Oct. 1, 2009

Johns Hopkins-Muhlenberg Football Notes in PDF Format

The Game: Johns Hopkins (3-1, 2-0 Centennial) hits the road for the first time since the season-opener as the Blue Jays travel to Allentown, PA for a key Centennial Conference game against two-time defending league champion Muhlenberg (1-2, 0-1 CC).

Last Week: Johns Hopkins picked up its third straight win and eighth in its last nine regular season games with a 27-0 victory over Moravian. One week removed from a 17-7 win over then 22nd-ranked Union, Muhlenberg dropped a 20-3 decision at Gettsburg last Satuday.

Poll Position: Johns Hopkins is listed as receiving votes in this week's AFCA Division III Coaches' Poll (11 points). JHU received 23 points in last week's poll, which was the first of the 2009 season. Since the formation of the AFCA Poll in 1999, there have been 107 weekly polls. Johns Hopkins has been ranked in the top 25 for a total of 17 weeks and been listed as receiving votes 33 times (including this week) for 50 total appearances in the 107 weekly polls.

The Coaches: Johns Hopkins is coached by Jim Margraff `82, who is in his 20th season as the head coach at Homewood. Margraff is JHU's all-time leader in games won (122) and coached (198) and enters this week's game with a career record of 122-73-3 (.624). He has more than twice as many wins as any other coach in school history (Ray Van Orman is second with 60 wins). Muhlenberg is coached by Mike Donnelly, who enters this week's game against Johns Hopkins with an all-time record of 82-49 (.626) in 13 seasons with the Mules.

Captain, My Captain: In a vote of the returning players on the 2009 team, seniors Andrew Kase, Tim Miller, Glenn Rocca and Colin Wixted were selected as captains for the season. Kase is in his second season as a captain, while this is the first year as a captain for Miller, Rocca and Wixted.

Homecoming: Johns Hopkins celebrates Homecoming in the spring as part of festivities surrounding a home men's lacrosse game. That's not to say that the Blue Jay football team doesn't enjoy Homecoming. In fact, this week's game at Muhlenberg is the first of three straight road games Johns Hopkins will play that is the Homecoming game for its opponent (Muhlenberg - Dickinson - Juniata).

Home(wood) Field Advantage: Johns Hopkins improved to 7-2 at Homewood Field since the start of the 2008 season with last week's win over Moravian.

More Home(wood) Field Advantage: JHU improved its record to 41 games over .500 in Centennial Conference home games under Jim Margraff with last week's win over Moravian. The Blue Jays are now 70-29-1 (.705) in CC games at Homewood under Margraff.

Road Warriors: The Blue Jays posted a 4-1 record on the road last season and JHU is 8-3 since the start of the 2007 season on the road. JHU is 30-12 on the road since the start of the 2001 season.

Escape Artists: Johns Hopkins used a one-yard touchdown run by Andrew Kase with 49 seconds remaining to pull out the 35-31 win over Randolph-Macon on September 12. It's the first time Johns Hopkins has won a game in the final minute since October 6, 2007, when Alex Lachman nailed a 40-yard field goal as time expired to lift the Blue Jays past Dickinson, 20-17.

Streaking: Since the start of the 2002 season the Blue Jays sport a 56-23 (.709) record. Taking it back farther the Blue Jays are 62-26 (.705) since the start of the 2001 season and 67-31 (.684) since the beginning of the 2000 season. The 67 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.

200 and 200: Johns Hopkins totaled 216 rushing yards and 243 passing yards in a 41-23 win over Gettysburg on September 18. That effort marked the 24th time since 1955 that JHU has totaled 200 or more yards rushing and passing in the same game. Exactly half of those 24 have come since Jim Margraff took over as the Blue Jays' coach in 1990. JHU is 10-2 when rushing and passing for 200 or more yards under Margraff and 22-2 overall in such games.

Kase Climbing: Johns Hopkins senior running back Andrew Kase rushed 21 times for 90 yards and one touchdown before sitting out the final quarter of last week's win over Moravian. Kase has rushed for 447 yards (111.8/game) and six touchdowns and has seven receptions for 80 yards and one TD. He ranks third in the Centennial Conference in rushing and scoring (10.5 ppg) and sixth in all-purpose yards (131.8). Among his many records, he holds JHU career marks for rushing yards (3,401), rushing touchdowns (28) and 100-yard rushing games (18) and ranks ninth in Centennial Conference history in rushing yards and tied for sixth in 100-yard rushing games. Kase has rushed for more than 180 yards six times in his career. No other player in school history has done this more than three times.

