Greencastle, Ind. - DePauw's historic season came to a close just inches short of victory as Johns Hopkins prevailed in a 14-9 NCAA Division III Championship third-round win over the Tigers. The Blue Jays advanced to the NCAA quarterfinals and improved to 11-1, while the Tigers finished their season at 11-1.
Following a Johns Hopkins missed field goal, DePauw took over on its own 23. Senior quarterback Nathan McCahill converted a pair of third downs with runs of 15 and 12 yards, respectively, to move the ball into Johns Hopkins territory.
An 11-yard pass to Gabe Quigley followed by a 30-yard strike to Frankie Ricciardi gave the Tigers the ball on the Blue Jays' 1. McCahill spiked the ball on first down and threw the ball beyond the back right of the end zone on second down.
With 14.7 seconds left, McCahill rolled out to his right but slipped at the 2. The Tigers scrambled to get back to the line of scrimmage and were whistled for a penalty and a subsequent 10-second runoff ended the game.
The teams were scoreless after the first period which was the first time all season that the Tigers failed to score in the opening stanza.
Johns Hopkins reached paydirt first as Geoff Schroeder scored on a 2-yard run with 13:47 left in the second.
DePauw was forced to punt after a three-and-out series and the Blue Jays struck quickly as James Rinello found EJ Talarico at the Tigers' 25 and he ran it in from there to give Johns Hopkins a 14-0 lead with 11:31 remaining in the half.
On the Tigers' next series, McCahill picked up 25 yards on the first play as DePauw crossed midfield for the first time. DePauw drove to the Blue Jays' 16, but McCahill was sacked by Matthew Konkol on first down and Jack Schondelmayer picked off a deflected pass in the end zone to end the Tigers' threat.
Johns Hopkins drove to the Tigers' 29, but a three-yard loss on third down and Joey Roland's fourth-down sack gave the ball back to DePauw. After the Tigers were forced to punt, the Blue Jays advanced to the DePauw 35 where JP Furman's 52-yard field goal missed as time expired.
After totaling just 86 yards of offense in the first half, the Tigers marched 73 yards to the Johns Hopkins 2. On second down, McCahill tossed a pass to Caden Whitehead who raced to the right corner, but was ruled down at the 2. A 3-yard loss on third down led to Matthew Berry's 23-yard field goal to make it 14-3 with 10:08 left in the third.
Following a series of punts, DePauw started on its own 15 with 2:45 left in the third. McCahill completed three straight passes to moved the Tigers to their 41. After Whitehead gained four on first down, he then caught a 24-yard pass to the Blue Jays' 31.
A false start ended the third before McCahill opened the fourth with a 4-yard run and teamed with Robby Ballentine for a 32-yard score with 14:05 left. The Tigers' two-point conversion attempt failed after McCahill couldn't find an open receiver and was tackled at the 10.
DePauw got the ball back after Blue Jays punter Chase Ally couldn't handle a snap and attempted to kick the ball forward, but the Tigers' Luke Moody recovered at the Johns Hopkins 49.
McCahill ran for 16 yards on second down to the Johns Hopkins 33, but Carson Bourdo intercepted McCahill at the Blue Jays 11 and returned it 20 yards to the 31.
The Blue Jays then embarked on a key 17-play drive that took 8:54 off the clock. Johns Hopkins converted four third downs and one fourth down before the drive stalled at the DePauw 23. Furman's 40-yard field goal was off the mark setting up the Tigers final drive.
McCahill led the Tigers with 51 rushing yards on 12 carries and completed 21-of-33 passes fro 283 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions. Ballentine caught 10 passes for 165 yards.
Schroeder paced the Blue Jays with 77 rushing yards on 17 tries. Rinello completed 24-of-30 for 296 yards and one score. Cole Crotty caught nine for 114 yards ad Talarico had six catches for 115 yards.
Nolan Tully paced the defense with 14 tackles followed by Ryland Irvin with nine. The Tigers sacked Rinello seven times as David Guhl and Roland each had 2.5.
Craddock finished with nine tackles for the Blue Jays, including a team-high 3.0 tackles for oss.
The Blue Jays outgained the Tigers, 369-353, and held a 21-18 edge in first downs.
Tigers Stopped Inches Short of NCAA Third-Round Victory
/seasons/2024/boxscores/20241207_9rvh.xml
2024
Johns Hopkins
14
DePauw
9
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | T |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. 19 Johns Hopkins (11-1) | 0 | 14 | 0 | 0 | 14 |
| No. 9 DePauw (11-1) | 0 | 0 | 3 | 6 | 9 |
Dec 07, 2024