Alex Love hoisted the Kraus-Simmons Trophy high above his head, saluting the Hobart fans.

He finally won the trophy he’s coveted for three years, and the one that has defined Syracuse-Hobart since 1986.

Hobart completed a remarkable comeback over No. 3 Syracuse on Tuesday night, prevailing 13-12 and claiming the trophy for the first time since 2006.

“We talk about the trophy all the time in the locker room,” Love said. “It’s an amazing feeling to finally hold it up.”

Hobart is Syracuse’s oldest rival. The teams have faced each other 99 times. Syracuse leads the series 71-26-2 and has won 25 of the last 27 meetings.

The Orange has dominated Hobart lately, and Love knew he had to do everything possible to bring the trophy back to Geneva, N.Y.

“On the bus, we were all just like, ‘Man, we need to bring this back to the house,’” Love said. “We want to celebrate it.”

He said he’s not sure where the trophy will sit exactly, but he’s guessing it’ll stay situated on head coach T.W. Johnson’s desk until next year, when the teams face off again.

Hobart lost to Syracuse 13-12 last year and 13-7 the year before, so Love had never beaten the Orange heading into Tuesday’s game.

“Obviously, we knew coming into tonight this would be a challenge for us, as it is any time you play at the Carrier Dome,” Johnson said. “One of our keys to the game was playing fast, try to keep it simple and being fundamentally sound. I’m just really proud of our players for the way they competed for 60 minutes.”

Johnson said he was proud of his team for bouncing back after finding itself in a three-goal deficit with just 11 minutes left.

Hobart grinded out a gritty win and claimed the trophy it’s come close to many times, but hadn’t seized as of late.

Said Johnson: “Even when we got down a couple times, we talked about keeping our composure and just sticking to our system and hopefully things will turn for us, and they did in the last 11 minutes of the game.”

Published on April 17, 2013 at 1:22 am

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