Oct. 6, 2001

BALTIMORE, Md. -- The Johns Hopkins defense limited Ursinus to just 154 yards of total offense and the Blue Jays made 13 first-half points stand up as Hopkins picked up 13-7 Centennial Conference victory over theBears at Homewood Field Saturday afternoon. The win is the second straight for Johns Hopkins, which improves to 4-1 overall, 2-0 in the Centennial Conference. Ursinus dropped its second straight and slips to 2-3, 1-2. Johns Hopkins is now 4-1 for the third time in the last five years and fourth time in the last seven. In addition, JHU improves its record to 44-8-2 under head coach Jim Margraff when holding the opposition to 14 points or less.

After senior Matt Andrade (Wyoming, DE?Caesar Rodney) converted on field goal attempts from 42 yards and 20 yards to stake the Blue Jays to a 6-0 lead, Hopkins tallied its lone touchdown to push the lead to 13-0 at the half. Senior quarterback Rob Heleniak's (Philadelphia, PA/Germantown Academy) seven-yard scoring pass to sophomore Kyle Miller (Hanover, PA/South Western) with 2:23 remaining in the second quarter accounted for Hopkins' lone touchdown and Andrade's extra point made it 13-0.

The lead stood until late in the fourth quarter when the Bears capped a six-play, 37-yard drive with a nine-yard touchdown run by senior Shearrod Duncan (Amityville, NY/Holy Trinity) to pull within 13-7 with 3:17 remaining. Ursinus, which limited the Blue Jays to just 288 yards of total offense, then held the Blue Jays on downs to get one more chance for the win. After Hopkins' Chris Smolyn (Randolph, NJ/Lenape Valley) pinned the Bears inside their 10-yard line with less than a minute to play, the Blue Jays sealed the win when freshman safety Matt Campbell (Hillsborough, NJ/Hillsborough) picked off his team-leading third pass of the season at the Ursinus 48-yard line.

Johns Hopkins, which has now held four of its five opponents to seven points or less this season, was led defensively by senior linebacker Marc Della Pia (West Caldwell, NJ/James Caldwell) and junior linebacker Mike Little (Red Bank, NJ/Middletown South), who each posted nine tackles. Sophomore nose guard Paul Smith (Lafayette, NJ/Sparta), who earned Centennial Defensive Player of the Week honors last week, had six tackles, including three for losses and two sacks. Campbell posted six tackles and the one interception. In addition to holding four of five opponents to seven points or less, the Blue Jays have held three of their five opponents to less than 165 yards of total offense.

Heleniak was 21-of-39 for 210 yards with the one touchdown and one interception, which led to the Ursinus touchdown. Senior wide receiver Zach Baylin (Wilmington, DE/Tatnall) had a game-high six receptions for 101 yards, while freshman Adam Cook (New Freedom, PA/Susquehannock) added 52 yards rushing to lead the way on the ground for Hopkins. Ursinus entered the game with the top rushing defense in the Centennial Conference (79.2 yards/game) and held JHU to 78 yards on 36 attempts.

Duncan, who entered the game ranked ninth in the nation in rushing yards per game, carried 31 times for 137 yards and the one touchdown, but all other Ursinus runners rushed 13 times for minus nine yards (including sacks). Quarterbacks Chris Rahill (Philadelphia/Penn Charter) and Jeff Crompton (Warminster, PA/Archbishop Wood) struggled against a Johns Hopkins pass defense that entered the game ranked first in the Centennial Conference and ninth nationally (69.4 eff. rating) as they combined to go 5-of-19 for 26 yards and the one interception.

Andrade's two field goals give him 17 in his career, which moves him into a tie for second place on the all-time list at Johns Hopkins. In addition, Heleniak moved into fifth place on both the all-time passing yards list (3,240) and all-time completions list (268) at Hopkins. Baylin also reached a milestone as he surpassed 3,000 career all-purpose yards. His 101 receiving yards and 17 yards on three punt returns improve his career all-purpose yardage total to 3,051.

Johns Hopkins will next be in action next Saturday when the Blue Jays travel to Muhlenberg for another key Centennial Conference matchup. Ursinus, which saw its hopes for at least a share of the Centennial Conference title all but eliminated, will host Gettysburg.

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