LEXINGTON, Va. - Johns Hopkins, ranked 13th in the nation by D3football.com, rallied from a 10-point deficit in the final six minutes of regulation and then topped host Washington & Lee, 32-29, on a 17-yard touchdown pass from sophomore David Tammaro to junior Luke McFadden on the Blue Jays' first possession of overtime Friday night.
With the win, the Blue Jays extended their regular season winning streak to 42 games dating back to late in the 2012 season and won their season-opener for the seventh straight year. Hopkins has also now won 28 straight games in the month of September.
Washington & Lee got a 24-yard field goal on the opening possession of overtime from Jarrett Wright, but the Blue Jays needed just four plays to grab the come-from-behind victory as Tammaro hit McFadden down the seam on second-and-12 to secure the victory.
Johns Hopkins forced overtime with a 42-yard field goal by junior Jamie Sullivan with 22 seconds left in regulation; Sullivan's field goal capped an 11-play, 45-yard drive that saw the Blue Jays stay alive with a six-yard strike from Tammaro to Nick Fries on fourth-and-two from the W&L 39. Three plays later, Tammaro hit senior Brett Caggiano for 15 yards on a third-and-17 and Sullivan converted his game-tying and school-record-tying fourth field goal of the game to force overtime one play later.
Sullivan's field goal completed a 10-point rally for the Blue Jays in the final six minutes as a Ryan Hubley caught the first touchdown pass of his career with 5:35 remaining in the fourth quarter to jump-start the rally. Hubley's touchdown was the 10th play in a 10-play, 62-yard drive.
The Blue Jays had trailed 14-0 early in the second quarter after W&L got a pair of four-yard touchdown runs from Walker Brand in the first 17 minutes of the game. Both W&L scoring drives covered 63 yards and ate a combined 11:41 off the clock.
Johns Hopkins had the early 14-0 deficit down to 14-10 at the half as Sullivan's 21-yard field goal midway through the second quarter got the Jays on the board and Tammaro polished off a 15-play, 77-yard drive with a three-yard run just 94 seconds before halftime.
A pair of Sullivan field goals - from 44 and 21 yards - gave Hopkins a 16-14 lead midway through the third quarter, but Josh Breece's six-yard run late in the third made it 20-16 and Brand's third TD of the game midway through the fourth gave the Generals the 10-point lead at 26-16. Hubley's touchdown came just under three minutes after Brand's third score and Sullivan's game-tying strike came five minutes later. That set the stage for overtime, where Tammaro capped his first career start with the game-winning strike to McFadden.
Tammaro set Johns Hopkins single-game records for attempts (61) and completions (42) and threw for 426 yards, the most ever by a Blue Jay quarterback in a season opener and the sixth-highest total in school history. McFadden (10-141-1) and Caggiano (9-138-0) both topped 100 yards receiving.
Defensively, the Blue Jays were led by juniors Michael Curry and Robby Johnson, who both recorded a career-high nine tackles in the victory. Senior Michael Munday added eight stops for the Blue Jays.
Brand rushed for a game-high 120 yards and the three touchdowns, while Breece (95) and quarterback Matt Sgro (79) helped contribute to a 311-yard rushing effort for the Generals.
This is the first time Johns Hopkins has rallied from a 14-point deficit to win since 2008, when the Blue Jays topped Randolph-Macon, 39-31, in triple overtime after trailing 14-0 early in that game. This is also the 10th time since 1983 that Johns Hopkins has rallied from a deficit of 14 points or more to win.
Notes: Tammaro is the ninth consecutive Johns Hopkins quarterback to win the first start of his career • Hubley totaled 132 all-purpose yards in the first game of his career and fellow freshman Macauley Kilbane recorded his first career interception • Johns Hopkins punched up 484 yards of total offense; the Blue Jays have now topped the 400-yard mark in 21 straight games • The Blue Jays are now 34-11-1 under head coach Jim Margraff in games played on Friday night.
- 30 -