GENEVA, NY – University of Rochester football dropped its third straight, falling to the Hobart College Statesmen, 38-7, on Saturday afternoon at Boswell Field.
The Statesmen (5-3, 3-2 LL) topped the Yellowjackets (3-5, 2-3 LL) behind a dominant ground attack, rushing for nearly 300 yards and passing for another 220.
Despite a 53-yard kickoff return from
Jett Genovese to open the contest, Zeshan Dixon intercepted
Shawn Bellenger on the 'Jackets' opening drive. Taking over from just past midfield, the Statesmen drove down to just outside the red zone, but
Brendan McDonald stopped E.J. Taylor on fourth-and-one for no gain to give the ball back to URochester.
Rochester's offense, however, quickly went three-and-out, and Hobart took the lead on its ensuing drive. Starting from the Hobart 49-yard line, the Statesmen marched 51 yards in seven plays and took a 7-0 lead on Taylor's seven-yard rushing touchdown.
Following another Bellenger interception, Hobart put together another scoring drive, taking advantage of a pair of penalties on UR to move inside the red zone. But the 'Jackets' defense came up with another third-down stop, forcing the Statesmen to kick a field goal.
Malakhi Gurdak and
Rhys Lewis held Aidan Conrath to a gain of just one on third-and-six, one of eight third-down stops for the Yellowjacket defense, but Owen McNulty connected on the 27-yard field goal to extend Hobart's lead to 10-0.
The 'Jackets quickly went third-and-out once again, but
Kyle Brainard pinned the Statesmen back deep with a program-record 79-yard punt, shattering the previous record of 75 yards set by Scott Amrozowicz against Carnegie Mellon on Oct. 30, 1999.
However, the Statesmen would drive 91 yards for another score, with their seven-play scoring drive highlighted by three plays of 20-plus yards, and capped off by another Taylor rushing touchdown to make it a 17-0 Hobart advantage.
Rochester would respond with a scoring drive of its own, making its way down the field after Genovese's 34-yard kickoff return with an 11-play, 59-yard scoring drive. A 12-yard rush by Genovese on third-and-four moved the chains and moved URochester into Hobart territory, while six more rushes by Bellenger and Genovese put the 'Jackets inside the red zone.
On first-and-10 from the Hobart 19,
Logan Cove picked up 18 to put the Yellowjackets on the goal line, and on the next play, Bellenger took it himself for the score, cutting Hobart's lead to 17-7.
The Yellowjackets headed into the locker room down by the same score, but the Statesmen quickly added to their lead with two scoring drives in the third.
Hobart opened the second half with a 10-play, 75-yard scoring drive to extend its lead to 24-7 on Tristan Reynolds' 15-yard rushing touchdown. And then made it 31-7 with another Reynolds' TD, capping off a nine-play, 94-yard drive after Rochester went three-and-out.
A sack on second-and-seven then spoiled a promising drive from UR, but the Yellowjackets would get the ball back just three plays later as Rochester's defense forced a three-and-out of its own.
The 'Jackets again couldn't get much going offensively, though, and another Taylor touchdown, this one for 57 yards, on Hobart's ensuing drive, put the Statesmen up 38-7 with just over seven-and-a-half minutes to play.
Rochester's ensuing drive would stall out just shy of midfield, and the Statesmen would run out much of the clock on their final possession to finish off the 38-7 victory.
Offensively, Bellenger went 10-for-16 for 97 yards and added a touchdown on the ground. Genovese was Rochester's leading rusher, with 10 rushes for 42 yards, while
Corey Wang and
Greg Morrison each had 30 receiving yards, with Wang catching two passes and Morrison catching three.
Defensively,
Braydon Felsinger had a team-high 12 tackles, while
A.J. Bicksler and
Kenny Valcin each had six tackles and a 0.5 tackle for a loss. Bicksler also added a quarterback hit, while
Jack Diggins tallied eight tackles and one of Rochester's four pass breakups.
Taylor led Hobart with 21 rushes for 169 yards and three scores, while Tyler Cummings had 10 tackles to lead the Statesmen defensively.
Rochester will wrap up its road slate next Saturday, Nov. 7, with a matchup against Union College in Schenectady, NY, at 1:00 p.m.
