Sept. 4, 2008
Johns Hopkins-St. Lawrence Football Notes in PDF Format Additional Information Available in This Format 
The Game: Johns Hopkins opens the 2008 season by hosting St. Lawrence. The Blue Jays and Saints are meeting for just the second time.
A Look Back: Johns Hopkins won two of its final three games last season to finish with a 4-6 record, including a 3-5 mark in the Centennial Conference. Five of the Blue Jays' six losses were by nine points or less, including a tough seven-point loss at league champion Muhlenberg. St. Lawrence also finished strong with wins in its final two games to complete the 2007 season with a 4-5 record.
The Coaches: Johns Hopkins is coached by Jim Margraff `82, who opens his 19th season as the head coach at Homewood with the game against St. Lawrence. Margraff is JHU's all-time leader in games won (111) and coached (183) and he enters the game with a career record of 111-69-3 (.615).
Chris Phelps is entering his eighth season as the head coach at St. Lawrence. A standout quarterback during his playing days for the Saints, Phelps has turned around the St. Lawrence football program since taking over. From 1999-2002 the Saints won exactly one game. Since then they've won 17 games and are a combined 9-9 in the last two years. That 9-9 could easily be 12-6 as three of the losses have come by seven points or less during that time.
Captain, My Captain: In vote of his teammates, junior running back Andrew Kase was selected to serve as the team captain for the Blue Jays this season. According to records in the Johns Hopkins Sports Information Office, he is the first player to serve as a solo captain for the Blue Jay football team since 1983 (Francis Mullan).
On This Date: Johns Hopkins has played just one game all-time on September 6; a 27-9 win over Rochester in 2003. Close followers of the program remember that the victory over the Yellowjackets, which was fueled by three touchdown receptions by Brian Wolcott, jump-started the greatest season in Johns Hopkins football history as the Blue Jays went on to post a 10-1 record that season.
For Openers: Johns Hopkins has won six of its last seven and nine of its last 11 season-openers and the Blue Jays are 10-7-1 in season-openers under head coach Jim Margraff. The Blue Jays are 53-62-8 (.463) on opening day since the inception of the program in 1882.
September Reign: Johns Hopkins is 21-9 in the month of Septmeber since the start of the 2000 season and 32-14 since the start of the 1995 season.
Streaking: Since the start of the 2002 season the Blue Jays sport a 45-19 (.703) record. Taking it back farther the Blue Jays are 51-22 (.699) since the start of the 2001 season and 56-27 (.675) since the begininng of the 2000 season. The 56 wins the Blue Jays have amassed this decade are already the most wins in a decade in school history. The previous record of 55 wins came in the 1990s.
In the Zone: Johns Hopkins was by far the most effective offensive team in the Centennial Conference in the red zone during the 2007 season. The Blue Jays finished the year 25-of-27 (92.6%) on the year with 17 touchdowns and eight field goals to their credit. In Centennial games the Blue Jays were a stunning 22-of-23 (.957) on trips inside the zone with 14 touchdowns and eight field goals. No other team in the Centennial converted on even 80% of its overall red zone chances.
Seven's Heaven: Since the beginning of the 2003 season the Blue Jays are 36-12 when scoring more than seven points and 0-5 when they have been held to seven points or less.
It's All Academic: Johns Hopkins has earned 26 CoSIDA Academic All-District selections since 2003. JHU's 26 selections in that time are more than the other CC football-playing schools combined (22). Taking it back even farther, Johns Hopkins has earned 52 CoSIDA Academic All-District selections since 1991. During that time the other CC football-playing schools have combined for exactly 52 selections as well.
Johns Hopkins has had at least three players earn CoSIDA Academic All-District honors every year since 2001.
Youth Shall be Served: A total of 47 players are listed on this week's depth chart for Johns Hopkins and it doesn't take long to notice that the Blue Jays may field one of the youngest teams in the Centennial Conference this season. Of the top 23 players on offense, only five are seniors, while just five of the top 22 on defense are in their final year. In addition, both returning kickers are sophomores so just 10 of the 47 players on the two-deep are seniors. The breakdown - by class - of players listed on this week's depth chart is as follows:
Seniors-10
Juniors-16
Sophomores-11
Freshmen-10
Lachman Earns Preseason Honors: Johns Hopkins sophomore place kicker Alex Lachman was named a Second Team Preseason All-American by Lindy's after establishing himself as one of the top young kickers in the nation a year ago.
In addition to earning First Team All-Centennial last season, Lachman garnered Third Team All-America honors from d3football.com.
Lachman hit 34-of-35 kicks last season as he was good on all 23 of his extra-point attempts and nailed 11-of-12 field goal attempts. His 91.7% accuracy rate on field goals tied for the national lead among players with 10 or more attempts.
Making a Kase: Junior running back Andrew Kase enters the 2008 season as one of the top returning running backs in the nation after averaging 112.1 yards per game last season.
Kase, who missed one full game and part of another, didn't take over as the Blue Jays' featured back until the fourth game of the season (Moravian) and proceeded to top the 100-yard rushing mark in six of his seven starts. He will carry a streak of three straight 100-yard games into this week's season-opener against St. Lawrence and can tie the school record for consecutive 100-yard games if he tops the century mark against the Saints.
Additional Information, including player notes of interest, included in PDF version.
