Nov. 10, 2007

Box Score

WESTMINSTER, MD - In the 86th meeting in football between Johns Hopkins and McDaniel Saturday afternoon, it was a senior who set the tone and a sophomore who stole the show as the Blue Jays rolled to a 31-3 victory at Bair Stadium Saturday afternoon. Hopkins ends the season at 4-6 overall and 3-5 in the Centennial, while the Green Terror finish at 1-9 overall and 1-7 in the Centennial. The win is also the seventh straight for the Blue Jays against their long-time rivals.

Playing in the final game of his career, senior Richard Hill (Huntington Station, NY/St. Anthony's) needed just 14 seconds to put the Blue Jays ahead for good as he returned the opening kickoff 90 yards for a touchdown. The kickoff return was the first-ever for Hill in his four-year career at Hopkins and the first returned for a touchdown by a Johns Hopkins player since Harrison Bernstein took one back 95 yards for a touchdown against Kings Point on September 25, 1999.

From there, Hill and the Blue Jays turned the game over to sophomore running back Andrew Kase (Wyomissing, PA/Wyomissing), who rushed 35 times for a career-high 227 yards and one touchdown. Kase led a Hopkins offense that generated 380 yards and held the ball for nearly 34 minutes.

Kase fueled Hopkins' first offensive possession as he carried eight times for 66 yards, added one reception for seven yards and polished off a 14-play, 92-yard drive with a four-yard touchdown run to give the Blue Jays a 14-0 lead with just over four minutes remaining in the first quarter.

The 14-0 lead held until the first play of the second quarter, when another Blue Jay senior playing in his final game found the end zone. Faced with a second-and-nine from his own 16, McDaniel quarterback Tom Wenrich (Wernersville, PA/Conrad Weiser) rolled to his right and threw late to the sideline, where senior Adam Winter (Berwick, PA/Berwick) stepped in front of the pass at the 12-yard line and tip-toed down the sidelines for a touchdown to make it 21-0.

Kase, who finished the first half with 152 yards (just 11 shy of his previous career-high), helped the Blue Jays milk more than nine minutes off the clock in the third quarter as he added 60 yards in the quarter to push his total to 212 entering the final period. The Blue Jays pushed their lead to 28-0 late in the period when freshman Max Islinger (Furlong, PA/Central Bucks East) connected with classmate Tucker Michels (Allendale, NK/Northern Highlands) for an 18-yard touchdown with 1:49 remaining in the period.

Kase needed just one carry in the fourth quarter to push his season total over 1,000 as an eight-yard carry from the McDaniel 24 gave him 1,002 and set up a 30-yard field goal by freshman Alex Lachman (Livingston, NJ/Livingston). Kase added seven more yards before sitting out the final 10 minutes of the game.

McDaniel avoided the shutout one drive after Lachman's field goal made it 31-0 when Wenrich directed an 11-play, 60-yard drive that was capped by a 28-yard field by Jay Leonard (Westminster, PA/Westminster).

Kase's 227-yard effort ranks as the fourth-best single-game total in school history and marks his sixth 100-yard game of the season, which ties the JHU record for most 100-yard games in a season. In addition, his effort improved his season rushing total to 1,009 yards , which ranks as the second-highest total in school history.

Islinger made the first start of his career and was 8-of-20 for 118 yards with the one touchdown and one interception. Senior Corey Sattler (Monroeville, PA/Gateway) was his favorite target as he totaled 101 yards one six receptions.

The Blue Jay defense held McDaniel to just 193 yards of total offense, including just 52 yards on the ground. Dan Requena (Fairlawn, NJ/Fairlawn) and Ryan Johnstin (Hoffman Estates, IL/Loyola Academy) joined Winter with interceptions in the last game of their career and classmate Zach Rosswog (Mars, PA/Mars) added a team-high eight tackles in his final outing.

Wenrich was 22-of-49 for 141 yards with the three interceptions, while Eric Zwilsky (Knoxville, MD/Brunswick) rushed six times for a team-high 41 yards. Bryan Letourneau (Damascus, MD/Damascus) posted a game-high 15 tackles to lead the way defensively for the Terror.

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