BALTIMORE – The seventh-ranked Johns Hopkins football team outscored visiting Rowan 24-0 in the first and third quarters combined and held off the Profs late to take a 24-16 victory in the first round of the NCAA Division III playoffs at Homewood Field Saturday afternoon. The win propels the Blue Jays into the second round for the third time in six years.
Johns Hopkins (11-0) will play Hobart next Saturday at noon in the second round; Hobart topped Ithaca, 22-15, in its first-round game. The site of next week's second round game will be announced on Sunday. Johns Hopkins and Hobart have played just twice with the Statesmen winning both previous meetings (1965 & 1966).
The Blue Jays led 14-10 at the half before taking control by outscoring the Profs 10-0 in the third quarter. Johns Hopkins went 65-yards on 10-plays on the opening possession of the third quarter with senior Braden Anderson capping the drive with an eight-yard touchdown pass to sophomore Quinn Donaldson to push the lead to 21-10. Anderson was 4-for-5 for 37 yards on the drive, while junior Brandon Cherry added 24 rushing yards and a seven-yard reception. Anderson also converted a fourth-and-one from the Rowan 12 with a four-yard run one play before his strike to Donaldson.
Johns Hopkins took its second 14-point lead of the game late in the quarter as freshman Jamie Sullivan booted a career-long 39-yard field goal to polish off a 10-play, 64-yard drive with less than a minute remaining in the period.
That lead held until the final minute of the fourth quarter, when Rowan got a 10-yard touchdown pass from Bill McCarty to Warren Oliver with 51 seconds on the clock. The Profs had driven to the Blue Jay seven-yard line with less than four minutes to play, but McCarty misfired on third and fourth down. After forcing the Blue Jays to punt, Rowan took over at its 35 and McCarty capped the six-play, 35-yard drive with the scoring toss to Oliver, but Hopkins blocked the extra point and Cherry recovered the ensuring onsides kick to seal the win.
A late-game stand didn't look like it would be necessary early on as the Blue Jays got a 31-yard touchdown pass from Anderson to Donaldson on their second possession and Anderson hit junior Ryan Finkel with a 48-yard touchdown pass with 31 seconds left in the first quarter to give the Blue Jays a 14-0 lead at the end of the first period.
The momentum Hopkins gained in the first quarter was gone in the first 10 minutes of the second as the Profs jumped back into the game with 10 unanswered points.
The Profs (7-4) needed just five plays to go 51 yards early in the quarter to slice the 14-point deficit in half. Junior Withler Marcelin did most of the damage as he needed just three runs to move Rowan from its 49 to the Blue Jay 12. Two plays later it was McCarty finding Russ Forchion on the backside and he worked his way through traffic into the end zone.
Johns Hopkins had a chance to push the lead back to 14 one series later as the Blue Jays moved from their 35 to the Rowan 30, but a lost fumble after a 16-yard completion on a fourth-and-four turned the ball over at Rowan 14. That was the second of two first-half turnovers for the Blue Jays inside the Rowan 15-yard line.
The Profs moved from their 14 to the Blue Jay five after the fumble recovery, but the Blue Jay defense held and the Profs were forced to settle for a 26-yard field goal by Tyler Knighton with just over five minutes left in half to account for the 14-10 halftime score. That score held for all of 3:44 in the third quarter before Anderson hit Donaldson with the eight-yard touchdown that ignited the 10-0 Hopkins run that Rowan couldn't overcome.
Anderson was 27-of-36 for 286 yards and three touchdowns, while Donaldson had seven receptions for 105 yards and the two scores. Sophomore Bradley Munday had a team-high 11 receptions for 77 yards as the Blue Jays rolled up 390 yards against a Rowan defense that entered the game allowing just 13.7 points and 267 yards on the year.
Defensively, the Blue Jays held the Profs to the 16 points and 310 yards. Senior Michael Longo and freshman Lance Hammond paced the Blue Jays with seven tackles on the day. Longo had 1.5 of Hopkins' four sacks, while fellow senior Matthew Connery had two of the four.
Marcelin rushed for 136 yards on 27 carries, but he was held to just 10 yards on seven carries in the second half after getting 126 on 19 first-half attempts. McCarty was 24-of-44 for 201 yards with two touchdowns and 15 of his 24 completions went to Forchion, who netted 100 yards and the one score on his 15 catches.
Chris Alvarez, Jared Sanchez and Darren Dungee all posted nine tackles for the Profs, who had two fumble recoveries and one interception, but never sacked Anderson and the first and third quarter surges by the Blue Jays proved decisive.
Notes: Johns Hopkins set a school record with its 11th win of the season • The Blue Jay seniors improved to 41-4 in their career and tied the Centennial Conference record for most wins by a class (McDaniel seniors in 2000 posted a 41-5 record) • Anderson's three touchdown passes are the most ever by a Johns Hopkins quarterback in an NCAA Playoff game and his 286 passing yards are the second most ever by a Blue Jay quarterback in an NCAA Playoff game • Donaldson is the first Johns Hopkins wide receiver with two TD catches in an NCAA game.
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