Nov 19, 2022 4 min read

If nothing else, playing in an ECAC bowl game provides the opportunity to make a good impression that can last over the long days of winter.

Just ask Zach Cernuto, a 5-11, 215-pound sophomore from Southmoreland High School. He will have warm thoughts through these cold days ahead.

Cernuto scored two touchdoowns in the first half, leading Washington & Jefferson to a 35-18 victory over Hobart on a frigid Saturday afternoon at Cameron Stadium.

Cernuto came into the game with five carries for three yards. In the win over Hobart, used on the jumbo package for the running game, Cernuto had 73 yards rushing on 9 carries and two scores.

“I hope I’ve made a good impression,” said Cernuto, whose main position is tight end but who played quarterback in high school. “We ran (the jumbo package) at the beginning of the year, then got away from it, then came back to it at the end of the year. The holes were there. I just ran right through them. I just tried to play as hard as I can on every play.”

Hobart, which has won 11 Liberty League championships, finished the season with a 7-4 record. W&J, which has won 26 Presidents’ Athletic Conference titles, ended the season at 9-2.

“I think we showed people we’re a team that deserves to be ranked,” said W&J football coach Mike Sirianni. “It’s a good way to send the seniors out and it’s a good way to go into the offseason.”

W&J rolled to a 35-12 lead at halftime, thanks in part to the play of special teams and defense.

An interception by Tanner Volpatti set up a 32-yard touchdown run by Cernuto that extended W&J’s lead to 21-6.

“I saw the hole and thought, ‘Boy, that’s a big hole,'” said Cernuto. “I was thinking, ‘Just don’t get caught.'”

A blocked punt by Dawson Dietz and recovery by Dietz 35 yards downfield at the 4 set up a one-yard scoring run by Cernuto that stretched the Presidents’ lead to 35-12.

“Defense has played great all year,” said Cernuto. “The least we can do when they make a big play is put some points on the board.”

Jacob Pugh overcame a couple of bruising hits to complete 11 of 18 passes for 173 yards and three touchdowns in the first 30 minutes. He finished 13 of 24 for 221 yards.

Pugh’s first TD pass came on a 5-yarder to to Anthony Rosato to open the scoring. The second went to John Peduzzi, who got behind the secondary for a 38-yard touchdown. Peduzzi also caught Pugh’s third TD by making the 7-yard grab in the back of the end zone.

Hobart, making its 14th postseason appearance, did not score an offensive touchdown in the first half. Outside linebacker Tanner Volpatti, one of 18 seniors on the team, finished with 11 tackles, an interception and a sack, and was named the Bushnell Most Valuable Player of the Game.

“This is huge. I wasn’t really expecting it but I’m glad they chose me,” said Volpatti. “The key is trusting the coaches game plan and the guy who’s playing next to you.”

Inside linebacker Anthony Romano intercepted a Pugh pass and returned it 27 yards and a touchdown in the first quarter.

With 7:35 left in the half, and following Peduzzi’s second touchdown reception, Hobart’s Rayshawn Boswell returned the kickoff 94 yards for a touchdown.

The Statesmen, who brought the 30th-ranked defense in NCAA Division III into the game and allowed only 31 points in a game this year, missed both extra-point attempts, the first on a bad kick by Tobias Wefering and the second on a failed run by quarterback David Krewson.

“We knew Washington & Jefferson was a real good opponent,” said Hobart head coach Kevin DeWall. “We knew we were going to have to play well in all three phases and we didn’t do that.”

Krewson caught a TD pass from wide receiver Ben Farrell on an end-around pass play with 6:44 to play to cut the lead to 17.

Hash marks – W&J inside linebacker Justin Johns led all players with 15 tackles and has 102 for the season. … The last time these two teams met was in 1942. W&J won 25-0. … Hobart was 6 of 17 on third-down conversions and 1 of 5 on fourth down.