ASHLAND, VA – Host Randolph-Macon outscored visiting Johns Hopkins 21-7 in the second half to turn a 14-7 halftime deficit into a 28-21 victory at Day Field Saturday afternoon. The win improves the Yellow Jackets to 1-1 on the year, while the third-ranked Blue Jays slip to 1-1 with the loss.
Johns Hopkins forced the third tie of the game at 21-21 early in the fourth quarter, but the Yellow Jackets would use a 61-yard completion the second play of their ensuing possession to quickly move inside the Blue Jays' 10-yard line and Devin Bryant went in from eight yards out one play later with 5:48 on the fourth-quarter clock to give RMC a 28-21 lead.
The Ble Jays took over at their own 20 after the ensuing kickoff and worked out to midfield, but back-to-back incompletions on third and fourth down ended the drive with 2:39 remaining. After a stop by the Blue Jay defense, Johns Hopkins had one final chance after taking over at its own six-yard line with just under two minutes remaining, but an interception on the first play of the drive sealed the win for the 'Jackets.
After allowing a 10-play, 81-yard drive on Randolph-Macon's first drive of the game, the Blue Jays drew even with a stunning 17-play, 77-yard drive that junior Luke Baker capped with a three-yard touchdown pass to Jaeger Krauss. The Blue Jays twice converted on third down on the drive, including the scoring pass from Baker to Krauss for the first touchdown of his career.
The Yellow Jackets were on the move again late in the second quarter and were sitting just outside the red zone when Blue Jay junior cornerback Kevin Olah intercepted a Jake Mulhern pass at the 21-yard line and returned it into Randolph-Macon territory with less than two minutes on the first-half clock.
The Blue Jays would use nine plays and all but the final 12 seconds of the second quarter to grab the lead. Again, it was Baker going to the air to find the end zone with senior Robby Enright on the back end of Baker's second touchdown pass of the day.
The game of long drives continued in the second half as Randolph-Macon opened the third quarter with a 10-play, 76-yard drive that ate 5:33 off the clock. Twice the 'Jackets converted on third down before Detric Brown went in from three yards out to pull Randolph-Macon even.
The Yellow Jackets then turned a big stop on fourth-and-one at their own 34-yard line into a three-play, 63-yard drive that Mitchell Johnson closed with a strong six-yard run up the middle that gave Randolph-Macon a seven-point lead it would carry into the fourth quarter.
The back-and-forth continued as the Blue Jays answered with another long scoring drive of their own, this one a 13-play, 75-yard gem that Baker and Krauss again polished off, this time when Krauss worked free in the middle of the end zone and Baker found him.
Bryant's touchdown came just over 90 seconds later and proved to be the deciding points in the back-and-forth affair.
 Inside the Box Score – Johns Hopkins
• Baker was 37-of-52 for 218 yards and the three touchdowns against one interception and rushed 12 times for a team-high 61 yards.
• Krauss had a career-best eight receptions for 62 yards and the two touchdowns and Alex Orecchio was on the back end of nine of Baker's completions for 51 yards.
• Freshman Cooper Powell matched Krauss with nine receptions and added 22 yards rushing on the day.
• Sawyer Olson led the way defensively for the Blue Jays with eight tackles, including 1.5 for losses, while Cole Stup and Parker Jones added seven tackles apiece in the first starts of their career.
Inside the Box Score – Randolph-Macon
• Johnson rushed 15 times for 123 yards and the two scores to power a rushing attack that accounted for 240 of Randolph-Macon's 360 yards on the day.
• Mulhern was 6-of-8 for 99 yards on the day with the big 61-yard strike to Quinten Jones to set up the game-winning score early in the fourth quarter.
• Matthew MacNichol posted a game-high 14 tackles and Jackson Hall added 11 to power the Yellow Jackets defense.
Notes of Interest
• The 37 completions for Baker are the most by a Johns Hopkins player since David Tammaro had a school-record 42 in the 2017 season opener at Washington & Lee.
• The loss is just the third on the road for Johns Hopkins in the month of September since 2010 (30-3).
Johns Hopkins will return to action on Saturday, September 19 when the Blue Jays welcome Susquehanna to Homewood Field (1 pm).
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