Hobart Gets Back to NCAAs, Defeats Rochester 56-27 on Senior Day

The Hobart College Statesmen clinched a share of the Liberty League Championship with a commanding 56-27 defeat of oldest rival, Rochester, Saturday in Geneva. Their head-to-head victory over Saint Lawrence (9-1, 6-1), who defeated WPI (6-4, 3-4), 28-21 on a late punt return for TD, gave them the LL Pool A (aka Automatic Qualifier) bid.

Hobart (9-1, 6-1) opened a 19-0 lead and looked great in every area save for maybe special teams to open the game. SR RB Brad Burns, SO RB Tynard Barfield each had a rushing TD and JR WR Brandon Shed added a 10 yard TD reception. 

Rochester (1-8, 0-7) got on the board after Luke Szumski made a leaping TD catch to cut the Statesmen's lead to 19-7. Rochester finally got on the board after Luke Szumski made a leaping touchdown catch to cut the Statesmen's lead to 19-7. A Hobart turnover would give the Yellow Jackets a chance to make it a game, but the Statesmen defense held and Rochester missed a field goal. SR FB Sean Bright and SR WR Jack Pfohl would add two more touchdowns on Senior Day. Although there was under two minutes to go, the Hobart defense forced a Rochester punt and allowed JR QB Shane Sweeney to find Shed for a 41 yard TD. The reception would break the all-time career mark and was Sweeney's 50th career touchdown pass as well.

Hobart took a 40-7 halftime lead and would start mixing in the reserves to start the third quarter. Rochester would capitalize, scoring 27 unanswered points, including two touchdowns by SR WR Kyle Allegrini. The Statesmen wouldn't need much time to respond, however, as on the third play of their ensuing drive Barfield broke off a 47 yard TD run to get Hobart back on track.

JR RB Joe Letizia would run in a short touchdown and FY DE Adrian Connell would force a safety to give the Statesmen a 56-27 Centennial Cup, and more importantly, a Liberty League Championship win! 

Sweeney led Hobart with 256 passing yards and three scores. The Statesmen defense was led by JR LB Almamy Conde and FY LB Jedh Downey with six tackles each. Rochester was led by backup QB Josh Brown with 136 passing yards and two touchdowns. LB Kevin Leblanc led all tacklers with a game high 10 stops. 

The Statesmen will learn of their first round playoff opponent Sunday night at 6 pm on NCAA.com. We will do a NCAA D3 Mock Selection show Saturday night at 11 PM at www.inthehuddlle.com. Our Sunday show will reveal Hobart's first round playoff opponent and our interview with the Head of the Selection Committee, Jack McKieran, so tune in!

Thanks for reading and go 'Bart!