BALTIMORE, MD – The Johns Hopkins football team scored touchdowns on its first four possessions and built a 42-7 halftime lead to fuel a 49-28 victory over visiting Gettysburg at Homewood Field Friday evening. The Blue Jays improve to 5-0 overall and 1-0 in the Centennial with their eighth straight win dating back to last season, while the Bullets slip to 2-3 overall and 1-1 in the Centennial with the loss.
After Spencer Uggla opened the scoring with a five-yard touchdown run to cap an eight-play, 81-yard drive that took just over three minutes, the Blue Jays' other five first-half touchdown drives required just 12 total plays as they would roll up 364 yards of total offense before the break on just 25 plays.
Back-to-back one-play drives midway through the first quarter quickly turned the 7-0 lead into a 21-0 advantage. One play after a Luca Lutzel interception gave the Blue Jays a first-and-10 at their 45, Harvey found a wide open Cole Crotty behind the defense for a 55-yard touchdown to push the lead to 14-0.
The Johns Hopkins defense forced a Gettysburg punt on their next possession and the Blue Jays took over at their own 15. On the first play of the drive, junior Andrew Rich started left and cut back through the defense all the way across the field and raced 85 yards for touchdown.
After a three-and-out for the Bullets deep in their own end, Nick Schnaars set the Blue Jays up at the Gettysburg 32 after a 17-yard punt return and Harvey connected with Josh Polce from 27-yard out on second-and-five to give the Blue Jays a 28-0 lead after the first quarter.
The Bullets broke through on the first play of the second quarter as Peter Schelling swept around right end from 10 yards out to polish off an impressive six-play, 83-yard drive that trimmed the deficit to 28-7.
The Blue Jays used a pair of four-play scoring drives – one that covered 27 yards and another that covered 90 – to account for their final two scores of the opening 30 minutes.
The first of those two scoring drives was set up by a Cole Peters interception and led to a 15-yard Harvey-to-Burke Griffin touchdown pass midway through the second period. The Bullets took the ensuing possession into Blue Jay territory before being forced to punt. Four plays later, the Blue Jays were in the end zone again as Harvey dropped a perfect pass to Polce at the goal line from 45 yards out to close the first-half scoring.
The teams traded third-quarter touchdown with Schelling breaking free from 58 yards out to make it 42-14 early in the period before James Rinello hit PJ Scales down the middle with a 33-yard touchdown strike for the Blue Jays midway through the quarter to account for a 49-14 score at the end of the third. The Bullets tacked on a pair of touchdowns in the first five minutes of the fourth quarter to account for the 49-28 final score.
Inside the Box Score – Johns Hopkins
• JHU rolled up a season-high 565 yards of total offense on just 62 plays (9.1 yards/play).
• Harvey played just the first half and was 18-of-20 for 288 yards with four touchdowns.
• Rich's 85-yard touchdown run is the second-longest rushing play in school history. He finished with 103 yards and the touchdown on just six carries.
• Polce (6-90-2) and Crotty (5-96-1) combined for 11 receptions for 186 yards and three touchdowns.
• Luke Schuermann led the Blue Jays defensively as he had seven tackles, including two for losses and one sack, and added one pass breakup. His sack was the 30th of his career.
• The Blue Jay defense counted eight tackles for loss, five sacks and two interceptions on the night.
Inside the Box Score – Gettysburg
• The Bullets totaled 429 yards on the night with 178 on the ground and 209 through the air.
• Schelling led the ground game for Gettysburg as he rushed for 94 yards and the two scores on 13 carries, while Michael Zrelak had 10 carries for 61 yards.
• Two Gettysburg quarterbacks combined to go 18-of-35 for 251 yards and one touchdown.
• Matt Mikulka and Chris Singleton tied for the team lead with seven tackles apiece. Singleton also blocked a Blue Jay field goal attempt.
Notes of Interest
• Dating back to 2010, Johns Hopkins is now 38-3 in its last 41 games in the month of October.
• JHU improved to a Centennial-best 28-12 in league openers since the Centennial was formed in 1983.
• Johns Hopkins ran its record in home Friday night games to 39-13-1 dating back to 1982. Tonight's win was the 15th straight at home for the Blue Jays on Friday night.
• Since the start of the 2010 season, Johns Hopkins is now 99-10 in Centennial Conference games.
Johns Hopkins will return to action on Saturday, October 14 when the Blue Jays travel to Lancaster, Pennsylvania for a key Centennial Conference game at Franklin & Marshall (1 pm).
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