ROCHESTER, N.Y.—The Hobart College football team retained the Centennial Cup with a dominating 51-12 win at the University of Rochester today. First-year running back
Dakota Harvey led the Statesmen with a season-high 207 yards rushing and three touchdowns.
It's the seventh consecutive time Hobart has won the annual rivalry game against the Yellowjackets and the 10th time in the 11-year history of the Cup. The Statesmen lead the all-time series 55-48-7 which dates back to 1892.
Hobart, playing without injured quarterback
Shane Sweeney, ran for 364 yards and five touchdowns. Senior running back
Joe Letizia added 125 yards rushing and a pair of TDs. Harvey averaged 14.8 yards per carry while Letizia averaged 11.4. Sophomore quarterback
Ryan Hofmann threw for 143 yards with one touchdown and one interception. Junior wide receiver Joe Barrocas caught a team-high three passes for 35 yards and a TD.
On defense, senior end
Brandon Ball and sophomore linebacker
Jayson Prince shared the Hobart lead with nine tackles each. Ball had 2.5 tackles for loss, a sack, a forced fumble, a blocked extra point and three quarterback hurries.
Hobart (7-3, 3-2) never trailed in the game, taking a 7-0 lead on Letizia's 7-yard TD run just over two minutes into the game. The score was set up by a 44-yard completion from Hofmann to sophomore wide receiver
Ray Conley. Harvey broke free for a 37-yard TD as time expired on the first quarter for a 14-0 lead.
Barrocas pulled in a 9-yard throw from Hofmann early in the second quarter for a 21-0 lead that stood up through halftime. It was Hofmann's first career TD pass.
First-year
Kyle Hackett opened the second half scoring, making a 32-yard field goal for a 24-0 lead. Hackett finished the season 10-for-10 on field goals. The national leader in field goal percentage was one field goal made shy of the Hobart season record.
The defense forced Rochester to punt and the Statesmen gave the ball to Harvey on first down. Seventy-one yards later, Harvey had another TD and Hobart had a 30-0 lead.
The Yellowjackets (2-7, 0-5) broke up the shutout on their next possession, reaching the end zone on a 26-yard pass from Josh Brown to Connor Byrne. Ball blocked the extra point attempt, leaving the score 30-6.
The Statesmen came right back with another score. The nine-play, 66-yard drive ended with Harvey's Liberty League leading 12th touchdown of the year, giving Hobart a 37-6 lead heading into the fourth quarter.
Rochester returned to the end zone on the first play of the fourth quarter, when Brown completed a 16-yard TD pass to Dan Bronson. Brown finished the day with 140 yards passing with two TDs and an interception. Bronson was the team's leading rusher (48 yds) and receiver (7 rec, 77 yds).
Three minutes later, Letizia scored on a 26-yard TD run to make it a 44-12 game.
Hobart capped the day's scoring with about three minutes remaining. Rochester got off a very short punt (9 yds) that was bouncing around the Yellowjackets' 28. UR players gave the ball a wide berth assuming the Statesmen were content to take over with great field position. Senior
Tom D'Antonio had another idea. He scooped up the ball and ran it in for his second career touchdown.
Josh Churchin led the UR defense with 12 tackles.
Hobart finished with a winning record for the 10th consecutive season, the longest such streak in the program's 124 season history. It's the 21st time the Statesmen have won seven or more games in a season, the 11th time under Head Coach
Mike Cragg.
