BALTIMORE, MD – Johns Hopkins junior quarterback Jonathan Germano wasn't alive the last time a Blue Jay quarterback rushed for 100 or more yards in a game; and 26th-year coach Jim Margraff hadn't coached a game at Homewood yet either.
That all changed on Saturday as Germano topped the century mark before halftime as he rushed for 105 yards and a touchdown and was 15-of-18 for 203 yards and two more scores despite playing just one play into the third quarter of a 59-7 victory against Susquehanna at Homewood Field. The win is Johns Hopkins' (2-0, 1-0 Centennial) 23rd in a row in the regular season and 21st in the month of September.
Junior Stuart Walters bookended the four-touchdown spree with a 6–yard scoring run late in the first quarter and a 25-yard highlight reel touchdown reception late in the second. Taking a screen pass from Germano in the right flank, Walters weaved his way all the way across the field and through the Susquehanna defense to give the Blue Jays a 31-0 lead at the half.
Between Walters' two touchdowns, Hopkins also got an 18-yard Germano-to-Dave Brookhart touchdown pass and a two-yard Germano scoring run to account for the first half scoring.
Walters capped his day early in the third quarter as he returned the opening kickoff of the second half 84 yards to the Susquehanna 16-yard line. One play later, Brandon Cherry scored on a 16-yard run and the Blue Jays had the 38-0 lead that signaled the end of the day for most of the Blue Jay starters.
The Blue Jays led 45-0 after a Ryan Finkel 6-yard touchdown reception from Will Nunn midway through the third quarter before Susquehanna got its only points of the game on a 40-yard scoring pass from Nick Crusco to Diamente Holloway with just over five minutes left in the third quarter.
Hopkins closed the scoring in the fourth quarter with touchdown runs by Ryan Cary and Tyler Messinger, both of which were set up by turnovers forced by the Johns Hopkins defense.
While Johns Hopkins was scoring on its first seven possessions of the game, the Johns Hopkins defense was making things difficult on the Susquehanna offense. The Crusaders were forced to punt on their first five possessions, scored a touchdown on their sixth, and then ended the game with turnovers on their final five possessions. Johns Hopkins allowed just 213 yards of total offense, had the five forced turnovers, registered two sacks and held SU to just 3-of-12 on third down conversions.
Germano and the Blue Jay offense rolled up 556 yards of total offense on 324 yards rushing and 232 yards passing. Seven different players scored touchdowns for Johns Hopkins, which went over the 50-point mark for the second consecutive week and the 500-yard mark for the second straight game as well.
Johns Hopkins will return to action on Saturday, September 19 when the Blue Jays travel to Moravian. The Greyhounds improved to 2-0 overall and 1-0 in the Centennial with a 40-8 win at McDaniel earlier today.
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