Oct. 4, 2014
BALTIMORE, MD - The 10th-ranked Johns Hopkins football team took all the drama out of Saturday's Centennial Conference game against Juniata by scoring touchdowns on six of its first seven possessions en route to a 56-14 victory at Homewood Field. Hopkins rolled up 355 yards of total offense in the first half and never looked back in winning for the 39th time in its last 40 regular season games.
The Blue Jays had run 24 plays, amassed 153 yards of total offense and built a 14-0 lead before the game was 11 minutes old as a nine-play 61-yard drive opened the game and a 15-play, 92-yard drive followed a Juniata punt on its first possession. A seven-yard Stuart Walters scoring run capped the opening drive, while the first of senior quarterback Braden Anderson's three touchdown passes - a 23-yard toss to junior Ryan Finkel - polished off the second.
The Eagles sliced the deficit in half with their best drive of the first half to make it 14-7 early in the second quarter. A seven-play, 68-yard drive that saw Juniata's Ward Udinski complete all six of his attempts for 63 yards ended with a 25-yard strike from Udinski to Kirby Breault from 25 yards out to halt the Blue Jays' game-opening run.
The Blue Jays turned the one-score game into a 21-point lead late in the second quarter with back-to-back touchdowns in a span of less than three minutes. The drives were vintage Hopkins; one methodical, one quick-strike.
Taking over at their 33 following Breault's touchdown, the Blue Jays mixed the run and pass to keep the Eagle defense off balance and used 12 plays and 4:45 off the clock with junior Brandon Cherry going in from eight yards out to make it 21-7. Only twice were the Blue Jays forced into third-down situations on the drive.
After the Blue Jay defense forced a quick punt, Hopkins took possession at their own 37. Two completions from Anderson to sophomore Bradley Munday had Hopkins at the Juniata 46 and sophomore Dionisio Roman took it from there as he bounced outside on second-and-10 and streaked untouched down the sideline to give the Blue Jays a 28-7 lead. The 46-yard run is the longest by a Johns Hopkins player this season.
Juniata threatened to slice the deficit to 28-14 before halftime as the Eagles drove from their own one-yard line to the Blue Jay 21 following Roman's touchdown, but Udinski was intercepted in the end zone by sophomore Jack Toner to kill the threat with 1:18 left in the half.
The proverbial two-score swing was complete 70 seconds later as Walters opened with two runs that covered a total of 21 yards and Anderson fired consecutive 17-yard completions to junior Evan Adamo and sophomore Quinn Donaldson. Anderson capped the drive with a four-yard strike to Munday with 8.3 seconds on the clock to make it 35-7 at the half.
A 20-yard touchdown pass from Anderson to Walters early in the third quarter was answered by a one-yard run by Juniata's Deonte Altston before Alec Sinatro and Ryan Cary closed the scoring with runs that covered one and 16 yards, respectively.
Johns Hopkins rolled up a season-high 544 yards on the strength of a strong running game and an efficient passing game. Roman led the Blue Jay ground attack as he rushed for a season-high 72 yards and the one score, while Cherry (62 yards - 1 TD), Walters (59-1), Sinatro (36-1), junior Will Nunn (36-0) and Cary (34-1) helped fuel a rushing attack that accounted for 316 yards and five touchdowns.
Anderson was 20-of-27 for 203 yards with three touchdowns in just over a half. Finkel and Munday posted identical stat lines with five receptions for 49 yards and one touchdown.
The Johns Hopkins defense came up with three interceptions, posted two sacks, held the Eagles to just 87 rushing yards and a 3-for-9 showing on third-down conversions. Toner posted a team-high six tackles to go along with his interception in the end zone.
Udinski was 20-of-30 for 225 yards with the one score and added 38 yards rushing. Isaiah Slutter and Breault both had five receptions for 93 yards with Breault on the back end of Udinski's one touchdown pass.
Johns Hopkins, which ran its regular-season winning streak to 16 games and its October winning streak to 13 games with today's victory, will return to action on Friday, October 17 when the Blue Jays travel to Dickinson. The Red Devils topped Franklin & Marshall, 27-14, earlier today.
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