GENEVA, NY -- Senior quarterback Anthony Marotti (River Edge, NJ/River Dell) passed for 173 yards and two touchdowns and rushed for another, and junior linebacker Vito Pellerito (Pompano Beach, FL/St. Thomas) made 14 tackles to lead #20 Union College to a 31-14 victory over #14 Hobart College at Boswell Field Saturday. With the win, the Dutchmen, 5-0 in the Liberty League and 7-1 overall, clinched their second straight Liberty League Championship and automatic NCAA playoff bid for the second straight season. Hobart fell to 7-1 overall and 4-1 in the league.
Senior running back Tom Arcidiacono (Castleton, NY/Columbia) rushed for 117 yards on 16 carries while junior fullback Zach Tillo (Lancaster, MA/Exeter) had his first career 100 yard rushing game, with 102 yards on 19 carries. Arcidiacono now has 4,794 career yards, and moved into 16th all-time in NCAA Division III career rushing yards. It was his 22nd career 100 yard rushing game. Chuck Pinckney (Slingerlands, NY/Guilderland) had eight tackles for the Dutchmen.
Senior wide receivers Steve Angiletta (Plantsville, CT/Southington) and Ryan Twichell (Fayetteville, NY/Manlius) each had a touchdown reception for Union. Angiletta had 82 yards on six catches while Twichell caught four for 59 yards. Marotti was 13 for 22 with one interception.
Shawn Mizro was 22 for 34 for 243 yards and two touchdowns but was intercepted three times. james Wright had five catches for 49 yards and Doug Blakowski ran for 57 yards on 22 carries.
Union had 418 yards in total offense while the Statesmen had 298.
The Dutchmen scored the only points of the first half on a 12-yard reception by Angiletta from Marotti with 10:59 left in the first stanza. The drive took nine plays and lasted 71 yards in a time of 4:01. Marotti passed for 52 yards on this scoring drive. Union started their next scoring drive with 46 seconds remaining in the first quarter from the Union-2, and 12 plays and 98 yards later, Marotti rushed in from six yards out for a 14-0 Union lead with 11:08 remaining in the half. The drive consumed 4:38.
Hobart got on the board with 10 seconds left in the first half. Mizro hit Wright for a one-yard touchdown pass to wrap up a 14 play, 72 yard drive in 4:20 and it was 14-7 Dutchmen at the half.
On their first drive of the third quarter, the Dutchmen regained a 14-point advantage. On a fourth-and-four from the Hobart 23 yard line, Marotti found Twichell in the back left corner of the endzone for a 21-7 lead to cap a nine play, 80 yard drive in 4:04. The score came with 8:26 left in the third and was the only scoring of the stanza.
Ben Rapple (Queensbury, NY/Queensbury) kicked a 19 yard field goal with 33 seconds left in the fourth quarter for a 24-7 Union lead. The six play, 16 yard drive took 3:17 and started when Steve Sorhaindo fumbled for Hobart at the Hobart 17. The fumble was forced by Sean Maginess (Waterford, CT/Waterford) and recovered by Josh McKelligan (Canton, MA/Sudbury).
Hobart made it 24-14 with a two-yard touchdown pass from Mizro to Wright with 6:03 left in the fourth period. It was a three play, 28 yard drive in just 40 seconds.
Union brought it down to the Hobart 24 on the ensuing drive, but Mike Faracca recovered a fumble for the Statesmen at the Hobart 29 with 4:03 left. Four plays later, Mizro was intercepted by Alex Markel (Miami, FL/Ransom Everglades) at the Union 49 to end the threat. The Dutchmen then went 43 yards on four plays and Tillo scored from three yards out with 2:27 remaining. He had a 37 yard run on the scoring drive that took 1:02.
The Dutchmen have won 18 of their last 19 regular season games. Union plays at RPI in the "Shoes Trophy" game next week at 1 p.m. in the 105th meeting between the schools.
