The Hobart football team clinched at least a share of the Liberty League Championship and secured the league’s automatic bid to the NCAA playoffs on Saturday and today the Statesmen were rewarded with three of the conference’s four weekly awards.
Senior quarterback Johnny Colombi (Castle View/Castle Rock, Colo.) was named the Offensive Performer of the Week, for the second time in three games senior linebacker Jaimen Bliss (Solvay/Syracuse, N.Y.) earned the Defensive Performer of the Week Award and first-year wide receiver Johnny Harding (McQuaid Jesuit/Rochester, N.Y.) snagged his fourth Rookie of the Week. Additionally, senior kicker Tobias Wefering (West Islip/West Islip, N.Y.) earned a spot on the league’s weekly honor roll.
Hobart’s 27-21 win at RPI, coupled with Buffalo State’s win over Rochester, clinched at least a share of the Statesmen’s 12th league title. Hobart has won seven in a row, its longest winning streak in a season since winning 12 in a row to start the 2014 season. The victory was the first for the Statesmen in Troy since 2014.
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 (1519), 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 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 Statesman since Jake Catalioto ’20 had 46 through nine games in 2019.
Wefering broke the Hobart season and career field goals made records, booting 3-pointers from 43 and 22 yards, against the Engineers. He also made all three of his PATs to give him nine points in the contest. With 14 field goals made this season and 33 for his career, he now has two more than Kyle Hackett’s old records (12 & 31) 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.
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