Johns Hopkins-Juniata Game Notes

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The Game: Eighth-ranked Johns Hopkins (4-0, 3-0 Centennial) closes out the first-half portion of its 2015 schedule as the Blue Jays make the trip north to Juniata (1-3, 0-3 CC).

A Look Back: Johns Hopkins improved its record to 4-0 overall and 3-0 in the Centennial Conference with a 49-28 victory at home against Muhlenberg last Saturday. The Eagles dropped their third straight with a 24-7 setback at Franklin & Marshall

Poll Position: Johns Hopkins is ranked eighth in this week's AFCA Division III Poll and 10th in the D3football.com Poll. Juniata is not ranked in either poll.

State of Affairs: The 2015 Johns Hopkins football roster consists of 91 players from 23 different states. The Juniat roster counts 103 players from six states and one foreign country.

At Home at Homewood: Johns Hopkins has parlayed its home field advantage into victories in recent years. In fact, the Blue Jays are 28-3 in the home blacks since the start of the 2010 season.

Road Warriors: With the recent 45-23 victory at Moravian, the Blue Jays extended their regular season road winning streak to 12 games. The Blue Jays last dropped a regular season road game at F&M late in the 2012 season.

Flipping the Calendar to October: While September has been kind to Johns Hopkins of late (see notes below), October has been nearly as successful for the Blue Jays. In fact, JHU will carry a 15-game October winning streak into this week's game at Juniata. Johns Hopkins last lost a game in the month of October in 2010, when Ursinus topped the Blue Jays, 26-17.

Sweet September: With last week's 49-28 win against Muhlenberg, Johns Hopkins has won 23 straight and 26 of its last 27 games in the month of September. The only team to beat JHU in the month of September in its last 27 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 15 straight at home in September.

Looking for 5-0: A win this week would give Johns Hopkins its fifth straight 5-0 start and its eighth in the the last 14 years. Prior to this stretch, which began in 2002, Johns Hopkins hadn't started a season at 5-0 since 1931.

Before the Bye: Johns Hopkins closes out the first-half portion of its 2015 schedule this week at Juniata as the Blue Jays will enjoy their bye next week. Since the Centennial Conference went to a league-wide bye week after the fifth game of the season in 2011, Johns Hopkins is 24-0 in games played before its bye.

Offense Rolling: Johns Hopkins has scored 45 or more points in each of the first four games this season (52 @ RMC, 59 vs. Susquehanna, 45 @ Moravian, 49 vs. Muhlenberg). This is the first time in school history that Johns Hopkins has scored 45+ in four straight games. In fact, there is only one other instance when JHU scored 45+ in three straight games (2013).

Among the National Leaders: Entering this week's game against Juniata, Johns Hopkins ranks in the top 30 in the nation in scoring offense (11th • 51.2 ppg), total offense (26th • 508.8 ypg), rushing offense (29th • 264.0), third-down percentage (1st • .686) and first downs (4th •106 (26.5/game)).

Quick Starts: Johns Hopkins has had 23 combined possessions in the first half of its four games thus far. Of those 23, 17 have ended with touchdowns and another with a field goal. In other words, Hopkins has scored on 78.3% of its first-half possessions this season.

More Quick Starts: Johns Hopkins has outscored the opposition 122-31 in the first half of its four games this season. Included in that first-half breakdown is a 70-21 margin the second quarter.

Cherry Tops 2,000: Senior running back Brandon Cherry rushed for 99 yards and one touchdown in last week's win against Muhlenberg. In the process, he became the ninth player in school history to top 2,000 career rushing yards.
With his effort last week against the Mules, Cherry now ranks ninth in career rushing yards (2,096), tied for sixth in career rushing TDs (22), tied for eighth in overall touchdowns (26) and 17th in all-purpose yards (2,747).
A week earlier against Moravian, Cherry added his name to the record book in another spot as he tied the Johns Hopkins record for touchdowns in a game (4) as he scored on runs of 73, 14 and six yards and added a 34-yard TD reception.

Walters Closing on 2,000, 20: Junior Stuart Walters rushed for 77 yards and two TDs last week to push his career totals to 1,659 yards and 17 TDs. He ranks 16th in school history in career rushing yards and 15h in rushing TDs.
Walters also has 2,159 career all-purpose yards and 21 overall touchdowns to his credit.

Germano Among National Leaders: Junior quarterback Jonathan Germano has gotten off to a quick start this season as he has guided the Blue Jays to four victories in his first four career starts. Through four games, Germano is 67-of-85 (.788) for 905 yards with 13 touchdowns against just four interceptions. In addition, he has rushed for 214 yards and two more scores.
Germano currently ranks first in the nation in completion percentage (.788), fourth in the nation in pass efficiency (209.32) and fourth in touchdown passes (13).
In the recent 59-7 victory against Susquehanna, Germano became the first Johns Hopkins quarterback since 1989 to rush for 100 yards in a game as he rushed 15 times for 105 yards and one TD.

Balanced Rushing Attack: With an average of 264.0 yards per game on the ground, Johns Hopkins ranks 29th in the nation in rushing offense.
Unlike many of the top rushing teams in the nation, Johns Hopkins doesn't have an individual ranked among the top 125 in the nation in rushing yards per game.
What the Blue Jays do have is five players who have rushed for 80 or more yards in four games. Senior RB Brandon Cherry (76.8), junior running back Stuart Walters (66.8) and junior QB Jonathan Germano (53.5) all account for at least 50 yards per game. In addition, Ryan Cary (31.0) and Tyler Messinger (28.0) are also averaging 25 or more yards per game (note that Messinger did not play in the season opener so his average is for three games, not four).
The five players above have combined for all 14 of Johns Hopkins' rushing touchdowns thus far and fuel a rushing game that is averaging 5.4 yards per attempt.

