October 30, 2006

Liberty League Special Teams Perform er of the Week Dominick Ancona. (Photo by Kevin Colton)

GENEVA, N.Y.—For the third time this season and second time in as many weeks, Hobart College junior punter Dominick Ancona (Chaminade/Garden City, N.Y.) was named the Liberty League Football Special Teams Performer of the Week. Following the Statesmen’s 21-14 victory at Alfred on Saturday, Hobart moved up three spots to No. 14 in the D3football.com poll and one spot in Don Hansen’s Football Gazette poll to No. 12.

Ancona averaged 46.5 yards per punt against the Saxons. His eight punts included a career-long matching 58 yarder. Ancona pinned Alfred inside its own 20 three times, had two more punts fair caught, and two more that were touchbacks. He also handles kickoffs and was a big reason why the Saxons faced a long field all day, as evidenced by Alfred’s average starting field position of their own 22.

Ancona leads the Liberty League in punting, averaging 41.3 yards per kick.

With the win over the Saxons, the Statesmen improved to 7-0, matching the best start to a season under Head Coach Mike Cragg. Hobart (4-0 in Liberty League) will host Union College (6-1, 4-0) on Nov. 4. Kickoff at Boswell Field is scheduled for 1 p.m.

The Hobart Hall of Fame Class of 2006 and the inaugural Hobart “Teams of Distinction” will be honored at halftime. Don Dahowski ’59, Dr. Robert Demuth ’51, Tom Gravante ’88, Art Johnson ’35, Gordon Satterley ’50, James Upper ’61, and Dr. Arno Wittig ’61 will be inducted into the Hobart Hall of Fame during a dinner on Nov. 3. The Hobart Hall of Fame will also honor the first Teams of Distinction, the undefeated lacrosse teams of 1938 and 1940 and the undefeated football teams of 1954 and 1957.

The game will be broadcast live by WEOS-FM (89.7/90.3 in Geneva, 88.1 in Ithaca). Fans outside the broadcast area can follow along online.