ITHACA, NY – It's unlikely anyone on the 2024 Johns Hopkins football team knows who Kevin Johnson is or what he did for the Blue Jays 25 years ago.
They will now.
It was a chilly day in early November in 1999 when Johnson, then a freshman, rushed for three touchdowns to fuel a 35-33 Johns Hopkins victory against Franklin & Marshall after the Jays had trailed 27-10. That was the last time a Blue Jay football team had come from 17 points down to win.
Until Saturday.
This time, it was senior quarterback Bay Harvey who fueled a 17-point come-from-behind win as the Jays trailed 17-0 at 19th-ranked Ithaca on Saturday before rallying for a 27-23 victory.
The comeback handed Dan Wodicka a win in his first game as the head coach at Johns Hopkins. He becomes just the second Blue Jay head coach to win his debut in the last 104 years. Safe to say, he won't soon forget this one.
Down 17-6 at the half, the Blue Jays started their comeback with a third-quarter-opening eight-play, 74-yard drive that Harvey polished off with a one-yard run that trimmed the deficit to 17-12.
After the Blue Jay defense forced a quick punt, Johns Hopkins needed just six plays and 2:20 to cover 57 yards and grab its first lead of the game. Harvey again polished off the scoring drive as he scampered 22 yards for a score after being flushed from the pocket; his two-point pass to Cole Crotty gave the Blue Jays a 20-17 lead midway through the third quarter.
The Blue Jays were not able to cash in on a Jack Schondelmayer interception on Ithaca's ensuing possession and were forced to punt the ball back to the Bombers late in the third quarter. Ithaca pieced together its best drive of the second half to grab a 23-20 lead as the Bombers went 79 yards in seven plays and Jake Willams scored on a seven-yard run on the first play of the fourth quarter.
Johns Hopkins answered with a methodical 13-play, 75-yard drive that ate more than six minutes off the clock and ended with a 15-yard Harvey touchdown pass to senior EJ Talarico. The Blue Jays were 4-for-4 on third-down attempts on the drive and what proved to be the game-winning touchdown came on a perfect back-shoulder throw on third-and-eight.
While the Blue Jays would eventually kneel-out the win, it didn't come easily down the stretch. The Johns Hopkins defense stopped the Bombers on a fourth-and-three from the JHU 35 with 2:20 to play and then appeared ready to put the game away by running out the clock, only to lose a fumble in Ithaca territory that gave the Bombers one last chance with 1:29 on the clock.
Junior Carson Bourdo's interception along the sideline on Ithaca's second play after the fumble sealed the win, Wodicka's first, and extended JHU's road winning streak to seven games.
The Bombers sprinted out to the 17-0 lead in the first 23 minutes of the game as they used a game-opening 67-yard drive to jump out to an early 7-0 lead. Sophomore Colin Schumm completed both of his pass attempts and rushed for 30 yards on the first drive, including the final 16 yards on a quarterback keeper to get Ithaca on the board.
After stopping the Blue Jays on downs, Ithaca needed just three plays and 36 seconds to extend the lead to 14-0. A 48-yard Schumm to Nicholas Matos strike set the Bombers up at the Blue Jay one-yard line and Schumm went in one play later to make it a two-score game.
The Blue Jays threatened on their ensuing possession as they moved frm their own 27 into the red zone, but Ithaca's defense stiffened and stopped senior Andrew Rich on a fourth-and-one from the Bomber 16 to turn the Blue Jays over on downs.
Ithaca extended its lead to 17 with a 45-yard Darren Brunner field goal midway through the second quarter, before the Blue Jays answered with their lone scoring drive of the opening.
After Talarico returned the kickoff after Brunner's field to the Blue Jay 33-yard line, Harvey scampered for 11 yards to open the drive and then found Crotty alone along the sideline one play later and Crotty scampered into the end zone to get the Blue Jays on the board, although the Bombers blocked the extra point to make it 17-6.
The Blue Jays twice had a chance to score late in the second quarter, but the Bomber defense stopped them inside the 10-yard line with less than two minutes on the clock and just outside the red zone with 35 seconds remaining before the half.
That set the stage for a second half that saw the Blue Jays outscore the Bombers 21-6 to lock down their 13th consecutive season-opening victory.
Inside the Box Score – Johns Hopkins
• Harvey was 17-of-28 for 243 yards and two touchdowns and tied his career-high with 132 yards rushing and two scores.
• Crotty had a team-high six receptions for 116 yards and the one touchdown.
• Bourdo had a career-high nine tackles and the game-clinching interception and Cole Peters matched him with nine tackles as well.
• The Blue Jays rolled up 442 yards of offense with 257 through the air and 185 on the ground.
Inside the Box Score – Ithaca
• Schumm finished 17-of-34 for 250 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions. He also rushed for a team-high 48 yards and two scores.
• All-American running back Jalen Leonard-Osbourne was held to 38 yards rushing on eight carries, but did have 64 yards receiving on three receptions.
• Schumm spread his 17 completions among five players with Nicholas Matos notching four receptions for 97 yards.
• Darren Brunner and Sam Tourangeau both posted 13 tackles to lead the Ithaca defense.
• The Bombers had 359 yards of total offense, but just 156 came after halftime and 79 of those came on their lone scoring drive after the break.
Johns Hopkins will return to action on Saturday, September 14 when the Blue Jays travel to Christopher Newport (5 pm).
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