BALTIMORE, MD – The Johns Hopkins defense forced three turnovers, collected three sacks and held visiting Franklin & Marshall to a pair of field goals as the Blue Jays slipped past the Diplomats, 13-6, at Homewood Field Saturday afternoon. The win is the third straight overall and fourth straight against F&M for Johns Hopkins, which improves to 5-1 overall and 2-0 in the Centennial Conference with the victory. The Diplomats dropped their second straight and fall to 3-3 overall and 1-2 in the league.
In a game controlled by the defenses from the outset, it was the Diplomats who struck first as Laurence Miller connected on the first of his two field goals in the game from 22 yards out early in the second quarter to give F&M a 3-0 lead.
The Blue Jays answered late in the quarter when they turned a Luca Lutzel interception into their best drive of the game as they went 82 yards in 11 plays and capped the drive with a one-yard touchdown run from senior quarterback James Rinello. Johns Hopkins converted a pair of third-down chances on the drive, including a 24-yard scramble from Rinello on third and 10 from the F&M 25; his one-yard scoring run came two plays later and gave the Jays a lead they would never relinquish.
F&M had a chance to trim the deficit to one at the half, but Miller misfired from 33 yards out on the final play of the second quarter to account for a 7-3 Blue Jay lead at the break.
After the Blue Jay defense forced a quick punt to open the second half, Johns Hopkins moved out near midfield, but a Nico Medlar interception for F&M led to a 43-yard Miller field goal with 8:10 on the third-quarter clock.
After the teams exchanged punts, the Blue Jays went 48 yards in nine plays and freshman Brad Paxton capped the drive with a 34-yard field goal to extend the lead to 10-6. Paxton tacked on a 26-yard field goal as the fourth-quarter clock dripped under 10 minutes and the Blue Jay defense came up with two stops down the stretch to seal the victory.
F&M moved from its own 20 to the Blue Jay 18 on the drive following Paxton's second field goal, but Ty Tremba's pass under heavy pressure on fourth down went out of the back of the end zone to kill the threat. After another Blue Jay punt, the Diplomats took over at their own 45 with 3:26 on the clock, but Tremba was intercepted by Jake Spivak on second-and-10 from the Blue Jay 41-yard line a short time later and the Blue Jays were able to run out the clock to seal the victory.
In addition to the two interceptions, the Blue Jays also got a first-quarter strip-sack from senior defensive end Matthew Konkol, two sacks from Konkol and one from Xavier Newell and held the Diplomats to just 284 yards of total offense, including just 55 on the ground.
Inside the Box Score – Johns Hopkins
• Konkol posted a career-high eight tackles, incuding the two sacks and 2.5 tackles for loss, added the forced fumble and had one pass breakup. Fellow defensive lineman Isaac Urquidi matched his career-high with eight tackles, including one for a loss.
• The Blue Jay starting defensive line of Konkol, Urquidi, Newell and Will Seibert combined for 25 tackles, three sacks, 4.5 tackles for loss, one forced fumble and one pass breakup.
• Rinello was 12-of-23 for 143 yards with two interceptions and also rushed for a team-high 42 yards and the one score.
• Paxton's two field goals give him seven on the year and five in the last two games.
Inside the Box Score – Franklin & Marshall
• Tremba was 21-of-33 for 229 yards with the two interceptions and rushed for a team-high 23 yards. It is just the second time in his last 23 games that he hasn't thrown a touchdown pass.
• Gary Lewis was Tremba's favorite target as he had five receptions for 61 yards, while Michael Poruban had four catches for 57 yards.
• The F&M defense held the Blue Jays to 214 yards of total offense and was led by Jeff Decker's game-high nine tackles, including 3.0 for losses.
• Quincy Long collcted two of F&M's three sacks in the game and finished with six tackles.
Notes of Interest
• This the first time F&M has been held under 10 points since September 24, 2022 (lost to Ursinus 22-7).
• The six points allowed today mark the fourth time in six games that the Blue Jay defense has held the opposition to 13 points or less.
• The Johns Hopkins defense has not allowed a point in the first quarter since 7:40 remained in the opening quarter of the season opener at Ithaca (a first-quarter playing time span of 82:40).
Johns Hopkins will return to action on Saturday, October 26 the Blue Jays travel to Ursinus to take on the Bears (1 pm).
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