19 Statesmen Earn All-Conference Honors

The Hobart College Statesmen may have ended up fourth in the conference standings to end the 2017, but many individual players earned 1st and 2nd team All-LL honors.

For the second year in a row, SR QB Shane Sweeney earned the OPOTY award. Sweeney passed for over 2,400 yards and 18 TDs. FY PK Kyle Hackett earned Co-STPOTY award for leading the LL in scoring with 73 points, including a perfect 10-10 on FGs.

Overall, there were 19 Statesmen that earned All-LL honors, as announced last week:

ALL-LIBERTY LEAGUE FIRST TEAM - OFFENSE
QB- Shane Sweeney, Sr., Hobart
WR- Brandon Shed, Sr., Hobart
RB- Joe Letizia, Sr., Hobart
TE- Zach Withers, Sr., Hobart
OL- John Deveney, Jr., Hobart
OL- Alex Helm, Sr., Hobart

ALL-LIBERTY LEAGUE FIRST TEAM - DEFENSE
DL- Brandon Ball, Sr., Hobart
DB- Tom D’Antonio, Sr., Hobart

ALL-LIBERTY LEAGUE FIRST TEAM - SPECIALISTS
PK- Kyle Hackett, Fr., Hobart
P- Rio Schmidt, Sr., Hobart

ALL-LIBERTY LEAGUE SECOND TEAM - OFFENSE
RB- Dakota Harvey, Fr., Hobart

ALL-LIBERTY LEAGUE SECOND TEAM - DEFENSE
LB- Jedh Downey, So., Hobart
LB- Almamy Conde, Sr., Hobart
DB- Jayson Prince, So., Hobart

HONORABLE MENTION - OFFENSE
OL- Jack Koch, Jr., Hobart
OL- Stephen VanHoesen, Sr., Hobart

HONORABLE MENTION - DEFENSE
DL- Zackary Robak, Sr., Hobart
DB- Kai Brandford, Jr., Hobart

HONORABLE MENTION - SPECIALISTS
ATH- Tynard Barfield, Jr., Hobart

That's an impressive number of players to earn All-LL honors, and with 8 of them are coming back in 2018, there's a lot to look forward to for Hobart fans.

In addition to the above honors, six Statesmen players (which tied with RPI for most in NYS) also earned CoSIDA All District All Academic team awards. To earn a spot on the Academic All-District team, a student-athlete must maintain a minimum 3.3 cumulative grade point average, be a starter or significant reserve and be at least a sophomore academically. The Hobart players who earned this award included:

SR QB Shane Sweeney (3.47)
SR OL Alex Helm (3.60)
SR OL Stephen VanHoesen (3.46) 
SR DE Brandon Ball (3.63)
JR DB Kai Brandford (3.56)
SR P Rio Schmidt (3.52)

Congratulations to all these individual accomplishments!

Happy Thanksgiving to you and you families, both near and far away.

Thanks for reading and go 'Bart!

Coach DeWall Out at Endicott

Last night some surprising news hit social media when Hobart AD Mike Hanna '68 tweeted out the following message:

This is disappointing on a number of levels, especially considering Coach Kevin DeWall '00's program had one of the highest SOS numbers (I believe it comes in at 19 out of nearly 250) in the nation and placed over 10 players on the CCC's All-Conference team. The story was later followed up on via formal press release and an article on D3football.com, among others.

While I am certain Coach DeWall will land on his feet, I am not sure we can hope to get him back to Geneva. President Vincent has alluded to the next AD being an external hire (vs. a promotion of HC Mike Cragg, which is obviously what most Hobart alumni and fans would love to see), but I guess we'll have to wait and see.

There are several other programs at the D3 and upper divisions that would likely be happy to have him on staff in some form or fashion. Either way, we wish Coach DeWall the best and will look forward to reporting where he lands very soon.

Thanks for reading and go 'Bart!

Statesmen Run Over Rochester, 51-12, to Retain Centennial Cup

The Hobart College Statesmen punctuated the 2017 season with a 51-12 thrashing of oldest rival Rochester (2-7, 0-5). Hobart (7-3, 3-2) saw FY RB Dakota Harvey have a career day, rushing for 207 yards and three TDs. As a team the Statesmen averaged nearly nine yards per carry and ground out a total of 364 yards on the day. SR RB Joe Letizia scores two TDs in his final game as a Statesmen player. Overall Hobart out-gained the Yellow Jackets 507 to 264 total yards.

SR QB Shane Sweeney did not suit up for his final collegiate game, giving SO QB Ryan Hofmann his first start, and he did well. Hofmann passed for 143 yards and a TD, a nine yard pass to JR WR Joseph Barrocas.

SR DB Tommy D'Antonio punctuated the final game of his Hobart career with a 28 yard PR for a TD to go with five tackles and a pass break up. SO OLB Jayson Prince and SR DE Brandon Ball led the Statesmen defense with nine tackles a piece. Ball added 2.5 TFL, a sack, blocked a kick and three QB hits on the day. Prince also had a TFL and a sack as well.

