Oct. 31, 2015
BALTIMORE, MD -- The eighth-ranked Johns Hopkins football team scored 21 points in a six-minute span late in the second quarter to turn a 14-6 lead into a 35-6 halftime advantage and the Blue Jays rolled up 536 yards of total offense in a 49-13 win over Ursinus at Homewood Field Saturday afternoon. The win improves the Blue Jays' record 8-0 overall and 7-0 in the Centennial Conference, while the Bears dropped their fourth straight and slip to 2-6 overall and 1-6 in the Centennial.
The win is the 29th straight in the regular season, 26th straight in the Centennial Conference and 19th straight in October for Johns Hopkins, which is also 8-0 for the fifth straight season.
After building a 14-0 first-quarter lead, the Blue Jays had just an eight-point lead after Asa Manley powered his way up the middle from 10 yards out to get Ursinus on the board with just over 10 minutes remaining in the first half.
Johns Hopkins answered with three straight touchdown drives that took a total of just 14 plays and covered 158 combined yards; the three drives took a total of just four minutes.
After Manley's touchdown, the Blue Jays answered quickly as a 35-yard return on the ensuing kickoff by junior Stuart Walters set the Blue Jays up at their own 42. Seven plays and 58 yards later the Blue Jays were in the end zone with junior Jonathan Germano hitting classmate Bradley Munday from five yards out to make it 21-6.
The Johns Hopkins defense set up the next Johns Hopkins touchdown as a Keith Corliss interception gave the Blue Jays possession at their own 44-yard line. It took just one play to cover 56 yards as Germano hit Walters on a wheel route out of the backfield and Walters did the rest, cutting to the middle of the field and out-racing the secondary to the end zone to push the lead to 28-6.
Neither team did any damage on the next two possessions, but a late turnover by the Bears, this one an interception by Johns Hopkins junior Jack Toner, gave the Blue Jays another shot to score before the half.
Working from the Ursinus 44, the Blue Jays moved to the three-yard line, where Germano drew the defense up on a fake to Walters and found senior tight Michael O'Connell all alone in the end zone just 17 seconds before halftime. The touchdown reception was the first of O'Connell's career.
The scoring was finished by the end of the third quarter as Walters and senior quarterback Will Nunn had scoring runs of eight and five yards to push the lead to 49-6 before Dan Bekier recovered a Johns Hopkins fumble in the end zone late in the quarter for Ursinus to account for the 49-13 final.
Manley's touchdown run in the second quarter came after one-yard first-quarter touchdown runs by Walters and senior Brandon Cherry that had staked Hopkins to the early 14-0 lead. The momentum for the Bears was short-lived as Munday's touchdown followed shortly after and ignited the 35-0 run that Nunn capped in the third quarter.
Germano was 15-of-23 for 270 yards with three touchdowns against two interceptions and also rushed for 44 yards on 10 carries. His favorite target was once again Munday as he had seven receptions for 118 yards and the one score. Cherry rushed for a team-high 89 yards and the one score and Walters had 137 all-purpose yards and three total touchdowns.
The Johns Hopkins defense allowed just the one first-half touchdown with Bekier's fumble recovery accounting for the other Urisnus points. Dan Johnson led the Blue Jays with five tackles, while Toner, Corliss and junior Jack Campbell posted interceptions.
James Hickey rushed for 85 yards and Nick Lundholm had six receptions for 67 yards, but quarterback James Emmett was just 16-of-38 for 162 yards and threw two of the Bears' three interceptions and was sacked four times.
Tim Rafter posted a game-high 14 tackles for Ursinus, which also got 13 tackles from Cody Richmond.
Notes: Johns Hopkins set a school record for yards in a half with 410 in the first half • Johns Hopkins can clinch no worse than a share of the Centennial Conference title and the league's automatic bid to the upcoming NCAA Playoffs with a win next week against Franklin & Marshall • JHU has allowed a total of just 32 points in its last four games • Brandon Cherry's rushing touchdown was the 25th of his career and his 30th overall touchdown -- he is just the fifth player in school history to rush for 25 or more touchdowns and to total 30 or more overall touchdowns • Stuart Walters' three touchdowns give him 27 in his career, a mark that is tied for seventh in school history.
- Pride and Poise -