SALISBURY, MD – The 17th-ranked Johns Hopkins football team jumped out to a 35-7 first half lead and never looked back in a 45-20 win at 11th-ranked Salisbury in the first round of the 2021 NCAA Division III Playoffs Saturday afternoon at Sea Gull Stadium. The win improves Hopkins' record to 10-1, while the Sea Gulls end the season at 8-2.
Johns Hopkins advances to the second round of the playoffs and will play Mount Union, which advanced with a 52-0 win over Washington & Lee earlier today. The location of that game will be announced on Sunday, November 21.
The Blue Jays watched the Sea Gulls take the opening kickoff and march 75 yards on just four plays to grab a quick 7-0 lead less than two minutes into the game. Salisbury gained more than 18 yards on three of the four plays on the drive with Hunter Cleaver covering the final 30 yards to give SU the early lead.
By the time the Sea Gulls scored again, the Blue Jays had scored 35 straight points to turn the early seven-point deficit into a 28-point lead late in the second quarter. Hopkins was equally effective passing and rushing the ball and rolled up 364 first-half yards on just 31 plays.
As quickly as the Blue Jays had fallen behind, they grabbed the lead as Ryan Stevens polished off the first Blue Jay possession with a 32-yard touchdown pass to Harrison Wellmann and he added a 70-yard strike to Wellmann late in the quarter to make it 14-7 after the opening 15 minutes.
The seven-point lead swelled to 21 points in the first five minutes of the second quarter as junior Danny Wolf went in on second-and-goal from the six on JHU's first drive of the period and the Blue Jay offense capitalized on a Chris James fumble recovery two plays later as Wolf added a 30-yard touchdown run on JHU's fourth play after the recovery to make it 28-7.
Wolf's first touchdown covered the final six yards in a 99-yard drive that saw Stevens connect with Quinn Revere over the top for a 71-yard gain; Wolf's TD came three plays later.
The 28-7 lead held for more than seven minutes before the Blue Jays pieced together their final scoring drive of the first half, a 70-yarder that saw Stevens call his own number from 15 yards out that made it 35-7.
The Sea Gulls grabbed some momentum heading into the half as they put together an impressive drive that started at their own two-yard line and ended 10 plays later with a 29-yard Chad Gleason scoring run with 33 ticks left on the first-half clock.
Any momentum Salisbury carried into the half was gone quickly in the third quarter used just 106 seconds and five plays to cover 64 yards on their opening possession with Stevens dropping a perfect fade into the hands of Wellmann from 17 yards to make it 42-14 and John Krill added a 22-yard field goal on JHU's next possession to push the lead to 45-14 midway through the period.
Salisbury closed the scoring midway through the fourth quarter when Gleason got behind the Blue Jay secondary and haled in a 44-yard touchdown reception from Jack Lantham.
Stevens was 17-of-24 for 346 yards and three touchdowns and added the one rushing score. Wellmann (5-141-3) and Revere (5-147) both went over the 100-yard receiving mark and Wolf carried 20 times for 136 yards and the two scores.
Nick Seidel, Matt Dubois and Macauley Kilbane tied for the team-lead with nine tackles each. The Blue Jay defense recorded five sacks and added the James fumble recovery.
Lantham threw for 204 yards and the one touchdown, while Gleason rushed for a team-high 73 yards and one touchdown and added three receptions for 89 yards and the one score.
Notes: Wellmann matched his career high with the three touchdown receptions – he is the first Blue Jay to record three TD receptions in an NCAA Playoff game • The 45 points are the-highest single-game total for JHU in an NCAA game • The 71-yard and 70-yard receptions for Revere and Wellmann are the two longest receptions in Johns Hopkins' 20-game NCAA playoff history.
Johns Hopkins Rolls Past Salisbury, 45-20, Into Second Round of NCAA Playoffs
/seasons/2021/boxscores/20211120_end1.xml
2021
Johns Hopkins
45
Salisbury
20
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | T |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. 17 Johns Hopkins (10-1) | 14 | 21 | 10 | 0 | 45 |
| No. 12 Salisbury (8-2) | 7 | 7 | 0 | 6 | 20 |
Nov 20, 2021
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