November 27 , 2004

Shawn Mizro picked up 9 yards and a touchdown on this quarterback draw against Rowan.

Tony Clemente puts a hit on the Rowan quarterback, but the Profs topped the Statesmen in the NCAA second round.

GLASSBORO, N.J.—The Hobart College football team had its NCAA Tournament run end in the second round this afternoon, falling to the East Region’s top-seed, Rowan University, 45-14. The Statesmen end the season with a 9-2 mark, tying the program record for most wins in a season set by the 1896 squad.

Hobart was forced to punt on its first possession, but the defense got the ball back on the very next play. On first down, sophomore linebacker Nolan Robinson (Johnson City/Johnson City, N.Y.) sacked the Prof’s quarterback, forcing a fumble that junior linebacker Tony Clemente (Troy/Troy, N.Y.) recovered at the Rowan 25.

Six plays later, sophomore quarterback Shawn Mizro (Newark/Newark, N.Y.) scored from 9 yards out on a draw play.

The Profs (9-2) scored on their next three possessions to build a 17-7 lead before the end of the first quarter. Rowan continued to pour it on in the second quarter with 14 more points for a 31-7 lead at the break.

The Profs posted 317 yards of total offense in the first half and finished the afternoon with 583. Running back Pat Thompson accounted for a large chunk of that yardage, picking up 153 yards on the ground. He is the first 100-yard rusher the Hobart defense has allowed since Oct. 26, 2002.

Rowan tacked on another touchdown to start the third quarter, before the Statesmen finally solved the Prof D again.

Hobart answered Rowan’s third quarter score with a 7-play, 70-yard drive that ended with a 5-yard pass from Mizro to first-year tight end Kyle Martin (Onondaga/Syracuse, N.Y.). The big play of the drive was a 41-yard Mizro heave to senior wide receiver Rick Piñero (Smithtown/Hauppauge, N.Y.) that moved Hobart down to the Rowan 5.

Mizro finished the day 17-of-39 for 209 yards and a touchdown, but he was picked off twice. The passing yards lifted his season total to 2,253, a new Hobart season record.

Defensively, the Statesmen forced four Prof turnovers to finish the day plus-one. Junior linebacker Jimmy Gradis (Elwood John Glen/Greenlawn, N.Y.) posted a game-high 11 tackles, including two for a loss, while junior free safety Ryan Smith (Tonawanda/Tonawanda, N.Y.) added 10 stops.