GENEVA — Heading into a late bye week, Hobart College’s football season is already a success, and it’s not yet finished.
Saturday’s 27-21 win over RPI was the Statesmen’s seventh straight win — its longest in-season winning streak since winning 12 straight in 2014. Coupled with Buffalo State’s upset of Rochester, Hobart captured at least a share of the Liberty League title and secured an automatic bid into the NCAA Division III Tournament.
The Statesmen shared the conference championship in 2016 with St. Lawrence but have not won the conference outright since that 2014 season during eventual Super Bowl champion Ali Marpet’s senior year.
The Statesmen (8-1, 5-0) have a chance to win the Liberty League outright with a victory in the season finale over Rochester next Saturday. Even with a loss, they will split the title with Ithaca College.
The Statesmen have now won the Liberty League 11 times dating back to 2000 when they shared it with Rochester and Union College. The Statesmen have shared the conference title four times and have won it outright six times.
Though the initial thought of a late-season bye week may have had the team and head coach Kevin DeWall a bit irked at first, it works out quite well. Hobart now has time to recover from eight weeks of bumps, bruises and injuries before closing out the regular season and heading into the national tournament.
On Saturday against RPI, the Statesmen’s defense allowed more than 14 points for the first time all season. The 21 points allowed was the first time an opponent reached double digits since Moravian scored 12 on Sept. 21. But, the young offense has come a long way since then and took the reins and secured the team’s first win in Troy since 2014.
Even with 21 points allowed, Hobart’s scoring defense still sits in the top five in the country. With an average of 8.44 points allowed per game, the Statesmen are fourth in Division III.
Senior quarterback Johnny Colombi was named the conference’s Offensive Performer of the Week, for the second time in three games senior linebacker Jaimen Bliss earned the Defensive Performer of the Week Award, and freshman wide receiver Johnny Harding snagged his fourth Rookie of the Week. Additionally, senior kicker Tobias Wefering earned a spot on the league’s weekly honor roll.
Colombi threw for a game-high 258 yards and three touchdowns against the Engineers. He directed Hobart scoring drives on the team’s first three possessions, staking Hobart to a 17-0 lead. Colombi leads the Liberty League in passing touchdowns (14) and is second in passing yards (1,519), average per game (189.9), efficiency (144.3) and fewest interceptions (5).
Bliss posted a game-high 12 tackles on Saturday. With the Statesmen leading 7-0, Bliss intercepted the RPI quarterback and returned it 28 yards to the RPI 49, setting up Hobart’s second scoring drive. Bliss leads Hobart and is second in the Liberty League in total tackles (78).
Harding — a McQuaid Jesuit alumnus — caught four passes for 56 yards and a touchdown at RPI. He scored the game’s opening touchdown on a 16-yard pass play, giving the Statesmen a lead they would not relinquish. Through nine games, he has a team-high 36 receptions, the most by a Hobart player since Jake Catalioto had 46 through nine games in 2019.
On special teams, Wefering broke the Hobart season and career field goals made records with makes from 43 and 22 yards. He also made all three of his PATs to give him nine points in the contest. With 14 field goals this season and 33 in his career, he now has two more than Kyle Hackett’s records of 12 field goals in a season and 31 in a career set in 2019. Wefering needs one more point to become the 10th player in program history with 200 for his career.
Hobart will wrap up its regular season when it hosts Rochester in the annual Centennial Cup game. The Liberty League contest is scheduled to kick off at 1 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 16.
Dating back to 1892, the Centennial Cup has been contested 115 times. Hobart leads the all-time series with a record of 60-48-7 and has won the previous 12 meetings.
The Statesmen have a home record in the series of 22-18-1 and secured the largest margin of victory in the Cup’s history at home in 2018 by a score of 52-18.
Since 2000, Hobart has lost three times to the Yellow Jackets — 2000, 2003 and 2010.
In other HWS athletics news:
Hobart hockey remains unanimous No. 1
It’s not exactly a shock given the 2-0 start to the season and the 11-2 scoring margin of victory, but in the first USCHO.com poll of the season, the Statesmen received all 20 votes making them the unanimous choice at No. 1 pick.
In addition, junior forward Tanner Daniels was named to the New England Hockey Conference’s weekly honor roll.
Hobart opened its season with a pair of wins this past weekend. The Statesmen defeated Oswego, which was receiving votes in the poll, 5-2 on opening night. The next day, Hobart beat Potsdam 6-0. The two wins extended Hobart’s unbeaten streak to 26 games, dating back to last year, and its winning streak to 16 games. It also marked the Statesmen’s 38th and 39th straight wins at The Cooler, an NCAA Division III record.
Hobart begins league play this weekend, Nov. 8-9, when it heads to Rutland, Vermont, to take on Vermont State Castleton University. The 2024-25 season will be the final season of the New England Hockey Conference. Hobart and William Smith hockey teams will transition to the SUNYAC at the beginning of the 2025-26 season.
Poole family names Hobart head soccer coach position
Honorary Trustee Thomas B. Poole and Mary Jane Poole have named the head coach position for Hobart soccer. The $1 million dollar gift establishes in perpetuity The Thomas B. Poole ‘61 and Family Head Coach of Hobart Soccer, created to honor two of the team’s legendary coaches: Ray Demuth, the inaugural coach of the Hobart soccer program who served as Poole’s coach, and current head coach Shawn Griffin, the winningest coach in Hobart soccer history who has been at the helm for a quarter of a century.
The announcement of the gift was made at a gathering of the Board of Trustees and the entire coaching staff of Hobart and William Smith Athletics.
“Tom and Mary Jane embody what it means to lead lives of consequence,” says President Mark D. Gearan in a press release. “Throughout their lives, they have been dedicated to making certain that the communities they call home — whether at HWS or on Long Island — have the resources they need to thrive. Like so many others, I have benefited tremendously from their advice and friendship, and I am so pleased that a sport that means so much to Tom will forever bear his name. On behalf of our entire campus community and the network of alumni across the country and around the world, I offer my heartfelt gratitude to the Poole family.”
As a senior, Poole captained the 1960 Hobart soccer team that ended the season with a 6-1-1 record, the best in Hobart soccer history prior to the 1992 team going 15-0-1.
