Sept. 13, 2003

Box Score

BALTIMORE, Md. -- Senior quarterback George Merrell (Bloomsburg, PA/Central Columbia) threw for a career-high 228 yards and three touchdowns and rushed for 78 yards to lead the Johns Hopkins football team to a 36-7 victory over Washington & Lee at rain-soaked Homewood Field Saturday afternoon. The win is the sixth straight for Johns Hopkins (2-0) dating back to last season, while the Generals (0-1) fell to the Blue Jays for the sixth time in the last seven years.

Merrell helped the Blue Jays push a 9-0 lead to 22-0 with a touchdown pass in the final two minutes of the first half and another early in the third quarter. With 1:22 remaining in the second quarter, Merrell connected with freshman wide receiver Anthony Triplin (Baltimore, MD/Gilman) for a 12-yard touchdown pass to make it 16-0 at the half. A seven-play, 79-yard drive to open the second half was capped with a 42-yard touchdown pass from Merrell to senior Chris Moriarty (Red Bank, NJ/Middletown South) to push the lead to 22-0.

The Generals cut the deficit to 22-7 with their lone score of the day four minutes later as Michael Lackett (Allenwood, NJ/Wall) capped a quick four-play, 17-yard drive with a four-yard touchdown run. The touchdown drive was set up when the General defense forced a fumble that was recovered by Zach Wall (Nashville, TN/Montgomery Bell) at the Hopkins 17-yard line.

Hopkins put the game away with a pair of fourth-quarter touchdowns. Sophomore T.J. Lyons (Paramus, NJ/Paramus) scored on a 14-yard run with 9:35 remaining to make it 29-7 and sophomore Steve Eno (El Segundo, CA/El Segundo) caught Merrell's third touchdown pass of the game, a 10-yard strike, with 3:20 left to account for the final scoring.

The Blue Jays opened the scoring midway through the first quarter when Lyons capped an impressive 15-play, 69-yard drive with 5:06 remaining in the first quarter to give JHU a 6-0 lead. That lead stood until the 4:09 mark of the second quarter, when senior Chris Smolyn (Randolph, NJ/Lenape Valley) kicked a 30-yard field goal to push the lead to 9-0. That set the stage for Merrell's exploits late in the second quarter and early in the third.

Merrell led a Johns Hopkins attack that produced 508 yards of total offense. He was 16-of-29 for the 228 yards and three scores. His 78 yards rushing came on nine carries. Junior Adam Cook (New Freedom, PA/Susquehannock) added a game-high 93 yards rushing for the Blue Jays, who also got 52 yards on the ground from junior Nate Readal (Allison, Park, PA/Hampton) and 48 and the two touchdowns from Lyons. The 508 yards of total offense is the most for the Blue Jays since they had 511 in a 41-0 win over Franklin & Marshall on November 3, 2001.

Washington & Lee struggled to get going offensively against an opportunistic Johns Hopkins defense that came up with three interceptions and one fumble recovery and limited the Generals to just 174 yards of total offense. Senior quarterback Peter Dean (Vienna, VA/James Madison) was 10-of-27 for 121 yards with one interception. Two other players combined to throw three passes, two of which were intercepted. Lacket rushed 17 times for a team-high 49 yards and the one score, but the Generals amassed just 53 yards on 26 carries.

Senior Peter Botsolas (Nutley, NJ/St. Peter's Prep) led the Johns Hopkins defense with seven tackles, including three for losses and one sack. Junior defensive back Matt Campbell (Hillsborough, NJ/Hillsborough) added six tackles and sophomore defensive end Mike Aynardi (Wyomissing, PA/Wilson) had five tackles, including two for losses and 1.5 sacks, and also blocked a Washington & Lee punt.

Johns Hopkins will put its six-game winning streak on the line next Saturday when the Blue Jays host Randolph-Macon at 1:00 pm. In addition to the six-game winning streak, the Blue Jays are now 11-1 in their last 12 games in the month of September and 13-2 in their last 15 games overall. This is the best record over any 15-game span in Johns Hopkins football history.

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