ONEONTA _ Thanks to Oneonta High graduate Ben Tomaino, Hartwick College followed the bouncing ball to a 24-19 Empire 8 Conference football victory over Alfred University on Saturday at Wright Stadium.
For the second week in a row, the Hawks clinched a key conference triumph inside the last minute by forcing the opposing quarterback to fumble on a play that started at the Hartwick 17-yard line.
Two Saturdays ago, defensive end Tim Hallock jarred the ball loose from St. John Fisher's Tim Bailey on a first-and-10. Defensive lineman James Walsh recovered at the Hartwick 9 with 42 seconds left to preserve a 31-28 road win.
This past Saturday, on a sun-drenched fall afternoon that drew 1,036 fans, Tomaino bulldozed through the Alfred offensive line to wrap up Tom Secky on fourth-and-goal. Junior defensive lineman Tomaino powered Secky's forearms into the quarterback's left knee, resulting in a fumble that Alfred's Zach Morgan picked up on the run. Morgan advanced 2 yards before running into Walsh, who made a tackle at Hartwick's 15 with 1 second left.
"As a team, we saved our season right there," said Tomaino, a 5-foot-11, 231-pound bruiser who sacked Secky for a 10-yard loss two plays earlier, on a second-and-goal from the Hartwick 7. "If we didn't win this game, there was no chance we would have gone to the playoffs again. We just had to come up big today and we got it done."
The Hawks (3-1, 2-1) moved into a three-way tie for second place in the Empire 8 with Alfred (4-2, 2-1) and Ithaca (4-1, 2-1), the latter responsible for Hartwick's loss (69-42 Sept. 20).
Fisher (3-3, 1-1), which shared the 2007 E8 title with Hartwick, is fifth and is followed by Norwich (2-4, 0-2) and Springfield (1-4, 0-2). Utica (2-3, 1-0) leads the conference but still has all three second-place teams and Fisher left on its schedule.
"When we don't really control our destiny, we need to win out in conference if we want a piece of the championship," said seventh-year Hartwick coach Mark Carr, whose team avenged a 46-36 loss at Alfred last season. "We're hungry. Our goal is we want another championship, and our guys are extremely hungry to get that."
The usual suspects paced Hartwick's offense as senior Jason Boltus connected with senior wide receiver Jack Phelan 11 times for 256 of the quarterback's 332 passing yards. The two struck quickly for the first points, which followed an opening defensive stand that forced Alfred into a punt from the Hartwick 34.
Pete Marley's punt pinned Hartwick at its 1 for its first drive, a five-play outing that covered the remaining 99 yards in 2:05. Boltus keyed the scoring drive with a gutsy third-and-8 run to the right sideline, barely reaching the first-down marker despite a crushing hit by Jeremy Darron.
"I'll hang in there until I can't physically move anymore," said Boltus, who got the wind knocked out of him early in the fourth quarter and missed one play, marking the first time he's left a game this season. "I'll do anything for this team."
Unatego graduate Tosh DeMulder gained 4 yards on the next play to set up Boltus' 85-yard TD pass to Phelan over the middle. As usual, Boltus hit his target in stride and Phelan did the rest. Phelan outran two defenders to the right corner of the end zone for a 6-0 lead with 9:04 left in the first quarter, and Ryan Boyea converted the extra point.
Secky answered with two TD passes to D.J. Pope, the first pulling Alfred to 7-6 with 5:32 to go in the first quarter and the second giving the Saxons a 12-7 lead 2:51 into the second period. Eric Rockwood missed the extra point after Alfred's first TD, and a two-point conversion pass attempt by Secky failed after the second.
Boyea closed the first-half scoring on a 19-yard field goal with 49 seconds left, capping a seven-play, 80-yard drive that featured a 52-yard Boltus-to-Phelan pass.
Boltus put Hartwick ahead for good with a 1-yard TD run less than four minutes into the third quarter. Phelan got tripped up a yard short of the end zone on a 30-yard catch and, after DeMulder ran into a wall of defenders, Boltus rolled left on a keeper for a 17-12 Hartwick lead.
The Hawks' defense set up the final Hartwick points, forcing a fumble that was recovered by Brett Radley at Alfred's 5 with 8:53 to go. DeMulder ran into another Alfred swarm _ with senior linebacker John Soule (Richfield Springs) at the center this time _ but gained 3 yards. DeMulder then went into the air on second-and-goal from the 2, leaping over a mass of bodies for a touchdown that gave Hartwick a 24-12 advantage.
"They had a good goal-line defense and they were stuffing us," said DeMulder, The Daily Star's 2003 Player of the Year who ran 19 times for 62 yards. "We finally got something to break open and I got up and got in."
Vinson Hendrix scored from a yard out for the Saxons with 5:32 left, and Rockwood kicked the point after for the final margin.
Hartwick followed with a three-and-out as Boltus went 1-for-3 for 5 yards. The Hawks' final drive ended when Noah Koreman ran past Alfred's defense and dropped an over-the-shoulder rainbow from Boltus that bounced off both hands. Boltus' ensuing punt from Hartwick's 24 took a giant hop backwards, setting up Alfred at the 50 with 4:37 to go.
Secky went 4-for-5 on the last drive before Hendrix gained 2 yards on a fourth-and-1 from the Hartwick 11 and 2 more on first-and-goal from the 9.
"At the very end, I just grabbed him and said, Ben, go win the game for us,'" Carr said of Tomaino, who finished with nine solo tackles and assisted on two others. "And he came up with a humongous sack. He just stepped up big."
Hartwick's next game is against non-conference foe Becker, which will try to end the Hawks' 10-game winning streak at Wright Stadium at 1 p.m. this Saturday.
"We're very hard to beat on our home turf," said Boltus, whose team last lost a home game Oct. 7, 2006, when Alfred won, 41-21. "That's kind of what we do _ bend but don't break."
The Empire 8 announced Sunday it named Tomaino its defensive player of the week and Phelan its co-offensive player of the week. Bailey shared the offensive honor.
HARTWICK 24, ALFRED 19
Alfred6 6 0 7 _ 19
Hartwick7 3 7 7 _ 24
H _ Jack Phelan 85 pass from Jason Boltus (Ryan Boyea kick)
A _ D.J. Pope 18 pass from Tom Secky (Eric Rockwood kick failed)
A _ D.J. Pope 17 pass from Tom Secky (Tom Secky pass failed)
H _ Ryan Boyea 19 FG
H _ Jason Boltus 1 run (Ryan Boyea kick)
H _ Tosh DeMulder 2 run (Ryan Boyea kick)
A _ Vinson Hendrix 1 run (Eric Rockwood kick)
Alfred rushing: Vinson Hendrix 14-55, Morgan O'Brien 10-35, Jared Manzer 1-34, Tom Secky 8-20, Milton Harding 1-7.
Hartwick rushing: Tosh DeMulder 19-62, Jason Boltus 10-(minus-15).
Alfred passing: Tom Secky 17-for-27, 132 yards.
Hartwick passing: Jason Boltus 20-for-35, 332 yards.
Alfred receiving: D.J. Pope 4-47, Jared Manzer 4-18, Trevor Bork 3-25, Craig Chase 2-17, Milton Harding 2-17, Vinson Hendrix 1-10, Morgan O'Brien 1-(minus-2).
Hartwick receiving: Jack Phelan 11-256, Noah Koreman 3-27, Dan Gill 2-34, Tosh DeMulder 2-3, Ryan Mosack 1-8, Sean McKenna 1-4.
___
Dean Russin can be reached at drussin@thedailystar.com or 607-432-1000, ext. 215.
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