GENEVA, NY – The University of Rochester football team saw its 2022 season come to a close with a 27-7 loss at the hands of Hobart College on Saturday afternoon at Boswell Field at Urick Stadium.
The loss ends Rochester's season at 3-7 overall, with the Yellowjackets finishing up at 1-5 in the Liberty League. Hobart improves to 7-3 with the victory and is 4-2 in Liberty League play.
Rochester was able to draw even after the opening half, sitting tied 7-7 on the scoreboard thanks to an 8-yard touchdown pass on the first drive of the game from
Ryan Rose to tight end
Jackson Kane.
The scoring drive was highlighted by an 11-yard run from
Jay Zheng and a big 3rd-and-long conversion by
Trey Johnson, gaining 24 yards on a reception from Rose. The next three plays went to the Papantonis brothers, two rushes for Daniel and a pass towards the younger
Aidan Papantonis to get UR inside the Hobart 10-yard line. On the ensuing play, Rose connected over the middle with Kane to put the Yellowjackets up 7-0 following a
Jordan Laudani PAT.
Following a turnover-on-downs by Hobart's first possession, the Yellowjackets returned the favor by throwing an interception on their next drive, with Blake Hansen picking off Rose near midfield.
Hobart ran six plays and found the end zone after three minutes, with David Krewson finding Tim Denham Jr. up the right side for the 12-yard score.
A big 59-yard punt by
Alex Wing flipped the field following UR's next possession, and the Yellowjacket defense came up with a big interception to short circuit Hobart's offense attack.
First-year defensive back
Judah Thomas picked off Krewson to give the Yellowjackets decent starting position at their own 40-yard line. UR was unable to convert that turnover into points though, punting the ball away after nine plays.
The Statesmen followed with another turnover, as Rochester's
Simon Weeren fell on a lost fumble by Krewson inside the Hobart 40-yard line.
This time, Rochester earned a field goal attempt by Laudani after reaching the red zone, but UR's kicker missed the attempt and the score remained tied.
The late in the quarter defensive surge continued for Rochester, as the Yellowjackets forced a Hobart 3-and-out possession with just over two minutes left in the half, giving the Yellowjackets another chance to score.
Rochester gained possession back near midfield and marched into the red zone once again, but had another field goal attempt sail wide, sending the teams to intermission at 7-7.
On its first possession of the second half, Rochester reached Hobart territory, but turned the ball over on downs after Papantonis was stopped on a rush up the middle by Hobart's Joel Kraft.
The Statesmen used the momentum from the big defensive play on offense, traveling 59 yards in five plays to take the lead. Denham provided the bulk of the yards with Rayshawn Boswell converting for a 5-yard touchdown to put Hobart up 14-7.
On Hobart's next possession, it was more of the same, with Denham and Boswell trekking down the field before Boswell scampered in from 25 yards out to boost the lead to 20-7 on the first play of the fourth quarter.
Hobart's defense stiffened throughout the rest of the quarter, holding the next two UR drives to negative yardage and 3-and-out's.
Dennam completed the scoring with a 30-yard touchdown run with four minutes remaining to put the game out of reach. He finished with 175 yards rushing on 20 carries, totaling two touchdowns. His running back mate Boswell also added 140 yards on the ground and a pair of scores.
Rochester's
Daniel Papantonis had 88 yards on the ground to lead the offense and finished the season with 1,272 total rushing yards, ranking second in UR's single-season history.
Through the air, Rose completed 9-of-19 passes for 86 yards, one TD and one interception. Kane was the leading receiver with four catches for 24 yards and a score.
Defensively for the Yellowjackets, Thomas finished with an interception and fumble recovery while making three tackles.
Jordy Tawa and
J.T. Monahan were the leading tacklers with six apiece.
