WORCESTER, Mass.—Andrew Marlier scored two of Hobart's five rushing touchdowns, leading the visiting Statesmen to a 41-20 triumph over WPI, spoiling the Engineers' homecoming festivities. The result helped Hobart improve to 3-2 in the Liberty League and 4-3 overall. The Engineers fell to 3-5 and 0-5 in conference play.
Up 21-14 at the half, Hobart scored unanswered touchdowns on its first two drives of the third quarter to break the game open.
After the Hobart defense forced a three-and-out to start the game, its offense embarked on a 14-play drive to paydirt to take a 7-0 lead. The Statesmen moved the ball 60 yards on the scoring drive, capped by a 15-yard TD run by Marlier to give Hobart the early edge. The lead was short-lived as WPI responded with an 80-yard drive on its next possession to tie the score. After WPI ran the ball for the first five plays of the drive, quarterback Mike Swanton connected on a 26-yard completion with senior wideout Cody McGregor and a 30-yard catch-and-run with senior running back Aaron Champagne to even the game at 7-7.
The Statesmen also started the second quarter with a long scoring drive. Hobart ran 12-plays covering 59 yards, including seven rushes by
Pat Julian, who dove into the end zone from 1 yard out for a 14-7 lead. WPI pulled even again, this time following a Hobart fumble deep in its own end. The Engineers needed to go only 17 yards before Champagne punched in the tying touchdown from 1 yard out, knotting the score at 14-all with 2:22 to go in the half.
The Statesmen countered with a superb execution of the 2-minute drill.
Doug Vella's 36-yard pass to
Mike Lazore on the opening play keyed the eight-play drive, which Vella finished off with a 2-yard keeper for a 21-14 halftime lead.
The Hobart defense forced a three-and-out to start the second half, setting up Hobart's fourth scoring drive. Marlier capped a six-play 42-yard march with a 2-yard run for his second visit to the end zone. Then, following another three-and-out by the Engineer offense, Hobart put together a five-play drive that culminated in a 37-yard TD pass from Vella to
Garth Muratori to stretch the Statesmen lead to 21.
WPI tried to make a game of it with a 16-play, 99-yard drive that spanned the third and fourth quarters. Swanton scored on a 3-yard run, but
Kwame Lovell blocked the extra-point attempt to make it a 35-20 game.
Hobart tacked on a late TD thanks to an 11-yard
Kyle Tritten run that gave the Statesmen a 41-20 lead with just 2:04 remaining. The scoring drive was set up by
Mike Faracca's first career interception near midfield.
Hobart accumulated a season-high 390 yards in the game, including 198 on the ground. Marlier led all rushers with 73 yards on the day along with his two TDs, while Tritten added 55 yards on the ground. Vella was 9-for-17 for 192 yards and a touchdown. Muratori paced the Statesmen receivers with 71 yards and a score, while Lazore had three catches for 62 yards.
Kyle O'Laughlin paced Hobart with 10 tackles, while Faracca added seven tackles.
On the home sideline, Swanton had an 11-for-26 day for 160 yards, one touchdown and one interception. Mitch McClune and Ernie Mello ran for 59 and 51 yards, respectively. The Engineers' R.C. Grady led all WPI receivers with four catches for 59 yards. Michael Oliveri was a bright spot on defense for WPI, recording a game-high 15 tackles and the Engineers' only sack of the game.
Hobart returns home for its next game, at noon on Nov. 7 against Rensselaer.
The WPI Sports Information Office contributed to this story.