Sept. 5, 2015
The teams traded points on the first four possessions of the game as Hopkins built a 14-10 lead at the end of the opening 15 minutes. Trailing 10-7 late in the period, Germano hit junior Bradley Munday across the middle and Munday raced untouched into the end zone for a 50-yard scoring strike. That play jump-started a 42-point run for the Blue Jays, who turned the 10-7 deficit into a 49-10 lead late in the third quarter.
A 21-point second quarter for Johns Hopkins extended the lead to 35-10 at the half with Germano having a hand in two of the three Blue Jay touchdowns in the period. He opened the scoring with a 12-yard touchdown run to cap a nine-play, 49-yard drive early in the quarter before junior Stuart Walters got loose on a 69-yard scoring run with 8:02 left in the opening half to push the lead to 28-10. When Germano found David Brookhart all alone down the seam just over five minutes later from 32 yards out, the Blue Jays had their 25-point halftime lead.
Any hopes of a Randolph-Macon comeback were dashed on the opening possession of the second half as Germano took the Blue Jays 55 yards on nine plays and capped the drive with a seven-yard touchdown pass to Munday.
Germano polised off his season-opening effort late in the third quarter when he floated a pass to junior Quinn Donaldson in the corner of the end zone from 18 yards out to extend the lead to a game-high 39 (49-10).
A four-yard touchdown run by Dom Kaopua for Randolph-Macon and a 20-yard field goal by Johns Hopkins' Jamie Sullivan closed the scoring in the fourth quarter.
A 42-point run didn't look like it would be coming early on as Randolph-Macon sandwiched a 27-yard Seth Yurgel field goal and a 28-yard touchdown pass from Joseph Vairo to Eric Hoy on its first two possessions around an eight-yard touchdown pass from Germano to Walters. At that point, the `Jackets had 10 points and 145 yards of total offense on just two possessions.
It took just 49 seconds for the Blue Jays to answer Hoy's touchdown as Germano's 50-yard strike to Munday jump-started the decisive 42-point spree. After allowing those 145 yards on its first two drives, the Blue Jay defense held the Yellow Jackets to just 77 on its next four drives combined and the Germano-led offense was busy pushing the lead beyond reach.
Germano's five TD passes were one shy of the JHU record for most in an opener (Hewitt Tomlin, 6 vs. USMMA in 2011) and his 320 yards were nearly five times his career total entering the game. His effort fueled the 621-yard showing, which ranks as the fifth-best total in school history and the most ever in a season-opener.
Munday accounted for a career-high 229 all-purpose yards, including a personal-best 155 on 10 catches, including the two which went for touchdowns. Walters needed just eight carries to gain his team-high 91 yards on the ground; Johns Hopkins rushed for 294 yards on 54 attempts with Walters, sophomore Ryan Cary (89) and Germano (66) all gaining at least 65 yards.
Defensively, the Blue Jays got eight tackles from junior Jack Campbell and seven each from juniors Dan Johnson and Kyle Bonci. Johnson also added the second interception of his career. The Blue Jays were particularly effective on third downs as Randolph-Macon converted just five-of-17 on the day.
Vairo was 19-of-35 for 215 yards with the one touchdown and one interception. Hoy was his favorite target as he totaled eight receptions for 91 yards and the one score. John Byrd, who was effective running the ball early in the game, finished with 59 yards on 14 carries.
Notes: Johns Hopkins topped 275 yards rushing (294) and 300 yards passing (327) for just the second time in school history • JHU is now 22-9 against ODAC teams under head coach Jim Margraff • JHU has won 12 straight regular season road games • Germano is the eighth straight Johns Hopkins quarterback to win the first start of his career.
- Pride and Poise -