Johns Hopkins Football started off their 2000-2001 campaign with a bang by crushing Washington and Lee 34-3 at Homewood on Saturday. While all opening day victories are good, this one was extra special. Head Coach Jim Margraff won his 61st game, making him the all-time winningest coach in school history and the 31-point margin of victory the new, largest for the team in a season-opener since 1959.
The Blue Jay's, in their new 4-4 alignment, put on a defensive exhibition and served notice to the rest of the Centennial Conference that they will be a force to be reckoned with this year. Hopkins' stingy style was lead by senior Adam Seidman, who moved from outside linebacker to defensive end before the start of the season.
The journey from run-stopper to pass-rusher certainly paid dividends as Seidman garnered a sack to go along with six tackles on his way to earning Centennial Conference Defensive Player-of-the-Week honors.
The Blue Jays were in complete control of the game from the outset but used a 21 point fourth-quarter to put the punch line on the laugher. Already leading 13-3, senior Scott Marorana finished off a six-play, 66-yard drive by running to pay dirt from eight yards out.
On the ensuing Washington and Lee drive, JHU forced a fumble and recovered the ball at their opponent's 28-yard line. The Jays wasted no time to pad their considerable lead as sophomore Kyle Miller caught a touchdown pass from senior Rob Heleniak on the first play after the turnover, making the score 27-3.
Long touchdown passes are something that the head coach expects to see a lot of this year from Heleniak.
Talking about his passer, Margraff explains, "We feel very good about where we stand at quarterback. Rob obviously had an outstanding season last year."
The numbers back him up. Last year, Heleniak threw 17 touchdowns against only five interceptions. Outstanding performances such as his 19-21 effort against Kings Point and 320-yard tally against Muhlenberg earned the quarterback and Honorable Mention All-Centennial selection despite missing nearly a third of the season to injury.
While the Blue Jays broke the game wide open in the final quarter, the contest was actually decided after thirty minutes. With under two minutes to go in the first half, freshman Adam Cook scored on a three-yard burst to add seven points to the 3-0 lead that they held for most of the half on the wings of the stonewall defense and a 28-yard field goal by senior Matt Andrade.
In the third quarter the lead remained at ten after the General's first three points were quickly matched by Andrade's second field goal of the game. The fourth quarter explosion was capped off by junior Harrell Lightfoot's six-yard touchdown run to push the Jay's final total to 34.
Although Seidman earned the conference honors, he received a huge amount of support from his fellow defenders. The four turnovers forced by JHU were the result of great efforts from seniors Mike Hallas and Nick Quercetti. Hallas was hampered by injury last year.
This year, he hopes to not only return to his cornerback position, but he may see some time at wide receiver. On Saturday, he got some good practice for his alternate position by coming up with the first two interceptions of his career.
Quercetti recovered two Washington and Lee fumbles. The turnovers lead to 10 points for Hopkins.
The Blue Jays next game will be at Rochester as they attempt to go 2-0 for the fourth time in the last five years.
The Yellowjackets will certainly bring a lot of bravado after dominating in their opener, 44-6 over St. John Fisher. The two teams have never faced each other.
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