Box Score GENEVA, N.Y. – Seventh-ranked Hobart (11-0) scored a game-winning touchdown with 12 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter in a 22-15 win over Ithaca (7-4) on Saturday, Nov. 22 at Boswell Field in the first round of the 2014 NCAA Division III Football Championship tournament. Hobart advances to the second round and will take on Johns Hopkins.
Ithaca built a 12-0 lead in the first half largely on the strength of four Hobart turnovers. In the second half, Hobart possessed the ball for 22 minutes and six seconds to Ithaca's 7:54. Hobart converted 7-of-12 third-down plays in the second half.
Ithaca took advantage of Hobart's second turnover of the opening quarter and scored the game's first touchdown.
Sam Carney intercepted a pass and returned it 33 yards to the Hobart 20. Two plays later, a short pass from
Tom Dempsey to
Chris Bauer at the left sideline turned into a 21-yard score when Bauer eluded three Hobart defenders and raced into the endzone. It was the first time this season that Hobart has allowed a first-quarter touchdown to any opponent. The extra-point kick attempt was unsuccessful.
A third Hobart turnover, this time an interception by
Malik Morris of a deflected pass, turned into three points. Ithaca moved the ball to the 1-yard line but didn't score a touchdown.
Garrett Nicholson made a 27-yard field goal to give Ithaca a 9-0 lead.
The Bombers forced a punt by the Statesmen in the second quarter, and Nicholson converted a 31-yard field goal with 2:29 left before halftime. Ithaca led 12-0 at half, the 10th time in 11 games this season that Ithaca was leading or tied at half.
Hobart scored on its second drive of the second half, on a 1-yard touchdown run by Alex Furtado, but Ithaca answered with a scoring drive of its own. The Bombers drove inside of Hobart's 10-yard line again and added three points on a 23-yard field goal from
Garrett Nicholson. Ithaca led 15-7 with 14:52 left in the fourth quarter.
The Statesmen marched 72 yards for a touchdown on their next drive, capped by a three-yard run from quarterback Patrick Conlon, who then ran in a two-point conversion to tie the score 15-15 with 10:22 left in the fourth quarter.
The winning drive covered 72 yards in 14 plays, and took 5:02 off of the clock. Conlon again kept the ball and ran in the 1.
BOMBERS NOTES*
Garrett Nicholson's three field goals made is a career-high in a single game. He was 10-for-12 on field-goal attempts this season and made eight in a row.
*
Joe Ricotta had career highs in tackles (12), tackles for loss (3) and sacks (2).
*
Tom Dempsey passed for 178 yards and moved into fifth place on Ithaca's all-time passing yardage chart with 4,183 yards.
*
Josh Oliver had 17 carries for 50 yards.
* Ithaca made its 19th appearance in the NCAA Tournament and is 28-16 all-time in the NCAAs.
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