CARLISLE, PA – Eighth-ranked Johns Hopkins scored the final 21 points of Saturday's game Dickinson to turn a 23-13 deficit into a 34-23 victory that locked up at least a share of the Centennial Conference title and clinched a spot in the upcoming NCAA Division III Football Playoffs. The Blue Jays improve to 9-0 overall and 5-0 in the Centennial, while the Red Devils slip to 6-3 overall and 3-2 in the Centennial.
Dickinson had quickly turned a 13-9 deficit into a 23-13 lead with back-to-back touchdowns in a 64-second span early in the third quarter. A 96-yard kickoff return for a touchdown by Princeton Douglass was followed just over a minute later by a nine-yard Bredan Walker fumble return for a score that gave the Devils the 10-point lead.
The Blue Jays answered immediately with a nine-play, 58-yard drive that was capped with a 16-yard Burke Griffin-to-Josh Polce touchdown pass that trimmed the deficit to 23-20 with 5:36 on the third-quarter clock. A 38-yard EJ Talarico kickoff return jump-started the drive for the Blue Jays.
After forcing a quick Dickinson punt, the Blue Jays took over on their next possession at their own six-yard line and proceeded to eat nearly five minutes off the clock with an 11-play, 94-yard drive that junior Bay Harvey polished off with a 17-yard touchdown run that gave the Blue Jays the lead for good at 27-23 early in the fourth quarter.
Dickinson quickly moved into Johns Hopkins terriroty on its next possession, but an offensive pass interference penalty and a Luke Schuermann sack forced the Devils to punt the ball back to Johns Hopkins with just under nine miuntes remaining.
Johns Hopkins, which rushed for 258 yards on the day, took over at Dickinson 33 after a 37-yard Nick Schnaars punt return and went to the ground exclusively on an 11-play, 33-yard drive that remarkably took nearly seven miuntes off the clock. The Blue Jays converted a fourth-and-one from the 12 on a Spencer Uggla run up the middle and sealed the victory with a one-yard Harvey run on fourth-and-goal from the one-yard line with 1:57 on the fourth-quarter clock.
The high-scoring second half followed a first-half that saw the teams combine for just 15 points and Dickinson carry a 9-6 lead into the break. A two-yard Presley Egbers touchdown run for the Red Devils was the only first-half touchdown. Joe Zahner hit a pair of field goals (30, 24) to account for Johns Hopkins' six first-half points.
The Blue Jays grabbed their first lead of the game early in third quarter when Harvey hit freshman Cole Crotty with an 86-yard touchdown pass that made the score 13-9, but Douglass answered with the kickoff return for a score and Walker's fumble return for a score followed shortly after to give the Devils the 10-point lead; those three touchdowns came in a span of just 76 seconds and set the stage for Hopkins' 21-point game-ending run.
Inside the Box Score – Johns Hopkins
• Harvey (131) and Uggla (129) combined for 260 yards and two touchdowns on the ground. They are the first Johns Hopkins duo to rush for 100 or more yards in the same game since Ryan Cary (121) and Jon Germano (113) did it against F&M in 2016.
• Harvey was 15-of-25 for 183 yards with one touchdown against one interception through the air. Crotty was his favorite target on the day as he was 6-126-1.
• The Harvey-to-Crotty 86-yard touchdown pass is the sixth-longest pass play in Johns Hopkins history.
• Cole Peters paced the Blue Jay defense with seven tackles. The Blue Jay defense limited the Red Devils to 249 yards of total offense and 12 first downs in the victory.
Inside the Box Score – Dickinson
• Egbers was 8-of-16 for 166 yards with one interception and added the early rushing touchdown.
• Diante Ball, who entered the game with a league-high 904 rushing yards, rushed for 58 yards on 17 carries.
• Bobby Markey had four receptions for 119 yards and set up Dickinson's first touchdown of the game with a 62-yard reception on the first play of the game.
• John Prochniak posted a game-high 10 tackles to pace the Red Devils defensively, while Bram Leys added nine tackles and two sacks on the day.
Notes of Interest
• Johns Hopkins can lock up the outright Centennial title with a win next week against McDaniel. With at least a share in-hand after today's win, the Blue Jays now have a league-best 16 Centennial titles to their credit.
• The Blue Jays ran their winning streak to 12 games with today's win. This is the second-longest winning streak in school history.
• JHU is now 45-5 in regular season games played in November this century.
Johns Hopkins will return to action and close the regular season on Saturday, November 11 when the Blue Jays welcome McDaniel to Homewood Field. Please note that the game time for the Hopkins-McDaniel game was recently changed to 5 pm.
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