Sept. 17, 2005

Box Score

PITTSBURGH, PA -- Junior place-kicker Ben Scott nailed a 24-yard field goal as time expired to lift Johns Hopkins (3-0) to a 9-6 win over host Carnegie Mellon at Gesling Stadium Saturday afternoon. This is the second time in three games Scott has lifted the Blue Jays to a win in the final seconds of regulation.

Carnegie Mellon drove 39 yards in six plays and got a career-long 39-yard field goal from Nate Greenstein with 1:53 remaining in the fourth quarter to tie the game at 6-6. Senior quarterback Zach DiIonno then directed the two-minute offense to perfection as the Blue Jays took over at their 27-yard line and drove 65 yards in 11 plays to the Tartan eight-yard line to setup Scott's game-winner.

The Blue Jays converted a pair of third-downs on the game-winning drive, including a third-and-six from the CMU 24 when DiIonno hit sophomore Corey Sattler down the middle to the CMU seven-yard line with 10 seconds remaining. A T.J. Lyons rush moved the ball to the middle of the field and Scott calmly hit his school-record-tying third field goal of the game to provide the winning points.

Both defenses entered the game among the stingiest in the nation and more than lived up to their advance billing. After a scoreless opening quarter, Scott capped an 11-play, 41-yard drive with a 45-yard field goal that tied his career best (set earlier this season against Rochester). That lead held until late in the third quarter when Greenstein polished off a 37-yard drive with a 35-yard field goal of his own.

After trading possessions the Blue Jays used a 23-yard run by senior T.J. Lyons to fuel a 36-yard drive that Scott capped with a career-best 46-yard field goal. That lead held until Greenstein's kick with just under two minutes remaining, which set the stage for Scott's late-game heroics.

Scott's three field goals give him seven in three games this season, including three from 45 yards or longer. He also averaged 39.5 yards on his eight punts in the game.

DiIonno was 21-of-36 for 166 yards and Lyons rushed for 62 yards on 12 carries to lead a JHU offense that generated 264 yards in the game. Sattler had a career-high eight receptions for 66 yards and Brian Cook, Brian Nickel, Adam Luke and Mike Barrasso all had eight tackles to lead a JHU defense that held CMU to 276 yards of total offense.

Travis Sievek rushed for a game-high 115 yards to lead a Tartan ground game that generated 195 yards. However, quarterback Kevin Mulkern was just 7-of-16 for 81 yards and Zach Rosswog came up with a third-quarter interception inside the Blue Jay 10-yard line to kill CMU's best threat of the game.

Johns Hopkins, which has allowed just 13 points in three games this season (the fewest in the first three games of a season since 1960, when JHU allowed just 12 points in the first three games), pushed its winning streak in the month of September to 14 games and its non-conference winning streak to 13 games. The Blue Jays have also won seven straight overall, seven straight on the road and fourth straight against Carnegie Mellon.

Johns Hopkins will return to action on October 1 at Dickinson in the Centennial Conference opener for both teams.