GENEVA, NY - The Alfred University football team opened their fall season with a 36-6 road loss to Hobart College on Friday evening from David J. Urick Stadium.

"We're definitely not happy about the outcome of this football game, but I think there are some positive things we can still take away from it," Head Coach Bob Rankl said. "I thought we played good at times, but we needed to capitalize with some big plays offensively and our defense needed to get off the field on third and long. We had the opportunities to do both."

Both defenses stepped up in the early stages of the first quarter, as neither side scored within the first five drives. Hobart (1-0, 0-0 Liberty League) was the first to score following a 28-yard touchdown reception, as the Saxons (0-1, 0-0 Empire 8) trailed 7-0 entering the second quarter.

An interception from Adam Mietz (Akron, NY/Akron) in the second quarter set up the Saxons inside of Hobart's red zone. An 11-yard rush from Max Freeman IV (Painted Post, NY/Corning-Painted Post) on the next play put AU on the scoreboard. The Statesmen scored once more and capitalized with a two-point conversion to enter halftime with a 15-6 advantage over Alfred University.

The Statesmen scored 21 unanswered points in the second half to extend their lead and eventually seal the game.

"Mount St. Joseph is a good team and we need to do everything we can to prepare our guys to be ready to play a physical football game and get back on the winning track," Rankl said.

Alfred University will next return home to host Mount. St. Joseph University on Saturday, September 10 with kickoff at 12PM.