GENEVA, NY - Utica University's football team traveled to Geneva, NY, to face off against the Hobart Statesmen in their final non-conference game of the regular season. Utica held the lead late, but a rushing touchdown by Hobart's E.J. Taylor with one minute left gave the Statesmen the final leg up, holding on by a score of 20-17. 

Saturday Spotlight: Despite falling short late in the game, senior captain Antonio Cianfarani (Scotia, NY/Scotia Glenville) put forth a valiant effort. Cianfarani caught six passes, the second most on the team, turning in 65 yards and both of Utica's touchdowns. His scores came at the bookends of the second quarter, finding pay dirt from 23 yards out just eight seconds into the quarter, and from seven yards out with 1:57 left in the half.

Hobart jumped out ahead early, scoring touchdowns on both of their first two drives. Utica answered the second touchdown on their following drive before taking a one-point lead late in the first half. Defense took over coming out of the break, with Utica scoring the only points of the third quarter on a field goal with two minutes left. In the final minutes of the game, Hobart was able to back Utica up to their own endzone, and take advantage of a short field, scoring the go-ahead touchdown with just 1:08 left.

Scoring Summary:

1st Quarter
10:01 | 0-6 HOB | E.J. Taylor - 5-yard run (Luke Monteyne XP missed) - 9 plays, 63 yards (4:53)
6:09 | 0-13 HOB | E.J. Taylor - 2-yard run (Luke Monteyne XP good) - 4 plays, 26 yards (2:21)

2nd Quarter
14:52 | 6-13 HOB | Antonio Cianfarani (Scotia, NY/Scotia Glenville) - 23-yard pass from Tyler Szalkowski (Rochester, NY/Aquinas Institute) (Nico Duarte (Kearny, NJ/Saint Peter's Prep) XP good) - 14 plays, 70 yards (6:12)
1:57 | 14-13 UTC | Antonio Cianfarani (Scotia, NY/Scotia Glenville) - 7-yard pass from Tyler Szalkowski (Rochester, NY/Aquinas Institute) (Nico Duarte (Kearny, NJ/Saint Peter's Prep) XP good) - 8 plays, 88 yards (4:09)

3rd Quarter
1:59 | 17-13 UTC | Nico Duarte (Kearny, NJ/Saint Peter's Prep) - 23-yard FG - 11 plays, 80 yards (5:19)

4th Quarter
1:08 | 20-17 HOB | E.J. Taylor - 1-yard run (Luke Monteyne XP good) - 3 plays, 37 yards (0:45)

Offensive Highlights: The bulk of the Pioneers' offensive production came in the air. Quarterback Tyler Szalkowski (Rochester, NY/Aquinas Institute) attempted 42 passes, completing 28 of them for 287 yards and two touchdowns. Szalkowski was sacked four times, losing 37 yards, but still found success on the ground, rushing for 51 yards over his eight other rush attempts.

Jani Strong (Bronx, NY/Christ The King Regional) and Drevariis Yeomas (Victor, NY/Victor) split the backfield, rushing eight and nine times, respectively. Strong found more efficiency on the ground, gaining 37 yards across his eight attempts. Yeomas was limited to 20 yards.

Five separate Pioneers were involved in the receiving game. Bryce Palmer (Verona, NY/Vernon-Verona-Sherrill) was a safety blanket in the game, hauling in 12 receptions for 88 yards. Lorenzo Velez (East Setauket, NY/Ward Melville) ended the day with 66 receiving yards, second most on the team, on three catches. Cianfarani turned in a 6-65-2 stat line on the day, with a long of 23 yards. Logan Frederick (Little Falls, NY/Little Falls) kept involved, corralling five receptions for 39 yards. Scotty Thompson (Fairport, NY/Fairport) was the final Utica receiver, tallying two catches for 29 yards.

Defensive Highlights: Sophomore Mason Nolan (Hilton, NY/Hilton Central) turned in an exciting performance, ending with 2.0 sacks that pushed the Statesmen back 21 yards. His two sacks were his only tackles for loss on the day, and made up half of his four total tackles on the day. Isaiah Thomas (Kingston, NY/Kingston) led the Pioneers in tackles, totaling eight, two of them solo. Eli Douglas (Ausable Forks, NY/Ausable Valley) matched Nolan's two solo, two-assisted tackle line, additionally getting his hand on a punt in the 3rd quarter. Mason Mascuri led Utica in solo tackles, as he was the only defender to record a third tackle in the game.

The Specialists: Kicker Nico Duarte (Kearny, NJ/Saint Peter's Prep) found success in all of his opportunities, successfully kicking both extra point attempts he faced, and sending a 23-yard field goal through the uprights on his only attempt. He averaged 51.25 yards per kick across his four kickoff attempts. Devin Taylor (New Port Richey, FL/Wendell Krinn Technical) was asked to punt four times for Utica, totaling 142 yards across his attempts. Nick Maritato (Congers, NY/Clarkstown North) fielded two kickoffs, finding 21 yards on both returns.

Up Next: The Pioneers will return to Gaetano Field next Saturday, the 27th, when they host Alfred State in a contest scheduled for 1:00 pm. At the time of this article's posting, Alfred State sits at 1-1, but they are still set to face Buffalo State later on September 20th.