GENEVA, N.Y.—For three quarters the Hobart College football team hung with defending national champion University of Mount Union, but with the wind at their backs the Purple Raiders pulled away in the fourth quarter for a 38-21 win in the first round of the NCAA Division III Football Championship.
 
Mount Union first-year quarterback Dom Davis completed 20-of-29 passes for 321 yards and a touchdown. Junior wide receiver Jared Ruth had eight catches for a game-high 113 yards, including a 51-yard touchdown on the game's opening drive. Senior running back B.J. Mitchell rushed for 90 yards and two touchdowns and sophomore Jawanza Evans-Morris added 76 yards and two TDs. Sophomore linebacker Danny Robinson led the defense with a game-high 12 tackles.
 
Hobart junior quarterback Shane Sweeney was 29-of-57 for 291 yards and three touchdowns. He broke the Statesmen game record for pass attempts (previously 54 by Craig Swanson '04), while surpassing Hobart's postseason records for pass attempts in a game, completions in a game, and passing yards in a game. Sweeney also equaled the Hobart postseason mark for touchdown passes in a game.
 
Junior tight end Zach Wither was Hobart's leading receiver, pulling in eight passes for 89 yards and two touchdowns, all career-highs. Senior wide receiver Sean Cunningham had six catches for 76 yards and a touchdown. Junior running back Joe Letizia gained 59 yards on eight carries against the nation's No. 8 rushing defense which was allowing just 69.5 yards per game. Senior defensive tackle Jake Russell made a team-high eight stops.
 
After Ruth capped off a nine-play, 88-yard drive to open the game, Mount Union (10-1) added to its lead late in the first quarter. Davis hit senior wide receiver Tim Kennedy for 59 yards on the first play of the drive and four plays later, Evans-Morris powered into the end zone from 2-yards out.
 
Hobart (9-2) got on the board with a 12-play, 69-yard drive that spanned the first and second quarters and ended with a 22-yard Sweeney to Withers completion. Senior Sean Kirshe's extra point made it a 14-7 game.
 
The Purple Raiders restored their 14-point lead on their next possession. Kennedy again had the big gain of the drive, picking up 40 yards on a Davis completion. Evans-Morris scored from 7-yards out to make it 21-7 with 11:26 left in the half.
 
The Statesmen struck back with a 14-play, 75-yard drive that ended with a 7-yard toss from Sweeney to Cunningham. Kirshe's extra point was good to make it 21-14 going into halftime.
 
After trading punts to start the second half, Hobart rattled off a nine-play, 80-yard drive that ended with a 37-yard TD from Sweeney to Withers. With his third extra point of the day, Kirshe tied Eric Ampuja career record of 123 made.
 
Mount Union wasted no time regaining the lead, covering 75 yards in 10 plays with Mitchell scoring from 3 yards out to make it 28-21. The Raiders tacked on a 33-yard Alex Louthan field goal early in the fourth quarter and Mitchell scored on another short TD run late in the game to cap the scoring.
 
Hobart struggled to move the ball in the fourth quarter, fighting a talented Mount Union defense as well as a stiff wind. The Statesmen had the ball for just 4:15 in the final frame, gaining just 43 yards.
 
Mount Union will face Johns Hopkins in the second round of the playoffs on Saturday, Nov. 26 at noon.