BALTIMORE, Md. – A 33-yard touchdown pass from Joe Callahan to Steve Koudossou with 13 seconds left gave the 14th-ranked Wesley College football team a 29-24 win over No. 8 Johns Hopkins (10-1) in the First Round of the NCAA Playoffs on a cold & windy Saturday afternoon at Homewood Field. The Wolverines (9-2) advance to its ninth-straight NCAA Second Round where they will take on Ithaca College on Saturday, November 30.
Wesley squibbed the kickoff after its two-point conversion attempt was no good and the Blue Jays downed the ball at its own 30-yard line. With JHU having no timeouts left and just 12 seconds remaining, senior Malik Jones sacked Johns Hopkins quarterback Robbie Matey for a five yard loss to seal the victory for the Wolverines, snapping a 11-game home winning streak for the Blue Jays.
Johns Hopkins came back from a 23-14 fourth quarter deficit with a 25-yard field goal by Nick Campbell and a 10-yard touchdown pass to Daniel Wodicka with 50 seconds left in the game to take a 24-23 lead. Jeremiah Howe took the ensuing kickoff from his own endzone to the Wesley 18-yard line and Callahan hit Koudossou on passes of 36 and 13 yards to get to the Blue Jays 33-yard line.
Following a pair of incomplete passes, Koudossou got open on a deep post and hauled in the game-winning pass. The game-winning catch gave the Waldorf, Md., native 11 catches for 132 yards and his third touchdown grab of the day. Koudossou now ranks second in team history with 136 receptions and 30 touchdown receptions while sitting fifth with 2,179 receiving yards and 35 total touchdowns.
Callahan finished the day 27-of-43 for 244 yards and four touchdowns and went over the 20 touchdown mark for the season (21).
It was a seesaw battle during the first half in a game that had the makings of a shootout from the onset. Wesley went ahead first on a five-yard touchdown pass to Koudossou midway through the first, snapping a four game scoreless streak for the junior wideout, but Johns Hopkins responded right back with a touchdown drive of its own.
Jon Storck made a 26-yard field goal early in the second quarter, but after another time consuming drive by the Blue Jays resulted in another touchdown, the Wolverines regained the lead with 4:38 left in the half on a 16-yard pass to Kyle George.
With the halftime score at 17-14 in favor of the Navy & White, a wild third quarter was expected, but the defenses held strong and the score remained the same to start the fourth quarter. That quickly changed as Koudossou grabbed his second touchdown of the day from ten yards out just ten seconds into the quarter.
Storck's extra point was no good which kept the score just 23-14 in favor of Wesley before Hopkins rallied to take the lead with just under a minute left.
Koudossou was not the only skill player with a big game as Bryce Shade recorded career-highs in catches (6) and receiving yards (54) while also averaging 15.5 yards on two punt returns and 31.5 yards on a pair of kick returns.
Despite not putting up big numbers, Jamar Baynard had several big runs when it mattered most, carrying the load 17 times for 47 yards.
Johns Hopkins outgained the Wolverines, 382-311 on the day with 188 yards coming on the ground as Stuart Walters ran for 97 yards on 21 carries. The Wolverines defense was stout on the other Blue Jays ball carriers as Brandon Cherry and JD Abbott combined for just 31 yards on 13 carries. Matey ran for 60 yards while throwing for 194 yards, a touchdown and an interception in his final collegiate game.
Jordan Wescott and Luke Maginnis were credited with a team-high ten tackles apiece while Wescott also recorded a tackle for loss and forced a fumble. In the trenches, Payton Rose and Jones each had nine tackles with a sack and a forced fumble.
Zane Campbell and Dyamond Ruffin also came up big for Wesley with eight tackles each while juniors Sosthene Kapepula and Derrick Bender combined for 12 tackles with 2.0 tackles for loss apiece. Bender also intercepted a pass.