GENEVA, N.Y.—The Hobart College football team defeated Buffalo State College 40-23 on Senior Night on Boswell Field at Urick Stadium. The Statesmen improved to 6-0 on their home field while improving their overall record to 7-2 (3-2 in Liberty League).
 
Several of the team's 12 seniors factored heavily in the night's outcome. Senior running back Brian Haeffner enjoyed his second straight 100-yard game, rushing for 132 yards and a pair of touchdowns. Senior quarterback Ryan Hofmann completed 16 passes for 279 yards and three touchdowns. Senior wide receivers Ray Conley and Jake Catalioto both finished with more than 100 yards. Conley caught five passes for 111 yards and a TD while Catalioto also pulled in five passes for 102 yards.
 
Hobart dominated the first half, outgaining the visitors 296-153 and taking a 26-7 lead into the break. The Statesmen reached the end zone on their first three possessions and five of their first seven.
 
The Bengals won the opening toss and elected to receive. The Statesmen chose to put the wind at their backs in the first quarter. Buff State (1-8, 1-4) went three-and-out on its first possession and got just 16 yards out of its punt to midfield.
 
Hobart responded with three straight handoffs to Haeffner, who gained 1, 33 and 16 yards to complete a 76 second touchdown drive. The Bengals answered with their own touchdown drive, covering 90 yards in 13 plays that ran 8:21 off the clock. Senior running back Martin Bailey carried the ball on the final five plays out of the wildcat formation, punching it across the goal line from the 1 with 3:18 left in the opening quarter.
 
Hobart needed just six plays to reclaim the lead. Hofmann connected with Conley on a 39-yard heave into the end zone. The extra point was no good, leaving the Statesmen with a 13-7 lead. After another Buff State punt, Hobart engineered another six-play scoring drive. This time Haeffner finished it off with a 7-yard sweep off right tackle for a 19-7 lead early in the second quarter.
 
The Statesmen mounted one last scoring drive before the half, getting the ball at their own 20 following a touchback on a Buff State punt with 58 seconds remaining. Hofmann hit Catalioto for 25 yards on the first play. On the second play, Hobart got 15 more on a pass interference penalty. Hofmann connected with Conley on the third play for 24 yards, putting the ball at the Bengal 16. The Statesmen loss a yard rushing on first down, but Hofmann threw a screen to first-year running back Tim Denham, Jr., who got good down field blocking and broke a couple of tackles to score his first career touchdown eight seconds before halftime.
 
Denham didn't have to wait long to score his second career TD. He took the opening kickoff of the second half 80 yards to the house, extending Hobart's lead to 33-7.
 
The Bengals' Tommy Carr accounted for the only other points of the third quarter, kicking a 23-yard field goal to make it a 33-10 game heading into the fourth quarter.
 
Hobart enjoyed a comfortable 30-point lead after Hofmann converted a fourth-and-20 play with a 33-yard touchdown pass to junior wide receiver Mike Giacobbe just over five minutes into the final frame.
 
Buffalo State tacked on a pair of touchdowns in the final six minutes to complete the night's scoring. Bailey scored both, diving in from the 2 at the 5:06 mark, and pulling in a 12-yard pass from quarterback Zak Ciezki at 2:08. Bailey finished the game with 50 yards rushing and six receptions for 24 yards.
 
Ciezki completed his first 13 passes of the night and finished 24-of-36 passing for 192 yards and a TD. He was sacked three times. Senior wide receiver Jordan Evert caught a game-high seven passes for 85 yards. He had at least one TD reception in Buff State's first eight games, but was kept out of the end zone by the Statesmen.
 
Sophomore linebacker Bryan Aguilar had a game-high eight tackles for the Hobart defense. Junior linebacker Emmett Forde added seven stops, including 1.5 for loss. He now has a league-leading 18 tackles for loss on the season.
 
The Statesmen will wrap up the regular season on Saturday, Nov. 16, when they travel to the University of Rochester (0-9, 0-5). The annual Centennial Cup game will kick off at 12:05 p.m. at Fauver Stadium.