Tomlin Rolling: Sophomore quarterback Hewitt Tomlin continued his impressive early-season showing last week as he was 18-of-27 for 227 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions against Moravian. He also rushed six times for 36 yards. Tomlin is now 80-of-117 (.684) for 839 yards with six touchdowns and three INTs in four games. In the pass-happy Centennial Conference, Tomlin ranks second in completion percentage, third in pass efficiency rating (140.4), fourth in passing yards per game (209.8) and fifth in total offense (225.5).

Crowley Emerging: Junior Dan Crowley came to Johns Hopkins as a quarterback and spent his freshman year as a backup. Just prior to the start of the 2008 season, he made the move to wide receiver and he is quickly emerging as one of the top threats in the Centennial Conference. Crowley currently leads the Blue Jays with 17 receptions for 318 yards with three touchdowns. His 18.7 yards per reception is seven yards higher than anyone else on the team and he enjoyed the finest game of his career last week against Moravian with six receptions for 124 yards and two touchdowns. Crowley currenly ranks sixth in the Centennial Conference in receiving yards per game (79.5) and 10th in receptions per game (4.25). In addition, his 18.7 yards per reception is the highest among all players in the league with 15 or more receptions.

Leading the Way: Johns Hopkins ranks fourth in the Centennial Conference in scoring offense (27.5), passing offense (212.0) and total offense (375.0) and third in rushing offense (163.0). While the players who carry, throw and catch the ball get most of the attention, the Blue Jay offense is led in large part by a seasoned offensive line. Seniors Mike Stoffel, Tim Miller and Anthony Catanzano, junior Ryan Lino and sophomore Doug Drummond are the primary starters on the line, with senior John Fox and sophomore Ed Rodger also seeing action early in the season. The unit has allowed just one sack on 121 pass attempts this season.

Lachman Third in Field Goals, Kick-Scoring: Junior Alex Lachman continues to inch up in the Johns Hopkins record book. He now ranks third in career field goals (22) and career points by a kicker (133) after hitting 2-of-3 field goals and all three of his extra points last week. He is tied for first this week in the Centennial Conference in points per game by a kicker (6.5) and field goals per game (1.0).

Sophomore Sensations: A year ago, the Blue Jay offense was led primarily by players who are back this season. In fact, 4,122 of the Blue Jays' 4,158 yards of total offense and all 34 of JHU's offensive touchdowns last season were accumulated by players who returned this year. Fast forward to 2009 and it's the defense being led by non-seniors - specifically, the Blue Jays are being led by members of the sophomore class. A quick glance at the JHU tackle charts reveals that the top two tacklers and five of the top seven on the team are all sophomores. Sophomore Mike Milano currently leads the Blue Jays in tackles with 35 and is followed closely by classmate Tyler Brown, who ranks second with 28. In addition, sophomores Ryan Piatek and Kale Sweeney are tied for foruth on the team wtih 21 tackles, while Sam Eagleson ranks seventh with 19.

In the Zone: Johns Hopkins has scored on 14-of-16 trips to the red zone this season and 10 of those 14 scores are touchdowns. Unfortunately for the Blue Jays, the opposition is 11-of-11 on trips to the `zone this season with eight touchdowns and three field goals.

Seven's Heaven: Since the beginning of the 2003 season the Blue Jays are 47-15 when scoring more than seven points and 0-6 when they have been held to seven points or less.

It's All Academic: Johns Hopkins had three players named to the 2008 ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District Team. Current senior Steve Levinson (DL) was named to the first team, while classmates Mike Stoffel (OL) and Anthony Catanzano (OL) garnered second team honors. Johns Hopkins has earned 29 CoSIDA Academic All-District selections since 2003. JHU's 29 selections in that time are the same number the other CC football-playing schools have combined for (29). Taking it back even farther, Johns Hopkins has earned 55 CoSIDA Academic All-District selections since 1991. During that time the other CC football-playing schools have combined for 59 selections. Johns Hopkins has had at least three players earn CoSIDA Academic All-District honors every year since 2001.

- 30 -