Johns Hopkins-Moravian Football Notes

The Game: Johns Hopkins (2-0, 1-0 Centennial) returns to Homewood Field and welcomes Centennial rival Moravian (2-0, 1-0) for a key early-season matchup of league unbeatens. This is the only matchup in the Centennial Conference this weekend featuring two undefeated teams.

A Look Back: Johns Hopkins improved to 2-0 on the year and ran its regular season winning streak to 13 games with a 27-20 victory at Susquehanna last Saturday. Moravian picked up its second straight win to open the season as the Greyhounds eased past McDaniel, 28-7.

Poll Position: Johns Hopkins is ranked 14th in this week's D3football.com poll. The Blue Jays earned top 20 preseason rankings in three polls. The Blue Jays were ranked 16th by the Sporting News, 8th by Lindy's College Football and 14th by D3football.com.
The first AFCA Poll of the 2014 season will be released in late September.

Centennial Openers: Johns Hopkins improved to a league-best 22-10 all-time in Centennial openers with last week's 27-20 victory at Susquehanna. Currently, the Blue Jays have won their last seven league openers.

That Took Some Digging: Johns Hopkins head coach Jim Margraff is in his 25th season at the helm of the Blue Jay football program. With last week's win at Susquehanna, the Blue Jays have posted a 23-2 record in their second game of the season under Margraff's guidance.

Sweet September: Johns Hopkins enters this week's game having won 17 straight and 20 of its last 21 games in the month of September. The only team to beat JHU in the month of September in its last 21 games? Randolph-Macon, which posted a 41-37 win over JHU on September 11, 2010.

More September: Johns Hopkins has not lost a home game in the month of September since September 22, 2007, when Moravian escaped Homewood with a 44-41 victory. Since then the Blue Jays have won 12 straight at home in September.

Cherry, Walters Lead Ground Game: It's not a surprise that the Johns Hopkins offense is relying on its potent ground game through two games. The Blue Jays are currently averaging a Centennial-best 294 yards per game on the ground and have nine rushing touchdowns in two games. In addition, Johns Hopkins is averaging a CC-best 5.5 yards per rushing attempt.
Headlining the rushing attack for the Blue Jays are sophomore Stuart Walters and junior Brandon Cherry, who have already combined for 392 yards on the year. Walters currently leads the team in rushing yards per game (108.5), while Cherry ranks fifth (87.5).
As if having Walters and Cherry, who average a combined 6.5 yards per attempt, isn't enough, Johns Hopkins head coach Jim Margraff has two other capable threats in senior quarterback Braden Anderson and sophomore running back Dionisio Roman. Anderson leads the team with four rushing touchdowns, while Roman counts three scores to his credit.
Walters is inching closer to 1,000 career rushing yards as he enters this week's game with 880. He would become the 25th player in school history to reach the 1,000-yard mark.
Cherry has jumped from 19th to 17th on JHU's career rushing list with his quick start this season as he now has 1,413 career rushing yards to his credit.

Rice Returns, Keys Victory at Susquehanna: The Blue Jays played the season opener against Randolph-Macon without their most experienced defensive back, senior Ryan Rice. Rice returned to action last week at Susquehanna and immediately made his presence felt. The Blue Jays got a pair of forced turnovers from Rice in the final six minutes to fuel the victory. Rice intercepted a pass in Susquehanna territory with 5:19 to play to end one drive and then forced a fumble at the JHU 11 with just over a minute to play that the Blue Jays recovered. Rice added six tackles in the win.

Defense Starts Strong: The Johns Hopkins defense got the season off to a good start as the Blue Jays allowed just three points, surrendered only 277 yards, notched a pair of sacks and came up with three interceptions in the win against Randolph-Macon. Through two games, the Blue Jay defense is allowing just 11.5 points and 330.5 yards per game. The opposition is averaging just 3.0 yards per rushing attempt and has converted just 11-of-33 (.333) third down opportunities.

Under 300: JHU limited Randolph-Macon to just 277 yards of total offense. Since the start of the 2013 season, the Blue Jays have held the opposition to less than 300 yards of total offense six times in 13 games.

Good Hands Team: The Johns Hopkins defense came up with just eight interceptions in 11 games during the 2013 season. Through two games this season, the Blue Jays already have four to their credit as junior Brady Watts and sophomores Jack Toner and Garrett Spek all registered interceptions for the Blue Jays against Randolph-Macon, while senior Ryan Rice had one last week at Susquehanna. The three INTs against Randolph-Macon are the most for Johns Hopkins since October 13, 2012, when the Blue Jays had three against Dickinson.