FY PK Kyle Hackett kicked a 32 yard FG, giving him a perfect 10-10 record on the season. That mark is the best / most perfect record for any PK at any level of CFB this season. Congratulations to Kyle on that achievement!

You can read the Hobart recap here.

With Union losing 20-14 to RPI, the Engineers (8-2, 4-1) will go to the NCAA playoffs as the LL Champions (technically Ithaca shares the title, but RPI gets the playoff bid given the H2H win over the Bombers) and the Dutchmen (7-3, 3-2) will likely end up in the NYS Bowl, assuming Ithaca (7-3, 4-1) opts out on a rematch against Cortland, who they defeated 48-20 Saturday in the Cortaca Jug rivalry game.

I'll have a 2017 recap sometime next week.

As always, thanks for reading and go 'Bart!

Week 11 - Rochester / Centennial Cup Game Preview

The Hobart College Statesmen will wrap up the 2017 season on the road against their oldest rival, the University of Rochester Yellow Jackets.

Hobart (6-3, 2-2) leads the all-time series 54-48-7, making this the 110th game between the two schools. Last season, the Statesmen defeated the 'Jackets 56-27 behind JR RB Tynard Barfield's 123 rushing yards and two TDs and SR QB Shane Sweeney's 256 passing yards and three TDs. The Centennial Cup will once again be on the line, but the Statesmen have kept it at Bristol Gym since 2011, winning the last six straight contests.

Rochester's (2-6, 0-4) recent struggles have been well documented and they have effectively led to the resignation of Coach Scott Greene after this final game. Although the Yellow Jackets did finish over .500 in 2015, the last time they've had more than five wins dates back to 2007.

Last weekend RPI (7-2, 3-1) dominated Rochester, 63-14, in a game that could have been more lopsided. The Yellow Jackets have failed to score more than 14 points in any of their games, save for a 28-10 win over Becker (but the Hawks are only 1-8). Given Union's 20-3 loss to Ithaca on Saturday, it appears as though an appearance in the New York State Bowl is likely not going to happen (barring both Ithaca or RPI and Union declining to participate), and given Hobart's historical stance on ECAC participation, this should be the final game of 2017, but we probably won't know for sure until early next week.

Needless to say I am not going to spend much time analyzing this game, but suffice to say, I do think Hobart will win going-away.

I'll have some more analysis and thoughts later next week to recap the season, while looking ahead to 2018.

Thanks for reading and go 'Bart!

Sweeney and Statesmen Defense Shine on Senior Day, 34-7

The Hobart College Statesmen took on the Saint Lawrence University Saints on Senior Day at Boswell Field. It was an earlier start (11 am) than usual for both teams, and the offenses took a little time to warm up.

Hobart (6-3, 2-2) got on the board first when SR QB Shane Sweeney scampered for 15 yards to give the Statesmen an early 7-0 lead. A FY RB Dakota Harvey fumble was quickly cashed in when SR QB Sean Richardson hit SR WR Vincenzo Ferraro on the next play for a 40-yard TD strike.

The Statesmen would go on to score 27 unanswered points, holding the Saints (2-6, 1-3) to only eight first downs, -19 rushing yards and only 157 yards of total offense (while forcing three turnovers). Hobart would roll up 465 total yards, including 278 passing yards and two TDs by Sweeney. SR WR Brandon Shed set the all-time receiving record, notching his 30th consecutive game with a catch, with 121 yards. SR TE Zach Withers and SO WR Isaiah Hill had receiving TDs for Hobart and FY PK Kyle Hackett hit his 8th and 9th FGs on the season, from 30 and 35 yards, respectively.

The defense was led by SO LB Jedh Downey with six tackles, including a sack and TFL. SR DE Brandon Ball added five stops and 2.5 TFL.

The HWSAthletics.com recap can be seen here. The Statesmen will wrap up the 2017 season at Rochester (2-6, 0-4) in the annual Centennial Cup game next Saturday at noon.

Thanks for reading and go 'Bart!

Week 10 - Saint Lawrence Game Preview

While I thought this game would have LL title implications for both teams, Hobart (5-3, 1-2) and Saint Lawrence (2-6, 1-3) will be playing for pride this Saturday. Last season the Statesmen went to Canton and dominated a supposedly strong Saints squad, giving them their only loss of the season by a score of 34-18. SR QB Shane Sweeney passed for 363 yards and five TDs in the game, two of those TDs and 241 of those yards were collected by SR WR Brandon Shed. The defense gave SLU SR QB Sean Richardson a long day, sacking him three times and intercepting him once in the win.

