Nov. 16, 2002

Box Score

BALTIMORE, Md. -- Junior quarterback George Merrell (Bloomsburg, PA/Central Columbia) rushed for two touchdowns and threw for another and Johns Hopkins forced seven McDaniel turnovers as the Blue Jays stunned the 15th-ranked Green Terror, 27-7 at rain-soaked Homewood Field Saturday afternoon. The win gives Johns Hopkins a share of its first-ever Centennial Conference Championship with an 8-2 overall record, including a 5-1 mark in the Centennial. The Green Terror fall to 8-2, 5-1 and grab a share of their sixth straight conference championship.

Johns Hopkins' last conference title of any kind came in 1969 when the Blue Jays grabbed a share of their third straight MAC South Championship. The Blue Jays are also the only Centennial Conference team to beat McDaniel since 1997. In fact, including the last game of the 1996 season, McDaniel is 38-0 against the other teams in the Centennial Conference, but just 4-3 against Johns Hopkins.

"Our players did an excellent job of preparing for the game and we are obviously very excited," Johns Hopkins head coach Jim Margraff noted. "Our defense and special teams repeatedly gave us a short field to work with and we were able to take advantage of those situations."

After spotting McDaniel an early 7-0 lead on a six-yard touchdown run by junior French Pope (Germantown, MD/Northwest), the Blue Jays scored 27 unanswered points against a team that had trailed for a total of less than three minutes in the first nine games combined. Hopkins tied the game at 7-7 with a one-yard touchdown run by Merrell that capped a quick five-play, 22-yard drive with 2:27 remaining in the first quarter. The drive was set up by a Mike Barrasso (East Hanover, NJ/Hanover Park) blocked punt that was returned by Matt Campbell (Hillsborough, NJ/Hillsborough) to the McDaniel 22-yard line.

Hopkins needed just 2:02 to go 29 yards midway through the second quarter to go up 14-7. The opportunistic Blue Jays recovered a Pope fumble on a punt return to take over at the Green Terror 29-yard line and Merrell hit junior wide receiver Jason Lehman (Lancaster, PA/Manheim Central) with a 13-yard touchdown pass on fourth-and-10 to account for the scoring play. Lehman and McDaniel cornerback Robert Wingfield (Bowie, MD/Bishop McNamara) battled for the ball, but Lehman came up with the pass after juggling it with Wingfield.

Barrasso was right in the middle of the action again on McDaniel's next possession as recovered another McDaniel fumble out of a punt formation and set the Blue Jays up at the McDaniel 28-yard line. McDaniel punter Corey Allen (Rockville, MD/Magruder) failed to handle a poor snap and Barrasso came up with the loose ball. After driving the Blue Jays to the McDaniel two-yard line, Merrell rushed in on a third-and-goal to push the lead to 21-7 with 2:09 remaining in the first half.

After coming up with another McDaniel fumble on the Green Terror's first possession in the second half, the Blue Jays were forced to punt. However, McDaniel's Dave Fedorchak (Olyphant, PA/Mid Valley) fumbled Rob Fernand's (Wayne, NJ/Depaul) punt at the 10-yard line and Jim Sanders (North Lima, OH/South Range) came up with the recovery for the Blue Jays. Two plays later, freshman quarterback Zach DiIonno (West Caldwell, NJ/James Caldwell) scored on a nine-yard run on a quarterback draw to push the lead to 27-7 and the Green Terror never got inside the JHU 40-yard line during the remainder of the game.

"Having beaten McDaniel last season, our players felt like we could play with them, but as is often the case in a game like this, turnovers play a crucial role," Margraff noted. "Once we grabbed the emotion after their early touchdown, our kids built off that and we took advantage of every opportunity that presented itself," he added.

Merrell, who left the game with a strained lower back after scoring his second touchdown, was 5-of-11 for 57 yards and the one touchdown and rushed 12 times for 29 yards and the two scores. Freshman running back T.J. Lyons (Paramus, NJ/Paramus) rushed 14 times for 57 yards to lead the ground game for the Blue Jays. McDaniel entered the game with the top-ranked rushing defense in the Centennial Conference as the Terror were allowing just 74.1 yards per game on the ground. Hopkins rushed for 145 yards in the game and held the ball for 35:12 to just 24:48 for McDaniel.

Defensively, Hopkins was led by Campbell and senior linebacker Mike Little (Red Bank, NJ/Middletown South), who both had 10 tackles and forced a fumble in the win. The Blue Jays limited McDaniel to just 254 yards of total offense, nearly 120 below its season average. In addition, the seven points the Terror scored are the fewest by a McDaniel team since Hopkins posted a 13-3 win over then Western Maryland in the 1996 season-finale.

McDaniel was led by Pope, who rushed for a game-high 66 yards and the one touchdown on just 11 carries. However, the remaining ball carriers for the Green Terror managed just 14 yards on 22 carries. Senior quarterback John Luster (Sykesville, MD/South Carroll) came off the bench to go 7-for-18 for 101 yards, but he threw two interceptions as part of the seven turnover performance by the Terror.

Officially, Muhlenberg, which lost to McDaniel, 35-14, but beat Johns Hopkins, 23-10, will receive the Centennial Conference's automatic bid to the upcoming NCAA playoffs. Johns Hopkins, which has never played a post-season game in its history, could receive an at-large bid to the NCAAs, but is more likely to appear in an ECAC South Bowl game next Saturday. Pairings for the upcming NCAA Playoffs will be announced on Sunday, while pairings for the ECAC Bowls will be announced Monday.

- 30 -