Oct. 18, 2013
BALTIMORE, MD - Johns Hopkins football coach Jim Margraff and his staff reminded the Blue Jay running backs in practice this week that the longest scoring run for the team in the first five games was 13 yards - by a quarterback! Further, despite averaging more than 240 yards per game on the ground, the longest rushing play to-date for the Blue Jays was 34 yards.
The tandem of sophomore Brandon Cherry and freshman Stuart Walters got the message loud and clear as the two combined to rush 29 times for 276 yards and two touchdowns to fuel a 42-17 victory for the 15th-ranked Blue Jays (6-0m 5-0 Centennial) over visiting Dickinson at Homewood Field Friday night. JHU had four runs that covered more than 40 yards in the game, including two that went for touchdowns.
After the team's traded first-quarter touchdowns, Walters turned the game with a pair of scoring runs that covered 49 and 44 yards in a seven-minute span midway through the second quarter. His 49-yard run capped a five-play, 71-yard drive less than two minutes into the period and he polished off a four-play, 61-yard drive with just over six minutes remaining before intermission with his 44-yard run. Both runs came after he started to the right, but cut back across the field and out-raced the defense to the corner of the end zone.
Dickinson (2-4, 2-3) sliced the deficit to 21-10 on a 36-yard field goal by Adam Kaminski on the last play of the second quarter and JHU held the 11-point margin until late in the third quarter, when quarterback Robbie Matey found senior tight end Brendan Hartman in the middle of the end zone from 15 yards out to push the lead to 28-10.
Freshman Stuart Walters rushed for 124 yards and two TDs in the win against Dickinson. 
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The Johns Hopkins defense allowed a total of just 61 yards on Dickinson's first three possessions of the second half - 54 of which came on one drive - and the Blue Jays dashed any hopes of a Red Devil comeback when Matey found senior Jared Beekman running free in the middle of the field for a 22-yard touchdown three plays into the fourth quarter. The scoring toss to Beekman came one play after a 47-yard run by Matey converted a third-and-two from the Blue Jay 31-yard line.
Dickinson quarterback Cole Ahnell, who rushed for 92 yards in the game, directed a nifty 11-play, 56-yard drive that he finished with a five-yard touchdown run midway through the fourth quarter that made it 35-17 with still more than eight minutes remaining in the game, but the Blue Jay defense forced a pair of Red Devil punts down the stretch and freshman Dionisio Roman scored from 10 yards out with 3:16 remaining to close the scoring for Johns Hopkins. Cherry set up Dionisio's touchdown with a career-best 60-yard run one play earlier.
Cherry rushed 14 times for a career-high 152 yards, while Walters became the first freshman at Johns Hopkins since 2006 to rush for 100 yards in a game as his 15 carries netted 124 yards and the two scores. This is the 17th time in school history that Johns Hopkins has had two players rush for more than 100 yards in the same game.
Matey was 14-of-24 for 150 yards and three touchdowns passing and also rushed three times for 56 yards as the Blue Jays punched up a season-high 360 yards on the ground, the ninth-highest single-game total in school history.
Ahnell's 92 yards rushing were more than half of the 178 the Red Devils gained on the night. Cedric Madden added 43 yards on eight carries and also connected with Colin Rodgers on a 37-yard halfback pass late in the first quarter that set up Dickinson's first touchdown - a 10-yard run by Mike Capone that answered a five-yard touchdown pass from Matey to Bradley Munday to open the game.
Sophomore linebacker Keith Corliss led the Blue Jay defense with a career-high 12 tackles, while junior defensive end Michael Longo added seven tackles, including two for losses, 1.5 sacks and forced fumble. The Devils converted just 3-of-15 third-down opportunities and Johns Hopkins registered 11 tackles for losses in the game.
Michael Miller notched a team-high nine tackles for Dickinson, but the Blue Jays averaged 9.7 yards per rush and 8.4 yards per play in running their winning streak against the Red Devils to seven games.
Johns Hopkins will return to action on Saturday, October 26 when the Blue Jays travel to Gettysburg to take on the Bullets.
Notes: Johns Hopkins ran its regular season home winning streak to 16 games and its October winning streak to 11 games with tonight's victory • Robbie Matey moved into a tie for fourth place on JHU's career victories list by starting quarterbacks as he is now 18-2 in his career • Johns Hopkins posted more than 500 yards of total offense (510) for the fourth straight game and the fifth time in six games • JHU is 6-0 for the third straight year and the fifth time under head coach Jim Margraff • Senior Dan Wodicka had four receptions to push his career total to 234 - he is now second in Centennial Conference history in career receptions and just seven shy of Justin Salton's (F&M) league record • JHU is now 31-13-1 all-time at home under the Friday Night Lights.
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