Dec. 5, 2009

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DOVER, DE - The Johns Hopkins football team had its stunning run through the 2009 NCAA Division III Football Playoffs stopped in an icy rain at third-ranked Wesley Saturday afternoon as the Wolverines capitalized on a failed fake punt and a blocked punt to slip past the Blue Jays, 12-0, Saturday afternoon. The Wolverines, who will play defending national champion Mount Union in next week's semifinals, improve to 13-0 with the win, while the Blue Jays had their five-game winning streak snapped and end the year at 10-3.

After batting through a scoreless first quarter, the Blue Jays took over deep in the their own territory and appeared to have moved the ball out to their own 40 on a 16-yard completion from sophomore Hewitt Tomlin to junior Tucker Michels. An ineligible man down field penalty wiped out the play and the Blue Jays were forced to punt two plays later.

Hoping to catch the Wolverines off guard, the Blue Jays attempted a fake, which was snuffed out quickly and senior Mike Murray was dropped for a six-yard loss to set the Wolverines up at the JHU 22.

Five straight rushes by Aaron Jackson were all the Wolverines needed to strike first as Jackson eventually punched home the game-opening touchdown on a four-yard run. The extra point was no good and Wesley led 6-0.

"We were playing into a strong wind in the second quarter and even if we punt it there they are probably in four-down territory and we thought we would try to catch them," Johns Hopkins head coach Jim Margraff noted of the fake punt."

The Blue Jay defense, which held the Wolverines more than 25 points and 100 yards below their season averages, hung tough, but the JHU offense never got rolling against a Wolverine defense that entered the game allowing just over 11 points per game.

Twice in the first half the Blue Jays had the ball in Wesley territory, only to be forced to punt. Hopkins dodged a bullet early in the game when Collin Blugis missed a 37-yard field goal, but it would be another JHU special teams miscue that led to Wesley's second touchdown early in the second half.

After Mike Mahon scooped up a Wesley fumble and returned it 29 yards to the Wesley 43, the Blue Jay offense lost six yards on three plays and was forced into a punting situation. The Wolverines' Aaron Benson got free on the rush and stuffed Max Islinger's attempt back towards the JHU goal line. He recovered it at the JHU 28 and the Wolverines went to work.

Again Wesley needed just five plays as the Wolverines worked their way to a third-and-goal from the JHU four-yard line, where senior quarterback Shane McSweeny swept around left end to make it 12-0. The two-point pass attempt by Ellis Krout failed.

Johns Hopkins had just one solid scoring chance in the final 20 minutes as an interception by senior Colin Wixted set the Blue Jays up at the Wesley 48.

A spectacular leaping catch by Michels at the Wesley 19 on a third-and 19 moved the Blue Jays into the red zone and they were down to the 12 a short time later, but a crucial delay of game penalty on fourth-and-one at the 10 moved them back five yards and Tomlin's pass to junior Dan Crowley down at the two-yard line fell incomplete with 8:46 remaining.

Although they didn't score, the Wolverines milked more than six minutes off the clock before turning the ball over on downs with just over two minutes remaining. The Blue Jays failed to pick up a first down and Wesley took a knee three times to bring the greatest season in Johns Hopkins history to a close and move the Wolverines into the national semifinals for the third time in five years.

"I thought our defense was spectacular today," Margraff noted. "But we needed a clean game today and we made some mistakes on offense and on special teams. At the same time, Wesley has an outstanding team. You can't give them short fields and they made us pay for it twice."

McSweeny was 10-of-17 for 167 yards with two interceptions, while Jackson was one of three Wolverines with more than 50 yards rushing as he rushed 20 times for 63 yards and the one score. The Wolverine defense held Johns Hopkins to just 136 yards of total offense and the Blue Jays were held scoreless for the first time since the last game of the 1998 season.

Johns Hopkins senior Andrew Kase closed his illustrious career with 53 yards on 13 carries and Michels had four receptions for 54 yards. Kase totaled 62 all-purpose yards to become the sixth player in Centennial Conference history to reach 5,000 all-purpose yards. He ends his career with 5,025 career all-purpose yards.

Sophomore Mike Milano led the Blue Jay defense with 12 tackles, while classmate Ryan Piatek added 10. Wixted posted nine tackles, including a sack, and added the interception in his final game at Johns Hopkins.

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