BALTIMORE – In a game that featured 79 points, nearly 1,200 yards of offense and more than 175 offensive plays, it was a stop on fourth-and-one in the final two minutes by the Wesley defense than ultimately proved to be the difference as the Wolverines topped host Johns Hopkins, 42-37, in the second round of the NCAA Division III playoffs Saturday afternoon.
The Wolverines move on to the NCAA Quarterfinals, where they will take on top-ranked Mount Union, a 66-7 winner earlier today against Albright. For the second time in three years, the Blue Jays had a storybook season end at the hands of their regional rival from Delaware.
Staring down the barrel of what would likely have been the game-deciding touchdown by Wesley, the Blue Jay defense forced its fourth turnover of the game inside their own 10 when freshman Michael Curry popped the ball loose from Bryce Shade and junior Jack Toner recovered at the five for Hopkins.
Consecutive runs by junior Stuart Walters, the second a 22-yard sprint, and a 15-yard facemask by Wesley quickly moved the ball to the Wolverine 38. Five plays and 25 yards later, the Blue Jays faced fourth-and-one at the 13, but Walters was stopped short of the first down by Roderick Caine and James Williamson and the Wolverines were able to get the one first down they needed to run out the clock and escape Homewood Field again with a five-point playoff victory against the Blue Jays.
Two years ago, it was a touchdown pass from Joe Callahan with 13 seconds left that pulled out a 29-24 victory for the Wolverines. This time, it was the defense that saved the win for Wesley.
A late-game stand by the defense didn't seem like it would be necessary for Wesley after the Wolverines turned a 10-7 second-quarter deficit into a 21-10 halftime lead with two touchdowns in in the final 2:34. That 14-point spree ignited a 28-7 run that started with a one-yard run by a Callahan and a 40-yard touchdown reception by Alex Kemp in the second quarter.
The Blue Jays (11-1) made it 21-17 less than six minutes into the third quarter when junior Jonathan Germano hit senior Evan Adamo with a 22-yard touchdown pass, but Callahan found Kyle George in the corner of the end zone four minutes later and Jamar Baynard added a three-yard scoring run with 1:56 left in the period to make it 35-17.
It took two plays in the fourth quarter for the margin to be sliced to 11, courtesy of a nine-yard scoring pass from Germano to Brett Caggiano, but just 63 seconds for it to be back to 18, courtesy of a 60-yard touchdown pass from Callahan to James Okike.
Down 42-24, the Blue Jays quickly answered with a six-play, 70-yard drive that Germano capped with a six-yard touchdown pass to junior Bradley Munday to pull within 42-31 with just under 12 minutes remaining. Still, Wesley had scored 21 points on its last three possessions and the Blue Jays could not afford to simply trade scores.
Taking over at its own 34 after Munday's touchdown, the Wolverines worked just inside Johns Hopkins territory and were faced with a fourth-and-one of their own at the Blue Jay 47. Maynard tried the left side, but Tory Prati and Arman Mizani stood him up and Hopkins had the stop it desperately needed.
Three plays later, senior Brandon Cherry broke through the right side of the line and raced 38 yards untouched into the end zone. Trailing 42-37, the Blue Jays went for two, but misfired on a pass from Germano to junior Quinn Donaldson.
Wesley (11-1) took over from its own 25 after the ensuing kickoff and never faced a third down in moving inside the Blue Jay 10, but Curry forced the Shade fumble along the sideline on first-and-goal and the Hopkins defense had come up with the other stop it needed with 4:18 on the clock.
Seven plays and 82 yards later the Blue Jays lined up with the season on the line and handed it to Walters, but Wesley got just enough push to slow him and wrapped him up short of the first down. When Callahan hit Baynard with an 11-yard completion on a third-and-six from the 17 a short time later, all the Wolverines needed to do to secure the win was take a knee three times.
Callahan was 34-of-47 for 469 yards and four touchdowns and also rushed for 66 yards and another score; three first-half interceptions, almost half as many as the seven he threw in the first 11 games, didn't come back to haunt him.
Okike was his favorite target as he totaled nine receptions for 249 yards and two scores. Baynard rushed for 123 yards and one score as the Wolverines rolled up 691 yards on 96 plays.
Germano finished his second career playoff start 27-of-42 for 306 yards with four touchdowns and hit Munday 11 times for 99 yards and the one score. Caggiano (5-78-1), Donaldson (4-53-1) and Adamo (3-49-1) all added touchdown receptions and Walters rushed 15 times for 108 yards.
Junior Jack Campbell paced the Blue Jay defense with a career-high 21 tackles and had one of the three interceptions of Callahan. Sophomore Michael Munday totaled nine tackles and added two interceptions and one pass breakup.
Notes: The Johns Hopkins seniors close their career with a record of 42-5 – the 42 wins are the most ever in a four-year period in school and Centennial Conference history • Germano matched his own Johns Hopkins NCAA Playoff record with four TDs today and finishes with a school-record 35 for the season … 10 more than any other player in school history • Campbell finished the season with a team and career-high 111 tackles, the most by a Johns Hopkins player since Ryan Piatek had 111 in 2010 • The Blue Jay defense finished the season with 38 caused turnovers (26 INTs / 12 fumble recoveries), the most by a JHU defense since 2009 (41).
- Pride and Poise -