Oct. 13, 2007

Box Score

BALTIMORE, MD - Junior Nicholas Dye (Glenside, PA/Cheltenham) came off the bench and directed a pair of fourth-quarter scoring drives to lead visiting Ursinus to a 17-10 come-from-behind win over host Johns Hopkins at Homewood Field Saturday afternoon. The Bears, who won their third straight against the Blue Jays, improve to 5-1 overall and 3-1 in the Centennial Conference, while the Blue Jays slip to 2-5 overall and 1-4 in the Centennial.

Ursinus trailed 10-7 early in the fourth quarter before turning the game with a sack of Johns Hopkins quarterback Mike Murray (Ijamsivlle, MD/Urbana) on fourth-and-two at the Bear 34-yard line. Nine plays later the game was tied as Dye replaced an ineffective Matt McHugh (Chadds Ford, PA/Garnet Valley) and promptly led the Bears into scoring position. Sophomore Aaron Harper (Phladelphia, PA/Peddie School) totaled 18 yards on two carries and Dye later hit Shea Wisler (Green Lane, PA/Upper Perkiomen) on a 22-yard pass down the middle to give the Bears a first-and-goal at the JHU eight-yard line. The Blue Jay defense held Ursinus out of the end zone, but Erich Wolf (Avalon, NJ/Middle Township) drilled a 22-yard field goal with 9:19 remaining to tie the game at 10-10.

Murray directed a nifty drive on Hopkins' ensuing possession, moving the Blue Jays from their own 40 to the Ursinus 28 before JHU turned the ball over on downs. Murray connected with three different receivers on the drive and scrambled for 13 yards on a second-and-18, but back-to-back incompletions on third and fourth down from the Ursinus 28 turned the ball over the Dye took over from there with 3:51 to play.

Dye bookened the first six plays of the drive with completions of 17 and 22 yards to Harper and added a 14-yard rush of his own to move the ball to the Hopkins 11. Faced with a third-and-six from the 11, he hit Jesse Ordonio (Wayne, PA/Radnor) in the back of the end zone for what proved to be the game-winning touchdown with 1:54 on the clock.

Hopkins took over at its 35 with 1:47 remaining and Murray moved the Blue Jays down to the Ursinus 30-yard line with less than 20 seconds to play, but his attempt on third-and-four was intercepted by DeVohn Butler (Swedesboro, NJ/Saint Augustine Prep) and Dye took a knee to finish off UC's second straight victory.

A defensive first half ended with Ursinus leading 7-0 as Harper polished off an eight-play, 39-yard drive with a two-yard scoring run late in the second quarter. The Blue Jays dodged a bullet on the previous Ursinus possession as McHugh appeared to be heading for a touchdown before fumbling the ball out of the end zone from the Hopkins one-yard line. Harper made up for that just over three minutes later with his scoring run.

The McHugh fumble looked like it might come back to haunt the Bears as Hopkins took the opening possession of the second half and went 63 yards on nine plays with Murray hitting sophomore Andrew Kase (Wyomisisng, PA/Wyomissing) on a screen pass that Kase took 16 yards for a touchdown less than three minutes into the third quarter to tie the game. Ursinus returned the ensuing kickoff down to the Hopkins 25-yard line, but Wolff missed a 20-yard field goal that would have given the Bears a 10-7 lead.

Hopkins took its only lead of the game after senior Dan Requena (Fairlawn, NJ/Fairlawn) came up with the first of his two interceptions deep in Hopkins territory and returned it to the Hopkins 34. Faced with a fourth-and-three from their own 41 four plays later, senior Zach Rosswog (Mars, PA/Mars) rushed for six yards on a fake punt and Murray hit senior Corey Sattler (Monroeville, PA/Gateway) for 40 yard down the middle on the next play to give the Blue Jays a first-and-10 at the Ursinus 13. The drive stalled and freshman Alex Lachman (Livingston, NJ/Livingston) nailed a 32-yard field goal to give Hopkins a 10-7 lead in the final minute of the third quarter. That lead held until Wolf's field goal tied it just under six minutes into the fourth quarter.

Harper finished with 140 yards rushing and two receptions for 39 yards to pace an Ursinus attack that netted 321 yards of total offense. Dye was 5-of-6 for 76 yards and the one touchdown and rushed four times for 21 yards after replacing McHugh. Brian Hrynczyszyn (Bensalem, PA/Conwell-Egan) posted a team-high 10 tackles and forced a fumble to lead an Ursinus defense that held the Blue Jays to just 239 yards.

Murray was 20-of-38 for 181 yards with the one touchdown and one interception, while Sattler had five receptions for 84 yards. The Bears did a nice job on Kase, who had entered the game with three straight 100-yard rushing games to his credit. He rushed 14 times for 39 yards and had three receptions for 31 yards and the one score. Junior Chris Baldwin (Southampton, NJ/Bishop Eustace) had a career-high seven receptions and senior Richard Hill (Huntington Station, NY/St. Anthony's) posted 10 tackles, including one for a loss. Requena had three tackles to go along with his two interceptions.

Johns Hopkins will return to action on October 27 when the Blue Jays travel to Juniata for their first meeting with the Eagles since 1929. Ursinus plays at McDaniel next Saturday.

- 30 -