CARLISLE, PA – Johns Hopkins football coach Jim Margraff was hoping for a quicker start from his eighth-ranked Blue Jays heading into Saturday's Centennial Conference game at Dickinson. One offensive play into the game he had what he was looking for as junior Zack Baker hit classmate Luke McFadden with an 80-yard touchdown pass and the Blue Jays went on to top the Red Devils 41-10.
The win is the 45th straight in the regular season and 40th straight in Centennial Conference play for Johns Hopkins. The Blue Jays also set a school record with their 12th consecutive win on the road. JHU had previously won 11 in a row on the road from 2010-12.
The 80-yard play – the longest in either Baker or McFadden's career – was the first of three first-half touchdowns that covered more than 50 yards for the Blue Jays, who also got a 56-yard punt return for a score by senior David Brookhart before the end of the first quarter and a 62-yard touchdown run from freshman quarterback Nick Leongas midway through the second to jump to a 21-3 lead just 21 minutes into the game.
Dickinson (1-3, 1-2 Centennial), which answered McFadden's touchdown with a 34-yard field goal midway through the first quarter, missed a field goal early in the second quarter that would have sliced the deficit to 14-6 before the Leongas scoring run made it a three-score game a short time later.
The Blue Jays (4-0, 3-0 CC) had a 28-3 lead at the half as Leongas capped a 10-play, 60-yard drive with a two-yard touchdown run up the middle on a quarterback keeper. A pair of third-quarter Jamie Sullivan field goals from 26 and 28 yards pushed the lead to 34-3.
The Red Devils got their only touchdown of the game on the drive following Sullivan's second field goal as they needed just five plays to go 66 yards with freshman Phillip Butler going up the middle from four yards out to make it 34-10 late in the third quarter.
Neither team did much offensively in the fourth quarter, but the Blue Jays did put together an 84-yard drive late in the game that Charlie Rodenberger polished off with a short scoring run to account for the final scoring. The touchdown was set up by a 57-yard run by sophomore Hogan Irwin.
Leongas led a Blue Jay rushing attack that generated a season-high 278 yards as he rushed nine times for 117 yards and the two scores. Irwin added 63 yards on just two carries and McFadden's two receptions totaled 103 yards with the one score.
The Blue Jay defense posted three sacks, 13 tackles for losses and came up with a pair of interceptions. Sophomore Mike Kalanik was in on eight tackles, including 4.5 that went for losses and one sack. Sophomore Patrick Kelly and junior Grant Mosser each came up with interceptions for Johns Hopkins, which held Dickinson to just the 10 points and 319 yards despite the Devils having possession for more than 39 minutes (39:21).
Dickinson freshman quarterback Robert Geiss was 20-of-35 for 200 yards and also rushed for 36 yards. Butler had a team-high 65 rushing yards and Kyle Donahue (6-68-0) and Chris Longo (5-60-) were Geiss's top threats on the outside.
Johns Hopkins will return to action on Saturday, September 30 when the Blue Jays travel to Ursinus.
Notes: Brookhart's punt return for a touchdown is the first for Johns Hopkins since Mark Guzzo took one back 42 yards for a score against Muhlenberg on October 14, 1995 • Zack Baker got the start for Johns Hopkins at quarterback – he is the 10th consecutive JHU quarterback to earn a win in his first career start.
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