Johns Hopkins-Gettysburg Football Notes

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The Game: Eighth-ranked Johns Hopkins (6-0, 5-0 Centennial) makes the short trip to central Pennsylvania to take on Gettysburg (5-1, 4-1 CC) in a key Centennial Conference game. Kickoff is set for 1 pm on Saturday, October 24.

A Look Back: Johns Hopkins improved its record to 6-0 overall and 5-0 in the Centennial Conference with a 34-7 victory against Dickinson last Friday night. Gettysburg had its five-game season-opening winning streak snapped with a 41-13 loss at home against Muhlenberg.

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

Two of the Best: This week's game features two of the 10 winningest active head coaches in Division III football in Johns Hopkins' Jim Margraff and Gettysburg's Barry Streeter. Margraff currently ranks eighth among active head coaches in career wins (184), while Streeter is seventh (188). Combined, the two have coached 640 games in their careers.

State of Affairs: The 2015 Johns Hopkins football roster consists of 88 players from 23 different states. The Gettysburg roster counts 104 players from 11 states and Washington DC.

Road Warriors: With the recent 41-5 victory at Juniata, the Blue Jays extended their regular season road winning streak to 13 games. The Blue Jays last dropped a regular season road game at F&M late in the 2012 season.

At Home at Homewood: Johns Hopkins has parlayed its home field advantage into victories in recent years. In fact, the Blue Jays are 29-3 in the home blacks since the start of the 2010 season.

Looking for 7-0: A win this week would give Johns Hopkins its fifth straight 7-0 start and its seventh in the the last 13 years. Prior to this stretch, which began in 2003, Johns Hopkins hadn't started a season at 7-0 since 1892.

Off the Bye: Johns Hopkins improved to 10-3 under head coach Jim Margraff in its first game after a bye with last week's 34-7 win against Dickinson. The Blue Jays have now won eight straight in their first game after the bye week. Including last week's win against the Red Devils, the Blue Jays have outscored the opposition 272-44 in their last seven games immediately after a bye.

Friday Night Lights: Last week's game against Dickinson was the 52nd Johns Hopkins has played on Friday night since 1982. With the win against the Red Devils, the Blue Jays have compiled a 35-16-1 (.683) record in Friday night games, including a 31-11-1 (.733) mark under head coach Jim Margraff.

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

Offense Rolling: Johns Hopkins scored 40 or more points in each of the first five games this season (52 @ RMC, 59 vs. Susquehanna, 45 @ Moravian, 49 vs. Muhlenberg, 41 @ Juniata) before last week's 34-point effort against Dickinson. The five-game run of scoring 40+ is the longest in school history.

Among the National Leaders: Entering this week's game against Gettysburg, Johns Hopkins ranks in the top 30 in the nation in scoring offense (12th • 46.7 ppg), total offense (19th • 503.0 ypg), rushing offense (28th • 244.0), third-down percentage (4th • .556) and first downs (14th•162 (27.0/game)).

Quick Starts: Johns Hopkins has had 38 combined possessions in the first half of its six games thus far. Of those 38, 25 have ended with touchdowns and two others with a field goal. In other words, Hopkins has scored on 71.1% of its first-half possessions this season.

More Quick Starts: Johns Hopkins has outscored the opposition 180-36 in the first half of its six games this season. Included in that first-half breakdown is a 76-10 margin in the first quarter and a 104-26 margin the second quarter.

Cherry Tops 2,000: Senior running back Brandon Cherry rushed for 99 yards and one touchdown in the win against Muhlenberg and added 72 yards against Juniata and 62 against Dickinson. Against the Mules, he became the ninth player in school history to top 2,000 career rushing yards. With his recent efforts, Cherry now ranks eighth in career rushing yards (2,230), tied for sixth in career rushing TDs (22), tied for sixth in overall touchdowns (27) and 13th in all-purpose yards (2,925). Earlier this season, Cherry added his name in 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 in a 45-23 win at Moravian.

Walters Closing on 2,000, 20: Junior Stuart Walters rushed for 89 yards and one TD against Dickinson to push his career totals to 1,812 yards and 19 TDs. He ranks 13th in school history in career rushing yards and tied for 11th in rushing TDs.
Walters also has 2,389 career all-purpose yards and 23 overall touchdowns to his credit. His 23 overall TDs are tied for 13th in school history.

