Sept. 16, 2010

Johns Hopkins-Gettysburg Football Notes in PDF Format

The Game: Johns Hopkins (0-1) heads to Gettysburg (1-0) for the Centennial Conference opener for both teams. The game is the second of three straight on the road to open the season for the Blue Jays.

The Teams: Johns Hopkins opened the 2010 season with a tough 41-37 loss at Randolph-Macon last Saturday. Gettysburg opened the 2010 season with a 42-28 win at Lebanon Valley on September 4. The Bullets had their bye last weekend.

For Openers: The Blue Jays are now 11-9-1 in season-openers under head coach Jim Margraff.

CC Openers: Johns Hopkins opens defense of its 2009 Centennial Conferene Championship this week at Gettysburg. The Blue Jays have been the most successful team in league history in Centennial openers as JHU is 17-10 all-time in such games. Currently, the Blue Jays have won 16 of their last 19 CC openers and are 16-4 all-time in their first Centennial Conference game of the year under head coach Jim Margraff.

One vs. Two: This week's game between Johns Hopkins and Gettysburg features the two winningest coaches in Centennial Conference history. Gettysburg's Barry Streeter counts 88 all-time CC wins to his credit, while Johns Hopkins' Jim Margraff is not far behind with 85 CC wins on his resume.

We Are the Champions: Johns Hopkins won its fifth overall Centennial Conference title in 2009, including its second outright title. JHU had never won a CC Championship prior to 2002, but has now grabbed at least a share of five of the last eight titles. The Blue Jays shared the title in 2002, 2003 and 2004 and took the title outright in 2005 and 2009.

In the Polls: Johns Hopkins is listed as receiving votes (10) in this week's d3football.com poll. The AFCA Poll for this season hasn't started yet.

Johns Hopkins closed the 2009 seson ranked eighth in the final AFCA Division III Coaches Poll, 11th in the d3football.com Poll and second in the Lambert Cup Poll. All three rankings are the highest in school history - final or otherwise. The number eight ranking in the AFCA Poll is the highest final ranking for a Centennial Conference team in the history of that poll (poll debuted in 1999). The Lambert Trophy is presented annually to the top team in the East in each of the four divisions of the NCAA (FBS, FCS, Division II, Division III).

Road Warriors: The Blue Jays posted a 6-2 record on the road last season after punching up a 4-1 record on the road in 2008. Despite last week's loss at Randolph-Macon, JHU is 14-5 since the start of the 2007 season on the road and 36-14 in its last 50 games on the road since the start of the 2001 season.

More Road Warriors: Johns Hopkins played its final four games of the 2009 season on the road (one regular season game - three NCAA Playoff games) and will open the 2010 season with three straight away from Homewood. Johns Hopkins will be one of the last teams in the nation to play a home game this season when the Blue Jays finally return to Homewood on October 2 to play Muhlenberg.

Scoring is Up: Johns Hopkins averaged 29.8 points per game last season, the highest total for a Blue Jay team since the 1968 team averaged 34.3 points. JHU picked up right where it left off a year ago in the season opener as the Blue Jays punched up 37 points against Randolph-Macon. The 37-point showing is the best for JHU in a season-opener since 1998, when the Blue Jays knocked off Washington & Lee, 43-23.

Nearly a Half Grand: Unlike Randolph-Macon, which had played its opener on September 4, the Blue Jays looked like a team playing their opener at the start of last week's game. JHU fell behind 13-0 in the opening quarter, during which they managed just 43 yards of total offense on 19 plays.

Something happened when the second quarter started - the Blue Jay offense kicked into high gear. JHU scored at least 10 points in each of the last three quarters and punched up 442 yards over the final 45 minutes to account for a 485-yard showing.

It's a Record: The 384 yards passing for Johns Hopkins against Randolph-Macon is the most ever for a JHU team in a season opener. The 384 yards also rank as the fourth-best total (as a team) in school history.

JHU Ties Victory Record: The 10 wins for the Blue Jays last season tied the school record for victories in a season. Previously, JHU had won 10 games in a season just once (2003).

Unchartered Waters: Johns Hopkins became the first Centennial Conference team to advance to the NCAA Quarterfinals since 1985 when it knocked off previously unbeaten Hampden-Sydney and Thomas More in the first two rounds of the NCAA Playoffs last season. In addition, the two road wins for the Blue Jays in the NCAAs last season matched the total number of road victories the Centennial Conference had accumulated from 1983-2008.

One of Two: Johns Hopkins was one of just two teams in the nation to win a pair of NCAA Playoff games on the road last season. The Blue Jays won at #14 Hampden-Sydney in the first round and at #10 Thomas More in the second round. Only Albright, which won in the first two rounds on the road as well, also won a pair of playoff games away from home this season.

Streaking: Since the start of the 2002 season the Blue Jays sport a 63-26 (.708) record. Taking it back farther the Blue Jays are 69-29 (.704) since the start of the 2001 season and 74-34 (.685) since the beginning of the 2000 season. The 74 wins the Blue Jays amassed from 2000-09 are the most wins in a decade in school history. The previous record of 55 wins came in the 1990s. To put this in perspective, Johns Hopkins had never won more than seven games in a season prior to this decade. In the decade just completed, the Blue Jays averaged more than seven wins per season (7.4).

