Make it seven in a row for coach Jim Margraff and the Johns Hopkins football team. The Blue Jays, behind a potent rushing attack and an opportunistic defense, defeated in-state rival McDaniel, 31-3, at Scott. S. Bair Stadium in Westminster.
With the win, Johns Hopkins (4-6 overall, 3-5 Centennial Conference) continues its series success, improving to 46-35-5 against McDaniel (1-9 overall, 1-7 Centennial Conference).
“Its always great to have a rivalry game in the last game,” Blue Jays coach Jim Margraff said. “It gives us something to work for.”
It was an uncanny finish to the season for the two programs ? Hopkins first sub-.500 record since 1999, and McDaniel?s first one-win season since 1988.
“We came out so flat. We had a good week of practice and I just don?t understand it,” Green Terror coach Tim Keating said. “I feel badly for our seniors.”
The Blue Jays out-gained the Green Terror, 380-193, including 258-52 on the ground.
Sophomore running back Andrew Kase, making his seventh start since senior Phil Roberts? season-ending knee injury, rushed for a career-high 227 yards on 35 carries. He scored on a four-yard run with 4:02 left in the first quarter, capping of a 92-yard drive on which he carried eight times for 66 yards.
Many of those runs were for more than ten yards, and most saw Kase five yards down field before reaching a defender.
“The offensive line was doing a great job, and my fullback Greg Chimera, like I?ve said before, make it pretty easy,” Kase said. “Its not anything really special that I?m doing ? just running straight ahead.”
The 227 yards were the fourth-most in Blue Jays history. It was Kase?s sixth 100-yard rushing game of the season, tying a program record. He reached 1,009 yards ? the second-highest in Hopkins history.
But those yards came after Hopkins effectively won the game in the opening seconds.
Senior corner Rich Hill, back deep to return kick for the first time in his career, took the opening kickoff back 90 yards to put Hopkins ahead, 7-0. It was the Blue Jays? first kickoff return for a touchdown since 1999.
Later in the first half, senior linebacker Adam Winter, playing his final game through the pain of a broken thumb, intercepted a Tom Wenrich pass and returned it 12 yards for a touchdown.
The Blue Jays running success opened up the pass a bit too, as freshman Max Islinger was 8-for-20 for 118 yards, connecting on a touchdown and an interception. Senior wide receiver Corey Sattler caught six of those passes for 101 yards in his final game. Tucker Michels hauled in the final touchdown of the game, an 18-yard pass from Islinger with 1:49 remaining in the third quarter.
Wenrich was 22-for-49 for 141 yards and three interceptions, while tailback Eric Zwilsky had 41 yards on six carries. Sophomore Bryan Letourneau recorded a game-high 15 tackles.
The teams exchanged field goals in the fourth quarter. Jay Leonard put McDaniel on the board with a 28-yard kick with 10:23 remaining, answering Alex Lachman?s 30-yard kick roughly three minutes earlier.
