SALISBURY, MD – The 13th-ranked (D3football.com) Johns Hopkins football team outscored host Salisbury 29-0 in the second half to turn a one-score game into a 42-7 victory at Sea Gull Stadium Saturday afternoon. With the victory, the Blue Jays improve to 3-0 on the year, while the Sea Gulls slip to 1-2 with the loss.
The Blue Jay defense set the tone after halftime as they stopped the Sea Gulls on their first possession after SU returned the opening kickoff of the third quarter to the Hopkins 43, but were forced to punt four plays later. The Blue Jays took over at their own 20, used a 26-yard Bay Harvey-to-Cole Crotty completion to move to midfield and a Harvey-to-Crotty 35-yard completion to move inside the Sea Gull 10. On fourth-and-goal at the three, Crotty took Harvey's pop pass behind the line and raced to the pylon for the score; the Blue Jays converted the two-point attempt to make it 21-7.
It was another big play by the Blue Jay defense that led to Hopkins' next touchdown as junior Cole Peters intercepted a Salisbury pass over the middle to set Hopkins up at the Sea Gull 31-yard line. Seven plays later, Harvey found Josh Polce alone in the back of the end zone to push the lead to 28-7.
After generating 176 yards of offense in the first half, the Sea Gulls were limited to just 55 yards in the second half and Hopkins put the game away with two fourth-quarter touchdowns, a one-yard run from Geoff Schroeder, who capped his 148-yard day on the ground with the one-yard plunge early in the fourth, and a two-yard run from Jacob Chapman late in the game that closed out the scoring.
After both teams struggled to move the ball early in the game, the Blue Jays broke the ice late in the first quarter with a six-play, 73-yard drive that junior Harvey capped with a four-yard scoring strike to Crotty. The Blue Jays had taken over at their own 27 after Salisbury missed a 44-yard field goal attempt, moved into Sea Gull territory on a career-long 39 yard run by Schroeder and Harvey hit Crotty in the back of the end zone four plays later to give the Jays the lead.
The seven-point lead held until late in the second quarter, when the teams traded touchdowns in a 68-second span to account for a 13-7 Blue Jay lead at the half.
Hopkins extended the lead to 13-0 with 3:08 remaining in the first half as the Blue Jays turned another missed Sea Gull field goal into a 10-play, 80-yard touchdown drive that Andrew Rich polished off with a six-yard run up the middle.
It took the 'Gulls just 68 seconds to answer as Ben Hutchins hit Jaden Davis on the run down the middle on third-and-five from the Salisbury 28-yard line and Davis raced untouched into the end zone to make it 13-7. That score held for the last two minutes of the first half and the first 6:34 of the second before Crotty ignited the 29-point run with his second touchdown catch of the game.
Inside the Box Score – Johns Hopkins
• Schroeder paced a 250-yard rushing attack with his career-high 148 yards and one score. The 148 are the most by a Hopkins running back since Danny Wolf has 163 at F&M on October 1, 2022.
• Harvey was 18-of-23 for 187 yards and three touchdowns and rushed for 49 yards as well. He was 8-of-9 for 103 yards and two TDs after halftime.
• Crotty (7-95-2) and Polce (9-73-1) combined for 16 receptions for 168 yards and three TDs.
• Peters, Luke Schuermann and Isaac Urquidi paced the Blue Jay defense with eight tackles apiece. Peters had the interception that led to the third-quarter touchdown and Schuermann counted 3.5 TFLs and two sacks among his eight stops.
Inside the Box Score – Salisbury
• Hutchins threw for 128 yards and the one score, but he and backup Micah Brubaker were a combined 4-of-13 and 72 of Salisbury's 135 passing yards came on the touchdown pass to Davis.
• Hutchins rushed for a team-high 44 yards with 30 of those coming on one play. The Blue Jay defense held the Sea Gull triple option attack to just 96 yards rushing on 33 attempts.
• Salisbury was just 1-of-10 on third-down chances as lost the possession battle by more than 10 minutes (35:08 – 24:52).
Notes of Interest
• The Blue Jays are 3-0 for the 15th time since 2002.
• Johns Hopkins grabs a victory in its road opener for the 11th time in the last 12 seasons.
• With the victory, JHU is now 48-4 in its last 52 games in the month of September, including a remarkable 25-3 on the road.
Johns Hopkins will return to action on Saturday, September 30 when the Blue Jays travel to Rowan to take on the Profs (1 pm).
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