The University of Rochester football team earned a 20-10 victory over Johns Hopkins at Homewood Field in Baltimore Saturday afternoon. It was the Yellowjackets? first win in the six-game series and spoiled a career-high 157-yard rushing performance by the Blue Jays? Phil Roberts.
Rochester defensive back Matt Stack intercepted a Shane Kibbe pass and returned it 80 yards for a touchdown with just over two minutes remaining in the fourth quarter to seal the win.
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Rochester (1-0) took a 13-3 lead early in the fourth quarter when quarterback Aaron Molisani capped a four-play, 49-yard drive with a 7-yard touchdown pass to senior Pat O?Brien, who took a pass in the flat and out-raced a pair of defenders to the corner. Molisani (18-of-27, 209 yards, 2 TDs, 1 interception) set up the scoring play with a 29-yard pass down the middle to J.J. Vanderstyne.
Hopkins (0-1) answered with a five-play, 66-yard drive that took just 1:23 and was polished off by a 14-yard touchdown pass from Kibbe to Mark Nesbitt with 9:41 remaining. The scoring drive was fueled by Roberts, who rushed for 30 yards on three carries, and a 21-yard pass from Kibbe to Anthony Triplin (Gilman graduate) that put the Blue Jays inside the Rochester 20.
The Yellowjackets milked more than five minutes off the clock on their ensuing possession and pinned the Blue Jays inside their own 20 on a 38-yard punt by Patrick Till. The Blue Jays quickly moved into scoring position after a 40-yard run by Roberts on the first play of the drive, and a 16-yard pass from Kibbe to Evan Earnest helped move the ball to the Rochester 23.
A Roberts rush for one yard and a sack of Kibbe back to the 29 gave the Blue Jays a third-and-16 that Stack capitalized on as he stepped into Kibbe?s passing lane and raced down the sideline for the score.
Kibbe was 7 of 20 for 122 yards with one touchdown and one interception. Triplin had a team-high four receptions for 49 yards and went over 2,000 career receiving yards (2,046). He is just the sixth player in school history to reach the mark. Defensive end Brian Cook was in on half a sack to move into a tie for the Hopkins career sack record (21.0).
Hopkins will return to action Saturday at Randolph-Macon.
Bridgewater blanks MCDaniel in season opener, 41-0
Jeff Highfill accounted for 283 of Bridgewater?s 505 yards of total offense and three of the team?s five touchdowns as the 13th-ranked Eagles defeated host McDaniel, 41-0, in Westminster in a non-conference season opener Saturday.
Highfield rushed for 105 yards, including a 44-yard touchdown scamper in the third quarter, and threw for 178 yards on 16-of-28 passing to lead Bridgewater (1-0) to its first win over the Green Terror (0-1) since 2003, snapping a stretch of four straight games that had been decided by three or fewer points.
Drew Abbamonte led McDaniel, recording 12 tackles, including seven solo stops, and the squad?s lone interception.
The Green Terror returns to action Saturday at home against Division II Seton Hill.
? From staff reports
