Sept. 21, 2013
BETHLEHEM, PA - Visiting Johns Hopkins scored on all six of its first half possessions and rolled up 391 yards of total offense before halftime as the Blue Jays cruised to a 52-14 victory at Moravian Saturday afternoon. The win is Johns Hopkins' 14th straight in the month of September and fifth straight in the series against the Greyhounds.
Johns Hopkins head coach Jim Margraff became the second college football coach in the history of the state of Maryland to win 160 games as he improved his career record to 160-81-3. Only Eddie Hurt, who won 174 games as the head coach at Morgan State from 1929-59, has won more games as a college football coach in the state of Maryland than Margraff.
Johns Hopkins (3-0, 2-0 Centennial) did the majority of its work on the ground in the opening 30 minutes as the Blue Jays totaled 264 rushing yards and five rushing touchdowns in building a 38-0 halftime lead. Hopkins had four touchdown drives that covered 64 yards or more before intermission in rolling up its most points in the first half of a game since October 22, 2011,when the Blue Jays scored 42 before halftime at Gettysburg.
Johns Hopkins built a 14-point lead in the first seven minutes of the game as the Blue Jays went 64 yards in 12 plays and got a one-yard touchdown run from senior JD Abbott to open the scoring before senior quarterback Robbie Matey polished off a quick four-play, 39-yard drive with a two-yard run to give JHU the early 14-point lead.
That lead held until the second quarter, when the Blue Jays exploded for 24 points to build the 38-0 lead at the half. While Matey did a nice job of mixing in the pass in the first half, the Blue Jays rolled up more than 140 yards on the ground in the second period alone and got touchdown runs from freshman Stuart Walters, sophomore Brandon Cherry and Abbott on runs of less than four yards and freshman Nick Campbell connected on a 27-yard field goal to account for the 24 second-quarter points and 38-0 lead at the half.
Any hopes for a Moravian (0-3, 0-2) comeback were gone two plays into the third quarter when junior Ryan Rice intercepted a Robbie Moyer pass and returned it 26 yards for a touchdown to make it 45-0. The Blue Jays' starting offense never touched the field in the second half and the starters on defense were gone after Rice's touchdown.
Moravian scored all 14 of its points and had its two best drives of the game after Rice's return. Moyer sandwiched a pair of touchdown runs around a six-yard scoring run for Johns Hopkins' Dionisio Roman in the final 9:06 of the third quarter to close out the scoring.
Matey was 15-of-20 fror127 yards and rushed for 47yards and one score, while Cherry (87 yards, 1 TD), Walters (82, 1) and Abbott (50, 2) paced a rushing attack that churned out 341 yards on 55 attempts. Junior Braden Anderson played the entire second half at quarterback for the Blue Jays and was 8-of-13 for 109 yards.
Moravian managed just 87 yards on 34 plays against Johns Hopkins' starting defense, including just 22 yards on 17 rushing attempts. Still, the `Hounds got rolling a bit in the second half and finished with 301 yards of total offense.
Johns Hopkins returns to action next Saturday when the Blue Jays welcome Muhlenberg to Homewood Field for a key Centennial Conference game against the Mules (2-1, 1-1). Muhlenberg topped McDaniel, 58-0, earlier today and either the Blue Jays or Mules have grabbed at least a share of every Centennial title since 2001 except one (2006).
- 30 -