New Jersey Football Star to Join Statesmen

According to North Jersey.com's Doug Scancarella, Wayne Valley's Andrew DeFillipis has committed to becoming a Hobart Statesmen this fall.

Andrew, who played both OT and MLB for the Indians intends to be a pre-med major at Hobart. DeFillipis led the team in tackles in both his JR (82) and SR (128) seasons.

He was also recently named team MVP and will join another Wayne Valley classmate (not identified yet but I'll track him down eventually ;) in Geneva as part of the Class of 2015.

A copy of the article is listed below:

http://www.northjersey.com/sports/116794063_Valley_s_DeFillipis_signs_with_Hobart.html

Welcome Andrew - looking forward to following your career @ Hobart!

Hastings Tackle to Become a Statesman

Another scoop from Section1Recruiting.com is that Ali Marpet, an OT/DT from Hastings, is going to Hobart in the fall. The 6' 3" 250lb tackle helped pave the way for Yellow Jackets runners to the tune of a 6-3 season. Marpet also racked up 34 tackles and 6 sacks according to MaxPreps.com en route to being named a second team Class B NY All-State defensive player:

http://www.maxpreps.com/athletes/_r9UtlGWoUytbe96E81acA/football-fall-10/profile-ali-marpet.htm

Ali's highlight reel is below:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=LwCD4Lcx1ms

Welcome to Hobart Ali!

NY All-State Defensive Lineman Signs with Statesmen

Tyre Coleman, a Section 1 Class A NY All-State DL from Poughkeepsie, has committed to play for Hobart in this fall according to Section1Recruiting.com. The 6' 1" 235lb defensive and tight end helped lead the Pioneers to a 6-3 season averaging 9 tackles and 1 sack per game according to Max Preps:

http://www.maxpreps.com/athletes/rFYoM6J6EEWWN4-MVnhVtQ/football-fall-10/profile-tyre-coleman.htm

Below is Tyre's highlight reel:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2Nbcb_GuO4

Looks like he'll be terrorizing LL offenses for the next four years.

Welcome Tyre!!!

Hobart adds Sunshine State prospect to its fall roster

Northeast High's Dominque Ellis will be coming to play football at Hobart this fall. The FB/LB helped lead his team to second place finish in Class 5A, District 9 FL HS football championships.

The St. Petersburg native will be the third from Florida to play for the Statesmen next year (SO FB Juan O'Farrill and SO OL Michael Green being the others...they are from West Palm Beach and Clearwater, respectively).

His highlight reel is attached below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHzTqscTUr4

Credit Tampa Bay.com's Bob Putnam with the scoop.

Thanks Bob and welcome Dominque!

Go 'Bart!

South Hadley (MA) Football Star Coming to Hobart

Here's a nice article on Troy Johnson, a stand out student athlete from Western, MA who has overcome a great deal of adversity:

http://highschoolsports.masslive.com/news/article/-3503249514879402334/troy-johnson-feels-at-home-at-south-hadley-and-as-francis-x-keating-award-winner/

Welcome to the Statesmen family Troy! Looking forward to following your career at Hobart.

Hobart to Play Big Red in 2011, Utica in 2012-13

Given scheduling challenges due to the fact football games are arranged many years in advance, it appears as though the Hobart Statesmen Football team will only have eight regular season games in 2011. Although Hobart considered a few offers (and was turned down by a number of schools as well), there were no teams willing to play in the NCAA East Region who still had an opening that worked with the Statesmen's schedule.

However, a ninth "contest" is in the works for September that could be an interesting test for the Hobart gridders.

Word from Geneva is that the Statesmen may face off against the Big Red of Cornell University's "sub-varsity" team this fall. More good news is, after this fall, Hobart has their schedule set for the next two years having added the Utica College Pioneers in 2012 and 2013.

This game, plus the Geneva College season opener and the addition of Springfield to the LL, means Hobart will once again play a 10 game regular season - something that hasn't happened since 1997.

Although it's a shame that the Statesmen will have a shorter season in 2011, football scheduling is done so far in advance that any curveball like the one received in late January makes it almost impossible to find suitable alternative opponents.

That said a contest vs. Cornell would be nice consolation to say the least and a great tune up prior to the Fisher game on 9/24. I've made an inquiry to determine whether or not this "game" will receive any WEOS coverage. More to come on this one.

Go 'Bart!

Hobart says "Thanks but no thanks" to Wesley game

Hobart was recently approached by the Wesley Wolverines regarding a potential mutual open date for an out of conference (OOC) game this upcoming season. Hobart has only eight games on the 2011 schedule so far due to a cancellation by Widener and thus has THREE WEEKS in between their season opener (9/3/11 vs. Dickinson) and their next game (9/24/11 vs. Saint John Fisher in Rochester). Hobart's first home game isn't actually until 10/1/11!

The Statesmen declined Wesley's offer due to fact the Wolverines are (although technically located in Dover, DE) a "South Region" team. Hobart would rather play against an "East Region" team for playoff seeding and other reasons.

Wesley was the NCAA's #1 overall seed in the 2010 Football tournament and was ranked as high as #3 in the nation in the D3football.com Top 25 polls. The Wolverines lost 27-7 to eventual national champion, University of Wisconsin-Whitewater (UWW), in the national semi finals.

Hobart currently has Dickinson and Fisher on the OOC in 2011. It does not appear at the moment the Dickinson and Fisher games will resume in 2012 given Springfield College (MA) will join the Liberty League and Hobart has a series scheduled with Geneva College (PA) starting that year. Of the aforementioned series, Hobart's longest has been against Dickinson. The Statesmen have played the Red Devils every year since the 1992 season.