BALTIMORE, MD - The eighth-ranked Johns Hopkins football team used a 24-0 second-quarter run to break open a tight game and the Blue Jays cruised to a 52-17 Centennial Conference victory against visiting Juniata at rain-soaked Homewood Field Saturday afternoon. The Blue Jays improve to 5-0 overall and 4-0 in the Centennial Conference and head into their bye week as the only unbeaten team in the Centennial Conference.
Johns Hopkins led 14-7 early in the second quarter after a 25-yard touchdown pass from senior Jonathan Germano to junior Ryan Cary capped a six-play, 67-yard drive. The Eagles were poised to force the second tie of the game after Matt Lehr went 68 yards on the second play of the ensuing drive to set Juniata up with a first-and-goal from the Blue Jay six-yard line. However, three David Vidovic rushes later and the Eagles were stuck at the Blue Jay two and had to settle for a 19-yard Kevin Bonalle field goal.
From there, it was all Hopkins through the half as the Blue Jays answered Bonalle's field goal with a 26-yard touchdown run by Cary and then turned a pair of turnovers into 10 points in a three-minute span to extend the lead to 31-10.
A Michael Munday interception, his second of the game, on Juniata's possession after Cary's touchdown set up a three-yard scoring run by Germano and the Blue Jays forced and recovered a fumble on the ensuing kickoff that eventually led to a 26-yard field goal by Jamie Sullivan.
Up 31-10, the Blue Jay defense forced a three-and-out after Sullivan's field goal and Johns Hopkins had one final possession in the first half. Taking over at their own 24 with 2:02 on the clock, Germano and the Blue Jays ran the two-minute drill to perfection as they covered the 76 yards in 11 plays and Germano finished off his day's work with a three-yard touchdown pass to Quinn Donaldson with eight seconds left in the half to make it 38-10. The Blue Jays were 3-for-3 on third-downs on the drive with Germano connecting with Donaldson for 38 yards on a third-and-12 to keep the drive alive.
Juniata needed less than a minute of the third quarter - 41 seconds to be exact - to slice the 28-point deficit to 21 as Ryan Bologa scooped up a fumble at the Blue Jay 31-yard line and raced untouched into the end zone to give the Eagles some early second-half momentum.
That momentum didn't last long - 13 seconds as it turned out - as Bradley Munday returned the ensuing kickoff 86 yards for a touchdown to push the lead back to 28 at 45-17. The kickoff return for a score was the longest of Munday's career, the first for a touchdown by a Johns Hopkins player since Richard Hill took one back 90 yards at McDaniel in 2007 and the sixth-longest in school history.
Johns Hopkins closed out the scoring with a two-yard touchdown pass from sophomore Zack Baker to Donaldson just over three minutes after Munday's kickoff return to account for the final scoring.
While the 52 points may grab the headlines, it was the Blue Jay defense, which stiffened after Juniata generated 197 yards and 10 points on its first three possessions, that made the difference. The Eagle offense generated a total of just 44 yards on its six possessions after the first three and two of those six ended with turnovers that Hopkins cashed in on to take control.
Germano was 15-of-22 for 175 yards and two touchdowns and rushed for 78 yards and two more scores to lead the way offensively for Johns Hopkins. Cary rushed for 78 yards and one score and added four receptions for 49 yards and another score, while Donaldson had seven receptions for 109 yards and two touchdowns for Johns Hopkins.
Lehr rushed for a game-high 119 yards and one touchdown and senior Kirby Breault had six receptions for 116 yards for Juniata, but two quarterbacks combined to go just 10-of-24 for 140 yards with three interceptions and the Eagles couldn't keep pace with Hopkins' second quarter surge.
Johns Hopkins will return to action on Friday, October 14 when the Blue Jays travel to Dickinson (0-5, 0-4 Centennial).
Notes: The 31 points the Blue Jays scored in the second quarter are the most ever by a Johns Hopkins team in one quarter; the previous record of 28 was set at Juniata in 2009 and matched at McDaniel in 2013 • The win today extended Johns Hopkins' Centennial Conference winning streak to 32 games, one shy of the league record of 33 (McDaniel: 1997-2001) • The Blue Jays also extended their winning streaks in the regular season (36) and October (20) • Since the Centennial Conference went to a league-wide bye after the fifth game of the season in 2011, the Blue Jays are 30-0 in games played before the bye week • Johns Hopkins' five opponents to date are a combined 15-9 with five of those nine losses coming to JHU • Quinn Donaldson became the 15th player in school history to reach 100 career receptions (105) • Jonathan Germano became the sixth player in school history to go over 5,000 career yards of offense (5,083) • Zack Baker has completed 20 consecutive passes dating back to last season.
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