Picking Up Where He Left Off: Junior wide receiver Bradley Munday picked up right where he left off last season as he had 10 receptions for 155 yards and two touchdowns and totaled 229 all-purpose yards in the win at Randolph-Macon. The 155 receiving yards and 229 all-purpose yards are both career highs.
Through four games, Munday leads the team in receptions (25), receiving yards (303) and all-purpose yards (434). He ranks fourth in the Centennial in receiving yards per game (75.8), second in receptions per game (6.25) and seventh in all-purpose yards per game (108.5).
Munday now has career totals of 123 receptions for 1,461 yards and 10 touchdowns. He ranks 11th in school history in receptions and 12th in receiving yards.

Donaldson Tops 1,000: Junior Quinn Donaldson became the 23rd player in school history to reach 1,000 career receiving yards as he had three receptions for 62 yards against Susquehanna. Through the game against Muhlenberg he now has career totals of 68 receptions for 1,048 yards and 14 TDs. He is tied for 11th in school history in career TD receptions, ranks 22nd in receiving yards and tied for 23rd in receptions.

Spreading the Wealth: Through just four games, Johns Hopkins already has 14 different players who have at least one reception on the year. Perhaps the most exciting part for Blue Jay fans is the top of the receiving chart, which shows three juniors (Bradley Munday, Quinn Donaldson, Boone Lewis, Jr.) and one sophomore (David Brookhart) as the top four receivers. Those four have combined for 49 receptions for 610 yards (12.4 yards/reception) and 10 touchdowns.

Fresh Troops: The Johns Hopkins defense has long been known for playing deep into its bench and this season has been no different thus far. Through four games, 18 different players have eight or more tackles and, with that depth, no player ranks among the top 17 in the Centennial Conference in tackles per game.
Junior Jack Campbell leads the team in tackles (29), while classmate Dan Johnson is just behind with 26 stops on the year. Emerging quickly is sophomore Keonte Henson, who ranks third on the team in tackles (25) and leads the team in tackles for losses (5.0) and sacks (2.5).
Rounding out Johns Hopkins' top five tacklers are freshman Addison Quinones (18) and senior Keith Corliss (17).

Fantasy Numbers: The Johns Hopkins defense counts 31 tackles for losses, 10 sacks, seven interceptions and four fumble recoveries to its credit through four games. Although the sample size is small (just four games), the number of players involved in those momentum type plays is remarkable. In all, 19 different players have been in on at least one tackle for loss, nine have at least half a sack, six different players have an interception and four players have recovered a fumble.

Defense Among Centennial's Best: While offense may sell tickets, the Blue Jays have always preached defense first. Through four games, the returns are favorable that this year's unit will continue the trend of strong units at Homewood.
Johns Hopkins currently ranks fourth in the Centennial Conference in scoring defense (18.8) and third in total defense (356.2) and rushing defense (129.5).

Defensive Milestones: The Johns Hopkins defense has had several players reach milestones recently and several others approaching milestones:

Jack Campbell - Recorded the 100th tackle of his career in the 49-28 win against Muhlenberg.
Keith Corliss - Needs 20 tackles to reach 200 for his career.
Lance Hammond - Needs five tackles to reach 50 for his career.
Charlie Kassis - Needs one tackle to reach 50 for his career.
Jack Toner - Needs four tackles to reach 100 for his career.
Brady Watts - Recoreded the 100th tackle of his career in the 49-28 win against Muhlenberg • Needs two TFLs to reach 20 for his career.

Campbell, Sullivan Handle Kicking Chores: Johns Hopkins junior Nick Campbell and sophomore Jamie Sullivan are sharing the place-kicking duties this fall. While Sullivan handles all the kickoff chores, the two have literally alternated every place-kick through four games.
Campbell is 15-for-15 on extra points and 2-for-2 on field goals (22, 33), while Sullivan is 13-for-13 on extra points and hit his only field goal attempt (20).

Margraff Holds State Record: Johns Hopkins head coach Jim Margraff became the winningest college football coach in Maryland state history with a 42-14 win at Ursinus last season (November 1, 2014) as that gave him 175 career victories, a mark he upped to 182 with last week's win against Muhlenberg. Margraff now sports a career record of 182-83-3 (.685) entering this week's game against Juniata.

JHU Sets Victory Record: Johns Hopkins posted an 11-1 record in 2014 to break the school record for victories in a season. Only five times previously - 2003, 2009, 2011, 2012 and 2013 - 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 11 times in the last 13 years.

On a Roll: Johns Hopkins is 47-1 in its last 48 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.

On A Roll, Part II: Johns Hopkins is 50-5 in its last 55 games overall since late in the 2010 season.

Sustained Success: Since the start of the 2002 season the Blue Jays sport a 116-33 (.779) record. Taking it back farther the Blue Jays are 122-36 (.772) since the start of the 2001 season and 127-41 (.756) since the beginning of the 2000 season.

Seven's Heaven: Since the beginning of the 2003 season the Blue Jays are 107-24 (.817) when scoring more than seven points and 0-7 when they have been held to seven points or less.

- Pride and Poise -