Oct. 5, 2013
HUNTINGDON, PA - Johns Hopkins senior quarterback Robbie Mateythrew for 386 yards and five touchdowns in last season's 40-20 victory against Juniata. He did himself slightly better in Saturday's 65-10 victory against the Eagles as he was 23-of-26 for a career-high 408 yards and personal-best six touchdowns as the 14th-ranked Blue Jays improved to 5-0 overall and 4-0 in the Centennial Conference with the win. The Eagles slip to 3-2 overall and 2-2 in the Centennial with their second consecutive loss.
The 408 yards are the fifth-highest total in school history and Matey is just the third Johns Hopkins quarterback to throw for 400 yards in a game. Three different receivers caught touchdown passes from Matey, including senior Bob D'Orazio, who turned three of his four catches on the day into touchdowns. The six TD passes are just one shy of the school record.
The Blue Jays wasted no time taking advantage of an Eagle miscue as Matey found D'Orazio in the corner of the end zone from 10 yards out two plays after Juniata punter Jonah Plymir failed to handle the snap on a punt to give the Blue Jays possession at the Eagle 18 less than two minutes into the game.
Juniata used a short field of its own to slice the deficit to 7-3 late in the first quarter. Kevin Gorman returned an interception to the Blue Jay 24 - five plays and 18 yards later a 24-yard Ken Keysor field goal drew the Eagles within four.
From there, it was all Hopkins as the Blue Jays scored 24 straight points to push the 7-3 lead to 31-3 at intermission and the run would reach 37 straight points before the Eagles scored again. Matey polished off 89 and 73-yard drives with touchdown passes of 10 and 21 yards to Jon Monteiro and D'Orazio before the game was 20 minutes old to ignite the spree. A 29-yard field goal by freshman Nick Campbell and a one-yard scoring run by sophomore Brandon Cherryin a four-minute span late in the second quarter accounted for the 28-point halftime lead for the Blue Jays.
Any hopes for a Juniata comeback were gone 76 seconds into the third quarter as the Eagle defense released D'Orazio at the line and Matey found him all alone behind the secondary for a 62-yard touchdown to make it 38-3. The Blue Jays were set up in Juniata territory less than 90 seconds later after a Ryan Rice interception gave JHU possession at the Juniata 37 and Matey found a completely uncovered Jared Beekmanalone along the sideline and he raced untouched into the end zone with just over 12 minutes remaining in the third quarter.
Juniata finally halted the run with a 13-yard touchdown pass from Ward Udinski to Kyle Shuck midway through the third quarter, before the Blue Jays closed the game by scoring the final 21 points over the last 19 minutes to account for the 65-10 final score.
While the 65 points, the fourth-highest single-game total in school history, grabbed the headlines, the Blue Jay defense was equally impressive. Juniata entered the game averaging 33 points and 437 yards per game, but managed just the 10 points and 181 yards against a Blue Jay defense that has now held all five of its opponents to 14 points or les. The Eagles managed just 38 rushing yards on 31 attempts and JC converted just 3-of-14 third-down attempts.
Matey's 408-yard effort fueled a 601-yard performance for the Blue Jay offense; the sixth-highest total in school history. D'Orazio's four receptions covered 108 yards and included the three scores. Freshman Dionisio Roman rushed for a career-high 77 yards on 17 carries, while classmate Stuart Waltersadded 61 yards on 13 attempts.
Johns Hopkins, which ran its October winning streak to 10 games and improved to 14-1 in its last 15 road games with the victory, will return to action on Friday, October 18 when the Blue Jays host Dickinson. Kickoff is set for 7 pm against the Red Devils.
Notes: D'Orazio became the 21st player in school history to reach 1,000 career receiving yards as his 108 today push his career total to 1,070 •Johns Hopkins is now just four wins shy of all-time victory number 500 - the Blue Jays improved to 496-476-58 with today's win.
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