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 six victories in his first six career starts. Through six games, Germano is 113-of-151 (.748) for 1,461 yards with 19 touchdowns against just five interceptions. In addition, he has rushed for 254 yards and three more scores.
Germano currently ranks second in the nation in completion percentage (.748), third in the nation in pass efficiency (191.01) and eighth in touchdown passes (19). Germano's 19 touchdown passes this season are already the third-best total in school history.
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 244.0 yards per game on the ground, Johns Hopkins ranks 28th 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 120 in the nation in rushing yards per game.
What the Blue Jays do have is five players who have rushed for 115 or more yards in six games. Senior RB Brandon Cherry (73.5), junior RB Stuart Walters (70.0) and junior QB Jonathan Germano (42.3) all account for at least 40 yards per game. In addition, Ryan Cary (25.0) and Tyler Messinger (23.4) are also averaging 20 or more yards per game (note that Messinger did not play in the season opener so his average is for five games, not six).
The five players above have combined for 17 of Johns Hopkins' 18 rushing touchdowns thus far and fuel a rushing game that is averaging 5.2 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 six games, Munday leads the team in receptions (44), receiving yards (549) and all-purpose yards (690). He ranks first in the Centennial in receptions per game (7.33), first in receiving yards per game (91.5) and sixth in all-purpose yards per game (115.0).
Munday now has career totals of 142 receptions for 1,707 yards and 13 touchdowns. He ranks eighth in school history in receptions and 11th 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 Dickinson he now has career totals of 73 receptions for 1,135 yards and 15 TDs. He is tied for 10th in school history in career TD receptions, ranks 20th in receiving yards and tied for 22nd in receptions.

Spreading the Wealth: Through six games, Johns Hopkins has 15 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) among the top six. Those four have combined for 75 receptions for 971 yards (12.9 yards/reception) and 15 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 six games, 17 different players have 10 or more tackles; with that depth and the ability to keep players fresh, no player ranks among the top 25 in the Centennial Conference in tackles per game, yet the Blue Jays rank among the CC leaders in virtually every statistica category.
Junior Jack Campbell leads the team in tackles with 37, while classmate Dan Johnson is just behind with 34. Emerging quickly is sophomore Keonte Henson, who is tied for third on the team in tackles (33) and leads the team in tackles for losses (6.5) and sacks (2.5).
Rounding out Johns Hopkins' top five tacklers are senior Keith Corliss (33) and freshman Addison Quinones (27). Corliss is the only senior among Johns Hopkins' six players with 20 or more tackles on the year.

Fantasy Numbers: The Johns Hopkins defense counts 43 tackles for losses, 15 sacks, 11 interceptions and four fumble recoveries to its credit through six games. Although the sample size is small (just six games), the number of players involved in those momentum type plays is remarkable. In all, 20 different players have been in on at least one tackle for loss, 12 have at least half a sack, eight 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 six games it's been more of the same for defensive coordinator Mickey Rehring's troops.
Johns Hopkins currently ranks first in the Centennial Conference in scoring defense (14.5) and second in total defense (306.0) and rushing defense (116.0).

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

Jack Campbell - Recorded 100th tackle of his career in win against Muhlenberg.
Keith Corliss - Needs four tackles to reach 200 for his career.
Lance Hammond - Needs three tackles to reach 50 for his career.
Keonte Henson - Needs one tackle to reach 50 for his career.
Dan Johnson - Needs four tackles to reach 75 for his career.
Charlie Kassis - Recorded the 50th tackle of his career against Dickinson.
Garrett Spek - Recorded the 50th tackle of his career against Dickinson.
Jack Toner - Recorded 100th tackle of his career in win at Juniata.
Brady Watts - Recoreded 100th tackle of his career in win against Muhlenberg • Needs one TFL 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 six games.
Campbell is 19-for-20 on extra points and 4-for-5 on field goals (22, 33, 37, 22), while Sullivan is 18-for-18 on extra points and 1-for-2 on field goals (20).
For their careers, Campbell is 99-of-102 on extra points and 15-of-20 on field goals and Sullivan is 50-of-51 on extra points and 7-of-9 on field goals.

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 184 with the recent win against Dickinson. Margraff now sports a career record of 184-83-3 (.687) entering this week's game against Gettysburg.

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 49-1 in its last 50 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 52-5 in its last 57 games overall since late in the 2010 season.

Sustained Success: Since the start of the 2002 season the Blue Jays sport a 118-33 (.781) record. Taking it back farther the Blue Jays are 124-36 (.775) since the start of the 2001 season and 129-41 (.759) since the beginning of the 2000 season.

Seven's Heaven: Since the beginning of the 2003 season the Blue Jays are 109-24 (.820) when scoring more than seven points and 0-7 when they have been held to seven points or less.

- Pride and Poise -