Halfway through the 2016 regular season, the Hopkins football team remains undefeated. Standing 5-0, the Jays knocked off yet another conference rival, the 3-2 Juniata Eagles, at Homewood Field last Saturday. The Jays put up 38 points in the first half and never looked back.
On a damp, rainy day at Homewood, the Blue Jay offense had no trouble moving the ball against the Juniata defense. The rushing attack accumulated 246 net yards and three scores, one by junior running back Ryan Cary and two by senior quarterback Jonathan Germano.
Cary also scored on a screen pass early in the second quarter, and senior wideout Quinn Donaldson had two touchdown receptions himself, en route to a 52-17 blowout victory.
Cary, who had 127 all-purpose yards on the day and two scores, commented on the superb performance by the Hopkins offense.
“We had great success against Juniata because our offensive lineman really controlled the line of scrimmage, and were able to create nice holes to run through,” Cary said. “Especially with the given weather conditions, we knew that we had to be very efficient in our rushing offense and not rely so heavily on throwing the ball.”
The Hopkins rushing attack showed great depth on Saturday, as five different rushers finished with over 20 yards. Germano had the longest Hopkins run of the day: a 48-yard TD on the third down and two midway through the first quarter. His second touchdown run came in the second quarter, but not before the Jays made one of the more interesting calls of the day.
One a fourth down and nine at the Juniata 34-yard line, the Jays boldly decided to go for it rather than punting the ball away. The fourth down pass was caught with one hand by senior wide receiver Boone Lewis, keeping the drive alive and setting up Germano’s three-yard scoring run three plays later.
Despite the lopsided nature of the final score, the game was tied 7-7 at the end of the first quarter, after Juniata’s senior running back, Matt Lehr, found the endzone on a short TD run.
After the Jays responded with a TD drive of their own, Matt Lehr nearly struck again, breaking free up the middle for a 68 yard run. But the Hopkins defense managed to hold the Eagles out of the endzone, forcing a short field goal.
The Jays did not allow Juniata to score for the rest of the half, forcing two turnovers instead. The first was an interception by junior defensive back Michael Munday, as Juniata quarterback Hank Coyne was hit as he threw the ball, leading to an errant, off-target pass. The second occurred when sophomore defensive back Ian Lodge recovered a fumble on a Juniata kickoff return. The offense converted both turnovers and added another TD just seconds before halftime, taking a 38-10 lead into the locker room.
In the second half, with a commanding lead of 28 points, sophomore quarterback Zack Baker replaced Germano. Shortly into the first drive of the half, the Hopkins offense committed perhaps its only major error of the game when the wet football slipped out of Baker’s hands as he was preparing to attempt a pass. The resulting fumble was returned by senior Juniata linebacker Ryan Bologa down the sideline for a 31 yard touchdown.
The Blue Jays responded, returning an 86 yard kickoff return. Senior wide receiver Bradley Munday took it to the house, giving the Jays their first kickoff return since 2007.
A few minutes later, Baker made up for his turnover with a touchdown pass to senior wide receiver Quinn Donaldson, which would be the last score of the game. The Blue Jays sit at 5-0 in clear first place in the Conference, ranked ninth nationally among D-III teams.
“5-0 is where we want to be at this point in the season,” Carey said.
The undefeated Blue Jays will travel up to Carlisle, Pa. for their next contest under the lights against the Dickinson College Red Devils on Oct. 14.
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