Oct. 30, 2004

Box Score

COLLEGEVILLE, PA - Junior quarterback Brian Schiller (Scotch Plains, NJ/Scotch Plains) threw for 143 yards and a pair of touchdowns in the first start of his career to rally Johns Hopkins to a 20-14 victory over Ursinus in Centennial Conference football action Saturday afternoon. The win, Hopkins' fifth straight on the road dating back to last season, improves the Blue Jays' record to 6-2 overall and 3-2 in the Centennial Conference. Ursinus dropped its 16th straight Centennial Conference game and falls to 1-7, 0-4.

Schiller directed a nifty seven-play, 71-yard drive late in the second quarter to cut a 14-0 Ursinus lead to 14-7 at the half. After the Bears had marched 56 yards in just three plays to take a 14-0 lead with 2:26 remaining in the second quarter, Schiller directed what turned out to be a momentum-changing drive. He was 3-of-4 for 50 yards and also rushed once for 10 yards to fuel the drive. He connected with senior Brian Wolcott (Harding, PA/Wyoming Area) on a 24-yard touchdown pass with just 41 seconds remaining in the second quarter to make it 14-7. This would be the first of first straight scoring drives for Hopkins.

The Blue Jays kept the pressure on the Bears as they took the opening possession of the second half and drove 46-yards on eight plays and pulled within 14-10 on a 27-yard field goal by sophomore Ben Scott (Pittsburgh, PA/Shady Side Academy). Sophomore Evan Earnest (Lancaster, PA/Hempfield) set up the scoring drive with a 33-yard kickoff return to the Blue Jay 44-yard line and Schiller kept the drive alive with a 15-yard scramble on a third-and-13 from the Ursinus 43.

The Blue Jay defense stopped the Bears on three plays on Ursinus' next possession and needed just one play to take the lead for good as Schiller connected with Wolcott from 51-yards out to give Hopkins a 17-14 lead. Scott pushed the lead to 20-14 on Hopkins' next possession as he tied his career-best with a 43-yard field goal.

Ursinus had two possessions in the final 10 minutes of the game inside Hopkins territory, but the Blue Jays forced a punt on one and Chris Whitehorne (Wayne, NJ/DePaul Catholic) stopped Ernest Pearson (Washington, DC/Hyde Leadership Charter) for no gain on a fourth-and-two from the Blue Jay 37-yard line with 2:41 remaining to halt the Bears' final scoring threat.

After a scoreless first quarter, the Bears got on the board with 6:43 remaining in the second quarter when junior Vince Gallagher (Folsom, PA/St. Joseph's Prep) hooked up with Keiran Gorman (Jackson, NJ/Jackson Memorial) on a 22-yard touchdown pass to polish off an impressive 12-play, 77-yard drive that gave UC a 7-0 lead. Adam Schmidt (Palmyra, PA/Conrad Weiser) then came up with an interception of Schiller on Hopkins' next possession and UC needed just the three plays to go 56 yards with Steve Phillips' (Moorestown, NJ/Moorestown) 44-yard touchdown run capping the drive to make it 14-0.

Schiller's touchdown pass to Wolcott jump-started the 20-0 scoring run for the Blue Jays, who last came back from as many as 14 points down to win on November 6, 1999 when they erased a 27-10 deficit in a 35-33 win over Franklin & Marshall.

Schiller, who was playing in place of injured starter Zach DiIonno, was 10-of-20 for the 143 yards and two touchdowns. He also rushed for 47 yards and actually got the start at cornerback as well before playing only on offense for the final three quarters. Wolcott had six receptions for 108 yards and the two touchdowns and moved into second place on JHU's career touchdown receptions list (24), third on the career receiving yards list (2,192) and fourth on the receptions list (134). Junior Max Whitacre (Sugarloaf, PA/Bishop Hafey) had 10 tackles to lead a Blue Jay defense that held the Bears to just 92 yards of total offense in the second half.

Gallagher was 22-of-42 for 221 yards with one touchdown and one interception for Ursinus. Phillips rushed for a game-high 59 yards and Gorman had five receptions for 64 yards to help lead the way. Nate Wagner (Orwigsburg, PA/Blue Mountain) had a game-high 16 tackles and Austin Jones (Langhorne, PA/Neshaminy) added 10 to lead the Bear defense.

Johns Hopkins will next be in action next Saturday when the Blue Jays host Hampden-Sydney, while Ursinus will travel to Franklin & Marshall next Saturday.

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