The Hobart football team scored on seven of its first eight offensive possessions and held Keystone 26 points under its season average on the way to a 52-9 victory on Saturday. The Statesmen picked up their second straight win to improve to 3-1, while the Giants suffer their second straight loss to fall to 1-3.
Senior quarterback Johnny Colombi led the Statesmen with a career day passing. He was 15-of-21 for 268 yards and four touchdowns. His completion percentage (71.4), passing yards and passing touchdowns are all career-highs. First-year wide receiver Johnny Harding caught four passes for a game and season-high 109 yards and two touchdowns. Junior wide receiver Ahmad Crowell also logged four receptions for 56 yards and a pair of TDs.
Colombi was Hobart’s leading rusher turning six carries into 43 yards, including a 9-yard scramble for a touchdown.
The Statesmen defense smothered Keystone’s offense, which entered the game averaging 35.0 points and 438.3 yards per game. The Giants had led at halftime in each of their first three games, but were unable to find any traction against Hobart, heading into the locker room trailing 28-6. The Statesmen finished the game with a season-high 425 yards of offense, while limiting Keystone to 320, their second-lowest output of the year.
On defense, Bangaly-Stephen Berte paced the Statesmen with six tackles. First-years Corey Rock and Ryan Van Tassel accounted for three interceptions. Rock had a 9-yard pick six for his first career interception and added a second later in the game. Van Tassel ended the Giants’ first drive of the second half with his first collegiate pick, returning it 47 yards to set the stage for a 4-yard touchdown run by running back E.J. Taylor.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Junior Kieran Cotter gave Hobart a boost on the opening kickoff with a 48-yard return that set the offense up with a short field.
- Seven plays later, Crowell pulled in a 10-yard TD pass from Colombi for a lead that the Statesmen never relinquished.
- Hobart’s opening drive touchdown marked the team’s first points of the first quarter this season and just their second score in the first half.
- Keystone responded with a 12-play, 54-yard drive, but settled for a 35-yard field goal when faced with fourth and 6 from the Hobart 18.
- The Statesmen’s next possession spanned the first and second quarters and ended on a 15-yard Colombi to Harding TD pass.
- Keystone added a 20-yard field goal with about five minutes left in the opening half to cut Hobart’s lead to 14-6.
- The Statesmen countered with a 13-play, 85-yard march that Colombi finished off with a 9-yard TD run. Senior Tobias Wefering added the extra point for a 21-6 lead.
- The Hobart defense forced a three-and-out give the offense one more shot with 25 seconds left.
- Colombi hit Harding over the middle and the first-year did the rest, breaking a tackle to get into the open field and stretch across the goal line just as he was tackled.
- Taylor, Crowell and Rock added third quarter touchdowns while Keystone managed just a 35-yard field goal to send the visitors into the final 15 minutes to an insurmountable 49-9 lead.
- Wefering tacked on a 41-yard field goal in the middle of the fourth quarter to complete the day’s scoring.
COACH’S COMMENTS
“It was very good to see the team take a strong week of preparation and watch it translate into our most complete game to-date this season. Our special teams and defensive units did a great job winning field position and providing some shorter fields that the offense was able to capitalize on. It was also good to see the offense increase our efficiency in finishing off drives, especially the stronger start to the game.”
– Head Coach Kevin DeWall ’00
GAME NOTES
- Colombi moved up to 11th on Hobart’s career passing yards list, raising his total to 2,876 yards. He passed Andrew Strom (2,790).
- Colombi’s four-TD day marks the first time a Hobart quarterback has thrown at least four touchdowns in a game since Sept. 2, 2022, when David Krewson threw four against Alfred.
- Hobart was 5-for-5 in the red zone today. It’s the first time the Statesmen have been perfect in the red zone, scoring a touchdown each time, since going 5-for-5 in a 42-21 win over St. John Fisher on Sept. 18, 2021.
- Hobart’s offensive line did not allow a sack or any tackle for loss in the game. It’s the first time the Statesmen haven’t been stopped behind the line of scrimmage in a game since Nov. 17, 2012, in a 38-20 win over Washington & Lee.
- It’s the first time the Giants have been kept out of the end zone since they were shut out by nationally-ranked Susquehanna on Oct. 7, 2023.
HOMECOMING
- Hobart will return to Boswell Field to begin Liberty League play on Oct. 5. The Statesmen will host Ithaca (1-2) on Homecoming and Family Weekend. The opening kickoff is scheduled for 1 p.m.
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