Anderson Takes Over: Senior Braden Anderson made his first career start a successful one as he was 12-of-23 for 190 yards with one touchdown and also rushed for a pair of scores in the 42-3 win over Randolph-Macon. Anderson is the seventh straight Johns Hopkins quarterback to win the first start of his career.

Donaldson Breaks Out: With the loss of career receptions leader Dan Wodicka to graduation, the Blue Jay offense was in need of at least one young receiver to emerge. Hopkins may have found its man in sophomore Quinn Donaldson, who led the Blue Jays with five receptions for 111 yards and one touchdown in the season-opening victory against Randolph-Macon. The five receptions and 111 yards are both career hights for Donaldson, who had seven receptions for 89 yards and no TDs last season as a freshman.

Many Happy Returns: While the number of kickoff and punt returns the Blue Jays have amassed through two games has been minimal, the results have been effective. Sophomore Bradley Munday is averaging 16.3 yards per punt return and 25.0 yards per kickoff return. Classmate Stuart Walters is averaging 24.0 yards per kickoff return, while junior Evan Adamo has one punt return for 15 yards.

Margraff 10th on Division III Victories List: Johns Hopkins head coach Jim Margraff picked up career victory number 169 with last week's win at Susquehanna. In addition to ranking as the winningest coach in school history, Margraff also ranks 10th among active NCAA Division III coaches in career victories; below is a look at the top 10:

Rk. Name - School (Career Victories)
1. Rick Giancola - Montclair St. (219)
2. Michael DeLong - Springfield (193)
3. Mike Drass - Wesley (187)
4. Steve Johnson - Bethel (185)
5T. Larry Kindbom - Washington U. (184)
5T. Rich Lackner - Carnegie Mellon (184)
7. Vic Wallace - Rockford (179)
8. Barry Streeter - Gettysburg (178)
9. Norm Eash - Illinois Wesleyan (175)
10. Jim Margraff - Johns Hopkins (169)

Margraff Ranks Second on State Victory Chart: Johns Hopkins head coach Jim Margraff sports a career record of 169-82-3 (.671) entering this week's game against Moravian. He is just the second college football coach in Maryland state history to win 150 career games. Only Morgan State's Eddie Hurt, who won 174 games from 1929-59, has won more games as the head football coach at a college or university in the state of Maryland than Margraff.

JHU Ties Victory Record: Johns Hopkins posted a 10-1 record in 2013 and tied the school record for victories in a season. Only four times previously - 2003, 2009, 2011 and 2012 - had Hopkins won 10 games in a season. Johns Hopkins had never won more than seven games in a season prior to 2002, but the Blue Jays have posted eight or more wins 10 times in the last 12 years.

Centennial Conference Champions: Johns Hopkins claimed its ninth Centennial Conference title last season with all nine championships coming since 2002. JHU's nine CC titles are tied for the most in league history with Dickinson and Muhlenberg.

Centennial Favorites: For the sixth consecutive year and the ninth time in the last 11 years Johns Hopkins was selected as the favorite in the league's preseason poll of coaches and SIDs.
The Blue Jays received 14 of 20 first-place votes and totaled 158 points to out-distance Muhlenberg, which checked in at number two in the poll with six first-place votes and 147 points.

A Return to the NCAAs: Johns Hopkins made its third straight and fifth overall appearance in the NCAA Playoffs last season. The Blue Jays are 3-5 all-time in NCAA action with a trip to the 2009 NCAA Quarterfinals and an appearance in the second round in 2012 highlighting their playoff history.

On a Roll: Johns Hopkins is 35-1 in its last 36 regular season games dating back to late in the 2010 season. The only team to top the Blue Jays duirng that run? Franklin & Marshall, which topped the Blue Jays, 14-12, in 2012. JHU's 36-game regular season run began with a 49-24 win at Susquehanna on October 23, 2010.

On A Roll, Part II: Johns Hopkins is 37-4 in its last 41 games overall since late in the 2010 season. Three of the Blue Jays' four losses during that time have come in the NCAA Playoffs.

At Home at Homewood: Johns Hopkins has parlayed its home field advantage into victories in recent years. In fact, the Blue Jays are 21-3 in the home blacks since the start of the 2010 season.

Sustained Success: Since the start of the 2002 season the Blue Jays sport a 103-32 (.763) record. Taking it back farther the Blue Jays are 109-35 (.757) since the start of the 2001 season and 114-40 (.740) since the beginning of the 2000 season.

Seven's Heaven: Since the beginning of the 2003 season the Blue Jays are 94-22 (.810) when scoring more than seven points and 0-7 when they have been held to seven points or less.

- Pride and Poise -