Oct. 8, 2005

Final Stats

BALTIMORE, MD - Senior running back T.J. Lyons (Paramus, NJ/Paramus) rushed for 149 yards and one touchdown to become the sixth Johns Hopkins player to top 2,000 career rushing yards and the 22nd-ranked Johns Hopkins football team out-rushed visiting Franklin & Marshall, 240-60 as the Blue Jays knocked off the Diplomats, 19-7, in a torrential downpour at Homewood Field. The Blue Jays improve to 5-0 overall and 2-0 in the Centennial Conference with their ninth straight win overall and their ninth straight win over the Diplomats, while F&M had its two-game winning streak snapped and falls to 2-3, 1-1.

The win was also the 99th for Johns Hopkins head coach Jim Margraff. Margraff, who is 99-55-3 (.640) in 16 years at Hopkins and the all-time winning coach in school history, will go for career victory 100 next Friday night when the Blue Jays host Gettysburg.

The second-longest run of Lyons' career, a 58-yarder on Hopkins' first play of the game from its own 14-yard line, jump-started a quick five-play, 67-yard drive that junior Ben Scott (Pittsburgh, PA/Shady Side Academy) capped with a 36-yard field goal to give the Blue Jays a 3-0 lead less than seven minutes into the game. As it turned out, the Blue Jays would never surrender the lead.

After forcing a quick Diplomat punt on their ensuing possession the Blue Jays put together an impressive touchdown drive that saw them convert three times on third down. The Blue Jays used seven rushing plays, including a 10-yard scramble by senior quarterback Zach DiIonno (West Caldwell, NJ/James Caldwell) on a third-and-nine, to move the ball to the F&M six-yard line. From there, on third-and-six, DiIonno hit junior running back Mark Nesbitt (Gibsonia, PA/Hampton) on a six-yard crossing pattern and Nesbitt out-raced the defense to the corner for the team's first touchdown pass of the season. The extra-point was blocked to make it 9-0.

After the team's traded possessions, and interceptions, the Diplomats took over on their own 23-yard line and drove 77 yards in nine plays for their only score of the day. Senior quarterback Jeff Harner's (Mohrsville, PA/Schuylkill Valley) 52-yard completion to Matt Mondonedo (Silver Spring, MD/James Hubert Blake) on second-and-10 from the Diplomat 45-yard line setup a first-and-goal at the Blue Jay three-yard line. Three plays later Harner scored on a quarterback sneak to pull the Diplomats to within two at 9-7.

With a steady rain becoming heavier in the third quarter neither team was able to move the ball on offense. After the Blue Jays gained 41 yards on six plays to open the third quarter neither team could do anything except punt until the Blue Jays capitalized on an F&M fumble late in the period. Sophomore Patrick Kay (Marietta, GA/Walton) recovered the Diplomat fumble at the F&M 19-yard line and Scott connected from 30 yards out four plays later to give the Blue Jays some breathing room, 12-7.

Still just one play away from falling behind, the Blue Jays came up with another fumble recovery early in the fourth quarter when junior Brian Cook (New Freedom, PA/Susquehannock) recovered a Marc Patricelli (Milmont Park, PA/Roman Catholic) fumble at the Franklin & Marshall 16-yard line. Lyons rushed for eight yards on first down and fought his way through traffic on second and two from the Diplomat eight-yard line for the insurance touchdown that gave the Blue Jays what proved to be an insurmountable 19-7 lead. F&M managed just 31 yards of total offense in the second half until its final drive of the game, when the Diplomats moved the ball 55 yards on nine plays before the Blue Jay defense forced four straight incompletions to seal the victory with just under one minute remaining in regulation.

Lyons, who rushed for 173 yards in a 20-14 win over Franklin & Marshall last season, improved his career total to 2,024 yards and moved into sixth-place on JHU's career rushing list with his 149-yard effort. The 149 yards are the third-best total of his career. Relying almost exclusively on the run in terrible weather conditions (the Blue Jays passed just 11 times in the game), the Blue Jays also got 52 yards rushing, 94 all-purpose yards and the one touchdown reception from Nesbitt.

The Johns Hopkins defense, which entered the game ranked first in the Centennial Conference in every statistical category, was solid throughout as the Diplomats gained just 60 yards on 40 rushing attempts and 186 yards of total offense. Patricelli gained 51 yards on 21 carries and Harner was 9-of-19 for 126 yards, but the Diplomats converted just 3-of-13 third-down opportunities and turned the ball over three times in suffering their fifth straight loss at Homewood Field.

Senior linebacker Adam Luke (Teague, TX/Teague) led the Blue Jays with a career-high 16 tackles, while senior Mike Aynardi (Wyomissing, PA/Wilson) added eight tackles, including one for a loss, and one pass breakup. The Blue Jay defense has allowed just 34 points in five games and is surrendering just 209 yards per game.

The win for the Blue Jays sets up a showdown for first place in the Centennial Conference next Friday night at Homewood Field. Hopkins, the only team in the league still undefeated overall and the only 2-0 team in league play, will welcome Gettysburg (2-3, 1-0 CC) to Homewood. The Bullets are the only other team in the Centennial without a league loss after they knocked off McDaniel, 20-17 earlier today.