This season the Hobart-SLU game coincides with Senior Day for the Class of 2018 and these players will be suiting up for their final regular season home game at the Boz:

1			Joe Letizia	RB	SR	5-9	195	Blauvelt, N.Y.	Trinity-Pawling School
3		C	Shane Sweeney	QB	SR	6-1	200	Phelps, N.Y.	Geneva
5			Brandon Shed	WR	SR	6-4	195	West Palm Beach, Fla.	Benjamin School
21			Daryl Scales	CB	SR	6-1	180	Parlin, N.J.	St. Mark's School
23			Tom D'Antonio	CB	SR	6-0	195	Greenwich, Conn.	Salisbury School
34			Will Hoffer	OLB	SR	5-11	210	Round Hill, Va.	Woodgrove
38			Christian Coons	ILB	SR	6-0	220	Windham, Maine	Windham
40			Dylan Quay	FB	SR	6-0	225	Latham, N.Y.	Shaker
42		C	Zach Withers	TE	SR	6-4	245	Webster, N.Y.	Webster Schroeder
50			Michael Clancy	ILB	SR	5-10	208	Lawrenceville, N.J.	The Pennington School
52		C	Almamy Conde	ILB	SR	5-11	232	Bronx, N.Y.	St. Peter's Prep
55			Stephen VanHoesen	RT	SR	6-2	270	Niskayuna, N.Y.	Niskayuna
61			TJ Adams	DT	SR	5-10	270	Brockton, Mass.	Berkshire School
62		C	Zackary Robak	NG	SR	6-0	285	Haddam, Conn.	Xavier
69			Liam Murphy	C	SR	6-4	275	Whitesboro, N.Y.	Whitesboro
72			Alex Helm	LG	SR	6-3	300	Fallston, Md.	Fallston
92			Brandon Ball	DE	SR	6-2	242	Springville, N.Y.	Springville Griffith Institute
96			Rio Schmidt	P	SR	5-11	195	Mason, Texas	Mason

These 18 players have earned a 33-9 mark over the past four seasons and two LL titles. It's been a pleasure covering their careers and I wish them the best in these final two games and their post-Hobart careers.

Scouting the Saints

The graduation of several key offensive and defensive stars have the Saints in a rebuilding mode. They have been competitive, however, losing three games by a combined 10 points, including last week's 21-17 loss to RPI (6-2, 2-1). On paper the Statesmen have a clear edge in scoring offense, averaging 33 PPG vs. SLU's 17.6 PPG. However, both squads are basically even on defense, with Hobart having allowed 20.4 PPG to the Saints 21.4 PPG.

The Saints are also similar to Hobart in that they've evolved to be more of passing, than running,  team. SR QB Sean Richardson missed one game this season due to injury, but he's averaged over 200 YPG passing, throwing for 1403 yards, 12 TDs and six INTs on the season. JR RB Roderick Payne averages over 88 YPG rushing, but has only scored two TDs this season.

Richardson's favorite targets are JR WR Travis Marnell (630 receiving yards and six TDs) and SR WR Vincenzo Ferraro (486 receiving yards and two TDs). Vincenzo's little brother, FY WR Anthony Ferraro, scored on a 49 yard TD to give the Saints a brief lead late in the RPI game last weekend.

Defensively, SLU is led by SR LB Skyler Williamson, who has 86 tackles on the season, the most by any defender in the league. JR DL Tyler Mirabile has emerged as a strong pass rusher, leading the Saints in sacks with eight and adding 14.5 TFL.

SR PK Daly Hebert handles KOs, PAT and FG duties for SLU. SR WR/PK Austen Lauricella handles punting duties.

Keys to the Game:

1. Back to Basics - The Statesmen should have both a size and speed advantage against SLU this Saturday, and the Saints have allowed more rushing (13) than passing (7) TDs this season. When Hobart has lost this season, they've called 24 runs and 46 passes per game. In their wins, they've called 36 runs and 31 passes, on average. A more balanced attack should help get Hobart back into the win column, especially when you consider the three top RBs the Statesmen have combined for over 1000 yards and 16 TDs (and a 5+ yards per carry average) on the season.

2. Reel in Richardson - The SLU QB is one of the more, if not the most, mobile ones the Statesmen defense will have faced this season. It'll be imperative for assignments to be executed well and tackles made upon initial contact. Richardson can break long runs if allowed. The Hobart defense will need to be ready. While it was in a losing effort, Richardson did have 350 yards passing against the Statesmen defense last season.

3. Just Win - The Statesmen have a shot, albeit a long one, of possibly qualifying for the newly created New York State Bowl if they can end the season 3-2 in the LL. It'll come down to tiebreakers and/or other schools potentially opting out, since Ithaca and RPI have already had a lot of overlap with Empire 8 teams this season. There is no requirement that both second place teams from the respective conferences have to play in the bowl game (e.g., I would be very surprised if Ithaca would play Cortland in back-to-back weeks), so a bid could fall into Hobart's lap. Regardless of what happens, the Statesmen must win their final two contests to even have a chance.

Prediction:

I think the Saints will come to play spoiler, but the Hobart offense will surge late like they have on occasion this season. I'll take the Statesmen to win on Senior Day, 35-21.

Thanks for reading and go 'Bart!