Sept. 18, 2009

Box Score

BALTIMORE, MD - Johns Hopkins senior running back Andrew Kase rushed for 183 yards and three touchdowns and sophomore quarterback Hewitt Tomlin threw for 243 yards and one touchdown and also rushed for a score to lead host Johns Hopkins past Gettysburg, 41-23, at Homewood Field Friday evening. The win is JHU's 13th in its last 15 games against the Bullets and improves the Blue Jays' record to 2-1 overall and 1-0 in the Centennial Conference. Gettysburg, which was held more than 19 points and 200 yards under its season averages entering the game, slips to 0-3 overall and 0-1 in the Centennial.

After junior Alex Lachman opened the scoring with a 32-yard field goal, the Blue Jays scored touchdowns on five straight possessions to take a commanding 38-3 lead early in the third quarter.

Kase book-ended the scoring spree with a one-yard touchdown run after Lachman's opening field goal and added a two-yard scoring run late in the second quarter and a 10-yard run early in the third. In between, Tomlin added an eight-yard touchdown run on a perfectly executed option keeper that made it 17-0 early in the second quarter and later fired a 54-yard touchdown pass to junior Dan Crowley to make it 24-3 with just over two minutes remaining in the first half. Kase added his two touchdowns on JHU's two ensuing possessions to give the Blue Jays their largest lead of the game at 38-3.

Gettysburg went to the two-minute offense for most of the second half and managed three touchdowns in the final 23 minutes. A two-yard run by Matt Flynn and a 13-yard pass form Flynn to A.J. Perrotti late in the third quarter sliced the deficit to 38-17 at the end of the third quarter.

The Blue Jays put the game away for good with a 15-play, 69-yard drive that took nearly seven minutes off the clock in the fourth quarter. A 33-yard Lachman field goal capped the drive and pushed the lead to 41-17 with just over eight minutes remaining. A two-yard run by Gettysburg's Jamel Mutunga closed the scoring two minutes later.

Kase's three touchdowns on the night pushed his career rushing touchdown total to 27, which breaks the previous Johns Hopkins record of 25. In addition, his 183 rushing yards improve his career total to 3,311, which moves him into ninth place on the Centennial Conference's career rushing list.

Tomlin was 20-of-29 for the 243 yards and one touchdown against one interception. He added the one rushing touchdown and extended his streak of consecutive passes thrown without an interception to 138 before Gettysburg's Joe Delaney picked him off late in the third quarter.

Gettysburg, which entered the game averaging 42.5 points and 566.5 yards per game, was led by Mutunga and Flynn, who accounted for 284 of the Bullets' 361 yards of total offense. Mutunga rushed for 131 yards and one touchdown, while Flynn threw for 153 yards with the one touchdown rushing and passing.

However, it was a pair of Flynn interceptions on the Bullets' first two drives that stalled the offense and ignited the Blue Jays, who turned the two picks into 10 points. Glenn Rocca's first career interception halted the opening drive of the game and led to Lachman's first field goal, while a Sam Eagleson interception and return of 43 yards set up the first of Kase's three touchdowns and gave the Blue Jays a 10-0 lead less than 10 minutes into the game.

Johns Hopkins will return to action on Saturday, September 26 when the Blue Jays host Moravian. The Bullets will host Muhlenberg on the same day.

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