Sept. 24, 2016
ALLENTOWN, PA -- Senior safety Jack Toner may or may not end up as Johns Hopkins' career record-holder for interceptions, but the two he added to his total on Muhlenberg's final two possessions on Saturday -- both in the end zone -- sealed a thrilling 30-24 victory for the ninth-ranked Blue Jays over the 24th-ranked Mules.
For the record, the two interceptions give Toner 14 in his career, a total that ties him for fourth in school history. The two interceptions clinched the win, but were hardly the only storyline in what can only be described as an instant Centennial Conference classic and one of the top games in the 34-year history of league play.
Rarely does a game of this magnitude live up to the advance hype; this one did.
The game was less than seven minutes old and Hopkins (4-0, 3-0 Centennial) had already jumped to a 14-7 lead as senior quarterback Jonathan Germano sandwiched a 37-yard touchdown pass to Brett Caggiano and a 16-yard scoring strike to Luke McFadden around a 37-yard scoring pass by Muhlenberg quarterback Nick Palladino to Ryan Delaney.
The Mules (3-1, 2-1 Centennial) answered the Germano-to-McFadden touchdown with a 12-yard run by Nick Savant late in the first quarter to make it 14-14.
In the game of which offense would blink first, it was a Blue Jay fumbled deep in their own territory that tilted momentum in Muhlenberg's favor. Taking over at the Johns Hopkins 31 just over four minutes into the second quarter, the Mules needed eight plays to cover that distance as Savant powered in from three yards out to make it 21-14.
At that point, the Mules had scored touchdowns on three of their four possessions. They would have 10 more possessions in the game, but never found the end zone again.
The Blue Jays sliced the deficit to 21-17 on a 38-yard field goal by Jamie Sullivan four minutes after Savant's second score of the game and he added a 20-yarder as time expired in the first half to make it 24-20. Todd Spirt drilled a 28-yarder for Muhlenberg with 1:59 left in the half, but the Blue Jays went 67 yards in nine plays and got Sullivan's field goal to make it a four-point game at the intermission.
The offensive fireworks of the first half -- the teams combined for the 44 points and 551 yards of total offense in the opening 30 minutes -- slowed in second as the defenses settled down.
Ten combined possessions in the third quarter resulted in five turnovers, two punts, a missed field goal and a turnover on downs, but Hopkins did put together a seven-play, 80 yard drive after Spirt missed a 23-yard field goal and Cary went in from five yards out to give the Blue Jays a 27-24 lead late in the period. A 16-yard completion from Germano to McFadden on third-and-11 and a 49-yard strike to Caggiano highlighted the drive.
The missed field goal by Spirt came after the Mules had taken over on the Blue Jay 12-yard line after an interception, but three plays netted just six yards and Spirt was wide right; Cary's touchdown run came just over two minutes later.
Johns Hopkins had a chance to extend the lead early in the fourth quarter, but Sullivan missed from 38 yards. The Blue Jay defense stopped Muhlenberg on downs on its ensuing possession and Sullivan gave the Blue Jays the 30-24 lead when he connected from 34 yards out with 3:55 to play.
Nobody officially timed how long it took to play those last four minutes, but it sure felt like forever.
Palladino needed eight plays to take the Mules from their own seven to the Johns Hopkins 25 after Sullivan's field goal and he had them at first and goal at the Hopkins six before Toner intercepted a deflected ball in the end zone on second down with 42.5 seconds remaining.
Three runs and three Muhlenberg timeouts later and the Blue Jays were forced to punt; the Mules had life from the Blue Jay 45 with 19 ticks on the clock.
A pair of Palladino incompletions were followed by Toner's game-ending interception in the end zone as time expired. For all that first-half offense, it was a pair of defensive plays on Muhlenberg's last two possessions that pushed Hopkins' regular season winning streak to 35 games and its Centennial Conference winning streak to 31.
Toner's two picks will be remembered, but Hopkins' top three tacklers were Garrett Spek (16 tackles, two sacks, one pass breakup), Jack Campbell (14 tackles, one sack, one interception, one forced fumble) and Dan Johnson (12 tackles, one sack), who all seemed to make plays from sideline to sideline.
Germano was 23-of-42 for 332 yards with the two touchdowns and two interceptions and he also rushed for 28 yards. Caggiano (5-155-1) and senior Bradley Munday (9-103-0) both topped 100 yards receiving and Cary rushed 26 times for 100 yards and the one score.
Palladino finished 30-of-51 for 324 yards with one touchdown against three interceptions. Savant rushed for 146 yards and the two scores and Delaney (10-153-1) and Nick Lamb (10-85) both had 10 catches on the day.
Either Johns Hopkins or Muhlenberg has earned at least a share of every Centennial Conference football championship except for one since 2001. With six games remaining in the regular season, it's far too early to tell if that streak will continue, but Saturday's game sure looked like a matchup of the two best teams in the league over the last 15 years -- it surely lived up to the hype.
- Pride and Poise -