As most Hobart and D3FB fans already know, Statesmen HC Kevin DeWall '00 was surprisingly dismissed by EC AD Dr. Bryan Wylie last season so he could bring in former Endicott assistant Paul McGonagle as HC. McGonagle, who had left the Gulls program a few years earlier for a position at Assumption College (a MA DII-school), earned his first win with a 17-3 win over Bridgewater State (1-2) in Week 2 and came real close to getting his second, last Saturday against MIT.
The Gulls (1-2) came up a few plays short against the Engineers (3-0), dropping their second game by a score of 31-29. Endicott trailed 28-9 at the half but came back to make it a two-point game with 1:56 remaining. The two-point attempt after the TD failed and the Engineers hung on to win the game.
Last season, Hobart beat the Gulls 34-17 in Geneva behind four Shane Sweeney '18 TD passes and two SO PK Kyle Hackett FGs.
Scouting the Gulls
Endicott is a solid football team that has good players on both sides of the ball. They've averaged 318.7 YPG and 19.7 PPG offensively while giving up 336 YPG and 22.7 PPG on defense so far this season. They've struggled a bit offensively, scoring only six TDs in three games, three rushing and three passing. One area the Gulls need to improve on is scoring TDs, but they do have what seems to be a very reliable player in JR PK Nick DiCairano. DiCairano has been perfect to date, hitting 6-6 on FGs and 5-5 on PATs to lead the team with 23 points.
Endicott's has a new signal caller this season in SO QB Dylan Bonfilo. It appears as though JR QB Joe Kalosky, who faced off against Hobart last season, is out with an injury. Bonfilo has passed for 482 yards and three TDs so far this season while adding 135 rushing yards and two scores (effectively he's accounted for all but one of Endicott's TDs so far this season). FY RB John Kenney leads the team with 181 rushing yards and one TD. His OL is led by SR C Drew Salvo. JR RT Kha-lil Goodman and JR RG Isaiah Gibbs are returning starters as well.
Also back are JR HB/WR Zach DeNike and SO TE Riley Shanley (who happens to be from the same area as where I grew up). These two are the Gulls first and second leading receivers with over 300 yards combined. A goal-line threat, Shanley has caught a TD pass in each of the past two weeks' games.
JR PK Jon Glaser is the punter and has averaged 38.4 YPP this season, with a long of 57. In the return game, SO WR Liam Wallace has done the most work, averaging nearly 20 and 14 YPR for KOs and punts, respectively.
The Endicott defense is once again led by SR LB William Rivera with 31 total tackles, including a sack and 3.5 TFL. He led the Gulls against Hobart last year with 11 stops. The Endicott defense has produced four sacks and 24 TFL so far on the season, as well as two INTs, so they are a tough squad. The Gulls run a 4-3-4 style, where SR LB/SS Christian Pizzotti is a bit of a hybrid player. He is second on the team with 12 tackles and one TFL.
Keys to the Game:
1. Find a Defensive Identity - Hobart's found ways to win back-to-back games with impressive (and historic) offensive numbers, but the defense has really struggled. They are giving up more than 42 PPG and almost 470 YPG of offense to the opposition. Established players like SR DT Sean Moore and JR OLB Jayson Prince haven't played at the same level as they did in 2017 just yet (Moore has had some flashes, however), and other more experienced players like SR DE Al Smith and JR DE Collin Hudgins are also not making as much of an impact as I'd hoped so far this season. In Hudgins defense, I will say he was clearly putting the most pressure on Bauserman Saturday night. SR DT Reid Crobok has committed too many late hits and unsportsmanlike penalties for my liking (e.g., he was ejected from the game Saturday, had two calls in the Morrisville game for unsportsmanlike behavior, etc.), and needs to get back to playing Statesmen football. If Hobart's going to improve to compete with the top teams in the Liberty League, they'll need to perform better defensively, period. Hopefully the two-down linemen experiment from the Shenandoah game won't be brought back and we'll see continued growth in younger players such as SO CB Jared Leake, SO OLB Emmett Forde, SO OLB Collin Urie, SO DT Isaiah Boone, SO DE Zach Rudolph, FY ILB Bryan Aguilar and FY DB Jay McCoy. There is talent there, but it's on DC Aaron Backhaus '00 and his staff to find a better way to use it, which so far, they really haven't quite been able to figure out just yet.
2. Break Down Bonfilo - It's pretty clear that the Gulls QB is their main offensive weapon, although he does have a couple of strong receivers that could be trouble for Hobart. Shanley is of particular concern as the Hornets ran a lot of plays that ended up having the Statesmen LBs & Ss covering receiving backs and/or going long to create mismatches. JR S Andrew Koonz seemed to be targeted a decent amount by Shenandoah, and to his credit, Koonz did make nine tackles and a pass break up, earning honorable mention in this week's LL awards. Both Koonz and SR CB Jake Henzes are on a steep learning curve, but are doing yeoman's work and steadily improving after converting to defense from being part of the WR corps the last two (or three, in the case of Henzes) seasons.
3. Keep Improving - With a bye week coming up after this weekend and a huge Week 6 conference home game against Union (3-0) looming in a couple of weeks, the Statesmen have to take advantage of this one last non-conference tuneup before the games really start to count as far as a league titles and postseason play is concerned. Endicott is a good team, but Hobart should be able to handle them. If the defense can cause issues like they did to Morrisville in Week 2, the Statesmen should be in good shape to improve to 3-1 on the season.
Prediction:
At the end of the day, the CCC, MASCAC and NEWMAC just aren't up to the same level, competition-wise, as most LL and NYS programs yet. Endicott has some weapons for sure, but Hobart has plenty of talent, especially on offense, to make this a pretty one-sided affair if they get out to a fast start and keep executing. JR QB Ryan Hofmann has been outstanding so far (he earned his second consecutive OPOTW award from the LL for Week 3), and the Statesmen WR corps may be one of the most talented and underrated groups in the East Region.
I'll take the Statesmen to make a bit of a statement here, as Coach DeWall likely won't see his old team for quite some time as the Gulls won't renew a game contract with Hobart after this season.
My pick for Saturday is Hobart 49 - Endicott 27.
Thanks for reading and go 'Bart!
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