Nov. 14, 2009

Box Score

WESTMIINSTER, MD - There was only one way the Johns Hopkins football team could grab the Centennial Conference's automatic bid to the upcoming NCAA Playoffs entering Saturday's game at long-time rival McDaniel: beat the Green Terror. While the Blue Jays could still earn a share of the CC title with a loss, any hopes of earning a bid to the playoffs hinged directly on a victory.

The Blue Jays (8-2, 7-1 Centennial) not only punched their ticket to the NCAAs with a 38-14 win over the Green Terror, they grabbed the outright Centennial Conference Championship with Dickinson's 35-32 loss to Ursinus on Saturday. The playoff appearance will be the second for Johns Hopkins, while the CC title is the fifth since 2002.

While the Blue Jays never appeared in danger of losing on Saturday, they couldn't quite put the pesky Green Terror (5-5, 3-5 CC) away until the fourth quarter either.

Leading 21-7 early in the fourth quarter, Johns Hopkins needed exactly four plays and 60 seconds to go 44 yards to effectively put the game away. A 16-yard run by freshman Jonathan Rigaud and a 22-yard pass from sophomore Hewitt Tomlin to classmate Sam Wernick set the Blue Jays up inside the Green Terror 10-yard line and senior fullback Jay Adams took in from two yards out to extend the lead to 28-7.

A 21-yard field goal by junior Alex Lachman and a 42-yard interception return for a touchdown by sophomore Mike Milano extended the lead to 38-7 before the Terror got an 85-yard kickoff return for a touchdown by Matt Cahill with just over a minute to play. By then, the Blue Jays were well on their way to celebrating a championship and looking forward to next week.

The bracket for the 2009 NCAA Division III Tournament will be announced on Sunday at approximately 3 pm on ESPN News.

The Blue Jays jumped to an early 7-0 lead as they took the opening kickoff and used 12 plays and just over four minutes to go 65 yards for the opening score. Hopkins converted all three of its third-down chances in the drive, which was capped with a 10-yard touchdown pass from Tomlin to freshman Scott Cremens. The score was the first of Cremens' career and came on a good individual effort at the goal line as he fought through a would-be tackler and stretched for the end zone to convert one of the three third-down opportunities on the drive.

The Green Terror picked up a big third-down conversion of its own in the final seconds of the first quarter as sophomore Thomas Massucci froze the Blue Jay defense with a great play fake on third-and-one at the McDaniel 45 and found Cahill in stride 15 yards behind the defense for a 55-yard scoring play with 13 seconds remaining in the opening quarter to make it 7-7.

The Johns Hopkins defense entered the game with a league-high19 interceptions and it was a Ryan Piatek pick early in the second quarter that set up JHU's go-ahead score. Piatek intercepted Massucci at the McDaniel 23 and returned it 11 yards to the 12. Three Andrew Kase runs later and the Blue Jays had increased their lead to 14-7.

Johns Hopkins, which had been guilty of a roughing the punter call early in the game, made the Green Terror pay for the same mistake late in the second quarter. The Terror forced a Blue Jay punt from the end zone, but were flagged for roughing junior Max Islinger. Hopkins took full advantage with Tomlin doing most of the damage through the air as he was 7-for-11 on the drive and connected with junior Tucker Michels from 13 yards out to cap the 14-play, 98-yard scoring drive. Michels had four receptions for 48 yards on the drive and out-raced a defender to the pylon after taking a quick pass from Tomlin right off the line.

The 21-7 halftime lead held through the third quarter and early into the fourth before Adams' touchdown ignited the 17-point spree that clinched the playoff berth.

Tomlin rang up his second career 300-yard passing game as he was 26-of-45 for 301 yards with the two touchdowns and two interceptions. Michels was his favorite target as he matched his career-high with 10 receptions for a personal-best 142 yards with the one score. Kase added 93 yards and the one touchdown and junior Dan Crowley added nine receptions for 88 yards to help pace a Blue Jay offense that out-gained McDaniel 425-253.

The Blue Jay defense harassed Massucci into an 8-of-26 showing for 162 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions. Cahill had four receptions for 88 yards and the one touchdown and added the one kickoff return for the 85-yard touchdown.

Notes:
? Kase tied the Centennial Conference single-season record for rushing touchdowns with his 19th.
? Tomlin became just the second Johns Hopkins quarterback to throw for 2,000 or more yards in a season as he now has 2,086.
? Tomlin tied the Johns Hopkins single-season record with his seventh 200-yard passing game of the year.
? JHU set a single-season record for points scored as the Blue Jays now have 334 on the year. The previous record of 315 was set in 2003.
? JHU tied the school record for rushing touchdowns in a season with 25.
? Lachman became just the third player in Centennial Conference history with 30 career field goals.
? The Blue Jays have scored 38 or more points in three straight games for the first time in school history.
? Sophomore Sam Wernick became the 16th player in school history to reach 1,000 career receiving yards as he now has 1,002 after totaling four receptions fro 43 yards.

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