BALTIMORE, MD – Johns Hopkins junior running back Danny Wolf rushed for a school-record five touchdowns to go along with a career-high 129 yards and the 14th-ranked Blue Jays used a smothering defensive effort to power past visiting Franklin & Marshall, 66-10, at Homewood Field Saturday afternoon. The Blue Jays hit the bye week with a perfect 5-0 record, including a 4-0 mark in the Centennial Conference, while the Diplomats slip to 1-4 overall and 1-3 in the Centennial.
When F&M's Ryan McArthur recovered a blocked punt in the end zone with 81 seconds remaining in the first half, a 20-3 Blue Jay lead had shrunk to 20-10 and the Diplomats appeared poised to carry the momentum into halftime. By the time F&M registered another first down – on the next-to-last play of the third quarter – the Blue Jay lead had ballooned to 52-10.
Johns Hopkins used all 81 seconds remaining in the first half after McArthur's touchdown to move 61 yards in eight plays and ended the half with a 23-yard John Krill field goal. From there, it was three lightning-quick touchdown drives in the first 6:13 of the third quarter and a more methodical one later that capped the period that put the game away. In the third quarter alone, Johns Hopkins …
• Opened the quarter by going 75-yards on five players with Wolf polishing things off with a career-long 52-yard scoring run (13:17 on the third-quarter clock).
• Went 66-yards in just five plays and 99 seconds with Wolf going in from one-yard out to make it 38-10 (10:12).
• Needed just one play to go 60 yards as Ryan Stevens hit Harrison Wellmann in-stride to push the lead to 45-10 (8:47).
• After scoring two touchdowns in the first half, Wolf added his third of the third quarter and school-record fifth of the game with a two-yard run that capped an 11-play, 65-yard drive with 2:44 left in the period.
While the Blue Jay offense was busy scoring 29 third-quarter points, the Blue Jay defense was effectively shutting down the Diplomat offense. In the decisive third quarter, the Diplomats ran 13 plays for 20 yards and managed their only first down of the quarter on the last play of the period when Logan Clouse hit Nate Calderon with a six-yard completion on third-and-six.
A 31-yard scoring run from freshman Andrew Rich and a 27-yard touchdown reception from senior Bailey Finkelberg before the fourth quarter was seven minutes old closed out the scoring for the Blue Jays, who totaled 43 points and 418 yards of total offense after halftime.
In a game the Blue Jays never trailed, they couldn't quite put the Diplomats away until the third-quarter explosion. Wolf (2, 1) and Spencer Uggla (4) had first-half scoring runs that were answered only by a 22-yard field goal by Jake Rodenberger in the opening 26 minutes to account for the 20-3 lead. When McArthur recovered the blocked punt for the touchdown three minutes after Wolf's second touchdown the opening half, the Blue Jay lead was down to 20-10 and F&M was less than 90 seconds from hitting the half down just 10. Krill's field goal changed that and Wolf's 52-yard run less than two minutes into the third quarter was the start of the 43-point second-half run for the Blue Jays.
The Johns Hopkins defense held F&M to just six first down, 31 yards rushing on 28 attempts (1.1 yards/attempt) and 77 yards passing while forcing three turnovers and generating three sacks. The Diplomats had just one drive in the game that generated more than 17 yards and went over 100 yards of total offense for the game with an 11-yard pass on the last play of the game. Chris James had a team-high six tackles, while Aaron Shapiro had five tackles, including a sack, and forced two fumbles.
Wolf's five rushing touchdowns and five overall touchdowns are both school single-game records and his 129-yards on the ground were part of a rushing attack that generated 225 yards and seven scores on the day. Stevens was 23-of-35 for 376 yards with one score and Wellmann had nine receptions for 180 yards and the one touchdown.
Clouse was harassed into an 8-of-20 passing effort that generated just 57 yards; he threw two interceptions and was sacked twice. Mitch Wagner rushed for a team-high 11 yards on four carries and Ben Moir had a team-high three receptions for 18 yards for F&M.
Johns Hopkins will return to action on Friday, October 15 when the Blue Jays travel to Muhlenberg to take on the Mules. Kickoff at Scotty Wood Stadium is set for 7 pm.
Notes: The Johns Hopkins defense has not allowed a touchdown in 57 straight possessions dating back to the second quarter of a 49-21 win over Ursinus on September 11 • The Blue Jays have scored 50 or more points in each of the last three games, four of five this season and five of the last six dating back to 2019 • Wellmann became the sixth player in school history with 25 career TD receptions and the 18th with 3,000 or more all-purpose yards (3,119) • The Blue Jays have outscored the opposition 66-0 in the third quarter this season.