Box Score Oct. 9, 2004
Box Score
LANCASTER, PA - Johns Hopkins junior running back T.J. Lyons rushed for 173 yards and one touchdown and had six receptions for 83 yards and another touchdown to lead the Blue Jays to a 20-14 victory over host Franklin & Marshall Saturday afternoon. The win is the eighth straight for the Blue Jays over F&M and Hopkins improves to 4-1 overall and 1-1 in the Centennial Conference. F&M slips to 4-2, 1-1.
Lyons rushed 20 times for 132 yards and one touchdown in the first half as all 34 points in the game were scored before halftime. After F&M had taken a quick 7-0 lead on a 79-yard touchdown pass from Jeff Harner to Derek Boyce on the first play of the game the Blue Jays started their comeback behind the play of Lyons.
Sophomore Ben Scott pulled the Blue Jays to within 7-3 with 4:34 remaining in the first quarter when he drilled a 31-yard field goal to cap a 14-play, 69-yard drive. After stopping the Diplomats on their next possession the Blue Jays needed less than 90 seconds to take their first lead of the game. Junior quarterback Zach DiIonno found Lyons alone in the middle of the field on second-and-10 and Lyons weaved his way through traffic and broke two tackles inside the 10-yard line to account for a 38-yard touchdown reception.
F&M, which had used the big play early in the game to take the quick lead, again found the end zone via the pass early in the second quarter. On a second-and-seven from the Diplomat 45-yard line Harner was flushed from the pocket and found Matt Mondonedo behind the defense at the JHU 20-yard line. Mondonedo broke a tackle and raced into the corner of the end zone to give the Dips a 14-10 lead.
Scott drew the Blue Jays to within one at 14-13 as he capped a 12-play, 51-yard drive with a career-long 42-yard field goal midway through the second quarter. F&M took its ensuing possession into JHU territory before being forced to punt. Dan Eggertssondropped the punt out of bounds at the JHU 12-yard line, where the Blue Jays took over and mounted what proved to be the game-winning drive.
Lyons carried the ball seven times on what ended up being a 10-play, 88-yard drive. His 24-yard run from the Blue Jays 44-yard line gave the Blue Jays a first-and-10 at the F&M 32-yard line. Two more plays moved the ball to the 14, where Lyons would finish things off. Two running plays netted nine yards and gave JHU a third-and-one at the five-yard line. Lyons went in untouched from the five-yard line on the third-and-one to give JHU the lead for good, 20-14.
Both defenses stiffened in the second half and neither offense could put any points on the board. The Blue Jays had a chance to get some breathing room midway through the fourth quarter, but Scott misfired from 31 yards out to keep it a six-point game. F&M had two more possessions, but the Blue Jay defense was up the task. Sophomore Matt Hagel came up with pass breakups on the Diplomats' last two offensive plays with just over one minute remaining to seal the win.
The 173 yards were one yard shy of Lyons' career-high of 174, while the 256 all-purpose yards are a personal best. He also jumped into 14th-place on JHU's career rushing list as he now has 1,393 career rushing yards. DiIonno was 17-of-29 for 201 yards with one touchdown and one interception (his 201 passing yards pushed him over 2,000 career passing yards (2,017)). Hagel led a Blue Jay defense that allowed just 15 rushing yards on 22 attempts. He had a team-high eight tackles and four pass breakups, including the final two to seal the win. In all, 134 of F&M's 282 yards of total offense came on its two touchdown plays.
Harner was 16-of-37 for 267 yards with the two touchdowns. He also threw two interceptions. Boyce had a team-high six receptions for 137 yards and the one touchdown, but F&M's leading rusher managed just 10 yards on seven carries and the lack of running game led to the Blue Jays holding over a 14-minute advantage in time of possession.
Johns Hopkins, which is now 14-5 in its last 19 road games and improved to 18-2 in its last 20 games overall (first time in school history JHU has ever won 18 games in a 20-game span), will play at Gettysburg next Saturday, while the Diplomats are off next week before hosting Dickinson on October 23.
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