By: Rachel Askin, Sports Information Assistant
GENEVA, NY – Junior Matt Bielecki carried the ball 29 times for 132 yards - bumping his season total to 1,262, making him the first player to have back-to-back 1,000+-yard seasons in Yellowjacket history - as Rochester fell to Hobart College, 21-31 on Saturday afternoon.
Bielecki ran for one touchdown today and finished the season with 13 scores. He also had two catches for 24 yards and ended this year with 123 yards receiving.
Senior quarterback Aaron Molisani ran for one touchdown and threw to junior Jay Jay Vanderstyne for another this afternoon. He went 20-28 for 261 yards today and finished his final season at 137-203 for 1,586 yards with 15 touchdowns.
Molisani ended his collegiate career at 515-973 for 6,034 yards, 52 TDs, and 41 interceptions.
Vanderstyne added 10 catches for 119 yards and one touchdown today to end his regular season with 77 catches for 1,064 yards and 10 touchdowns.
Freshman Zach Ingoldsby caught five passes for 85 yards (20 catches, 225 yards on the year) and freshman Mike Coolbaugh had one catch for eight yards and five kick returns for 79 yards. He ended his debut season with five catches for 113 yards in addition to his total eight returns for 90 yards.
Defensively, senior Jason Goeller tallied two sacks (for a loss of 11 yards), ending the season with 14. Sophomore Matt Stack led with eight tackles, juniors Joe Galantini and Jim Milks had six apiece, and Goeller added five.
Hobart struck first just 3:27 into the game. Doug Blakowski broke through the defense and ran 19 yards for a touchdown. Denis Avdic's extra point was good. Rochester answered with 5:37 remaining; Molisani made a second-effort dive as he was being hit out of bounds to get the ball over the line. Freshman Griffin Moar's PAT was good, tying the game.
The Statesmen went ahead again with 2:13 left in the first quarter on an 18-yard run by Don Gilardi. Gilardi almost fell before getting into the end zone but stayed on his feet to score. Avdic made the PAT, making it 14-7.
Early in the second quarter, Rochester was penalized for a false start but on the next play, Bielecki found a hole Hobart's defense and broke a tackle on his way into the end zone. He ran for 21 yards to score.
Hobart's Blakowski ran for 13 yards and then made a one-yard jump over the Rochester defense and into the end zone with 47 seconds left in the half to put the Statesmen back on top.
Coolbaugh returned the kick for 14 yards and Molisani ran for a pair of first downs before throwing to Ingoldsby, who made a 14-yard catch and then stepped out of bounds with 1.2 seconds left on the clock. As time ran out, Molisani threw a long pass that was tipped – by one of four Statesmen surrounding the Yellowjacket receivers – directly to Vanderstyne who stepped into the end zone. Moar's PAT tied the game heading into halftime.
In the second half, Hobart dominated the scoring. With 9:03 left in the third quarter, Avdic hit a 33-yard field goal. Avdic had a chance to stretch Hobart's lead to six points, but kicked the ball wide of the upright with 12:50 on the clock in the fourth quarter.
With 11:51 left, Rochester attempted a fake punt but Moar was tackled by Dan Pembroke and Evan Hoffman at the Yellowjacket 10 (loss of 9 yards). The next play, Shawn Mizro hit a wide-open Matt Duliba for a 10-yard TD pass. Avdic's PAT was tipped but still went through the posts to make it 31-21.
After an 18-yard catch from Vanderstyne, a 24-yard first down run from Bielecki and another first down run from Molisani, Rochester had a chance to cut the lead to 7. Moar's 35-yard field goal attempt was just short, with 1:50 to play.
For Hobart, Mizro went 12-23 for 149 yards. He threw one TD pass to Duliba. Blakowski carried 24 times for a total of 118 yards and two touchdowns.
In Scott Greene's first season as head coach, the Yellowjackets ended their regular season at 7-3, recording the most wins since 1992 (8-1).
Rochester has a chance to make the ECAC tournament and will find out on Monday.
