals. The Mariners however had three players rush for over 100 yards. By contrast, "Bartwick" attempted 51 passes as the Statesmen had to rally several times, being down 10-0, 20-14, 28-20 and 35-31 in the contest.

These defensive struggles and close calls over the past couple of weeks may have led to Hobart's dropping one spot in the D3football.com and AFCA Top 25 polls (probably not though, other teams keep winning and so log jams ensue). What's most notable to me is that in the D3football.com poll, the team that leapfrogged them is league rival, Saint Lawrence (5-0, 2-0), who defeated Springfield (2-2, 1-1) in convincing fashion, 42-14.

This weekend Hobart will face off against a strong RPI (3-2, 1-1) squad. The Engineers earned a share of last season's LL title by defeating the Statesmen in Geneva, 21-20. I'll have more on that game later this week. We recapped the USMMA  vs. Hobart game, plus other LL and East Region action on our latest ITH podcast. You can download it here.

Thanks for reading and go 'Bart!