“Home field jinx?” Isn't Union playing Hobart at home on Frank Bailey Field Saturday at 1 p.m.? Someone must have that headline wrong!
Not if you're a fan of the New York Mets, who set a major league record with 15 losses at Shea Stadium earlier this year, and not if you're a fan of the Union College Dutchman football team, which has lost two in a row to the Hobart Statesmen when playing on Frank Bailey Field.
On the other side of that coin, Hobart is happy to come to Schenectady since their last two home games against Union have resulted in Dutchman victories.
“That really is a strange statistic,” said head coach John Audino, who has guided his Dutchmen to an 11-year record of 83-20-0, including this year's 2-0 standard. “It just goes to show how balanced and competitive our league (the Upstate Collegiate Athletic Association) really is. While we don't have enough league members in football to earn an automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament, there have been three UCAA teams (Union, Hobart and Rensselaer) selected for the national tournament in the last two years. Hopefully, we can take advantage of our tremendous crowd support and put an end to this streak.”
Prior to the 1998 season, the Dutchmen were riding the crest of a 16-game win streak over the Statesmen. Not since Hobart had captured a 24-17 victory in 1979 had the Statesmen enjoyed a victory over their upstate rivals. Hobart ended
that frustration on September 26, 1998 when they beat Union on Bailey Field, 19-14.
Union turned the tables in 1999 when, on September 25, the Dutchmen won at Boswell Field, 20-14. The game returned to Schenectady in 2000 with the Statesmen capturing a thrilling defensive battle, 13-12, when Union quarterback Ben Gilbert's apparent 40-yard touchdown run in the final minute was called back because of holding. Last year, after an emotional September 11, which preceded an auto accident that took the life of Union's junior defensive end Mark Stokes, the Dutchmen used George Beebe's 78-yard touchdown run on their first offensive play to capture an emotional 42-6 win in Geneva.