Seven's Heaven: Since the beginning of the 2003 season the Blue Jays are 54-17 when scoring more than seven points and 0-7 when they have been held to seven points or less.

Offensive Notes of Interest:

Quarterback - Junior QB Hewitt Tomlin was 20-of-38 for 384 yards with one touchdown and three INTs in last week's game at Randolph-Macon. The 384 yards is the second-highest total of Tomlin's career and the most ever by a JHU quarterback in a season opener.

Tomlin tied the Johns Hopkins record for career 200-yard passing games (15) last week and also moved into fifth place on JHU's career passing yards (4,873) and pass attempts (703) lists. He also ranks fourth in career completions (412) and tied for seventh in TD passes (27). In addition, he also became just the fourth player in school history to go over 5,000 yards in total offense (5,002).

Running Back - Sophomore Jonathan Rigaud made the first start of his career at running back last week at Randolph-Macon and totaled 116 all-purpose yards. He totaled 88 yards rushing and two touchdowns (4, 48) and added a 28-yard reception. Junior Nick Fazio handled most of the short-yardage responsibiliites and added 27 yards and one touchdown. The duo is sharing the job of replacing 2009 Centennial Offenisve Player of the Year Andrew Kase, who took his nearly 4,500 rushing yards and 51 career TDs with him when he graduated last spring.

Wide Receiver - Junior Sam Wernick and sophomore Scott Cremens provided a potent dual threat at wide receiver last week against Randolph-Macon as the pair combined for 10 receptions for 248 yards and one touchdown. Wernick had three receptions for 123 yards, including a 64-yard touchdown reception in the fourth quarter that gave JHU a 37-34 lead. The 64-yard TD catch was the fourth TD reception of Wernick's career that covered 60 or more yards. Cremens, who was making the first start of his career, had seven receptions for 125 yards. The two became just the eighth duo in school history to amass 100 receiving or more receiving yards in one game.

Senior Tucker Michels (4-58-0) and freshman Daniel Wodicka (2-37-0) also figured into a passing game that accounted for 384 yards. Michels ranks fifth in school history in receptions (145) and eighth in receiving yards (1,720).

Offensive Line - The Blue Jay offensive line lost three starters and four regulars from last season's squad, but played a key role in the 37-point, 485-yard showing at Randolph-Macon. Senior Ryan Lino (G) and junior Ed Rodger (C) are the lone returning starters and anchored the unit against the Yellow Jackets. Joining Lino and Rodger in the starting lineup were juniors Roland Massimino (T) and Doug Drummond (G) and sophomore Sean Reeder (T). The group did not allow a sack on 38 pass attempts against RMC.

Defensive Notes of Interest

Defensive Line - One of the hardest hit areas by graduation on the team was the defensive line, where only senior co-captain Devin Collins returns from last season. Collins posted three tackles in the game at Randolph-Macon. In addition, juniors Dan Keenan and Brian Peters and sophomore Jordan Randolph all contributed three tackles as well. Peters counted 1.5 tackles for losses among his three stops.

Linebackers - Juniors Kale Sweeney (OLB) and Ryan Piatek (ILB) led the Blue Jay defense last week at RMC as Sweeney posted a team-high nine tackles, while Piatek added eight stops and an interception. Also contributing at linebacker were classmate Tyler Brown, who had six tackles, and sophomore Adam Schweyer, who didn't start, but posted five stops.

Defensive Backs - Junior Michael Milano led the Blue Jays with 84 tackles a year ago picked up right where he left off a year ago as he was in on six tackles, including one for a loss, and added two pass breakups from his safety spot at RMC. Classmate Sam Eagleson (CB) added four tackles, an intercpetion and one pass breakup. Junior John Gardus (CB) and senior D.J. Hartigan (CB), who both switched to cornerback from wide receiver late in preseason camp, added six and three tackles, respecitively. Sophomore Alex Logue got the start at the CB spot opposite Eagleson and was in on three stops as well.

• The Blue Jays got interceptions from juniors Ryan Piatek and Sam Eagleson last week at Randolph-Macon. Johns Hopkins forced two or more turnvoers in all 13 games last season and has forced two or more in each of the last 15 games dating back to 2008.

Special Teams Notes of Interest

• Senior Alex Lachman hit 4-of-5 extra points and nailed a 37-yard field goal last week at Randolph-Macon. Lachman is already JHU's career leader in kick-scoring (207 points) and extra points made (102) and attempted (110). His field goal against the Yellow Jackets was the 35th of his career - a total that ranks second in Johns Hopkins and Centennial Conference history.

• Junior Sam Wernick had five kickoff returns for 108 yards in the game at Randolph-Macon. He also tied his career long with a 36-yard return. Wernick's 108 kickoff return yards at RMC improved his career total to 563, which moved him from 13th to 10th on JHU's career list.

• Senior Tucker Michels had one punt return for 17 yards at Randolph-Macon. He now ranks ninth in school history with 255 career punt return yards.