The Hopkins football team saw its hopes of a comeback victory sail wide left in the final seconds of Saturday's Centennial Conference game versus Ursinus.
With 27 seconds left, on a play eerily similar to the Baltimore Ravens' kicker Steve Hauschka's last-second miss on Sunday, junior kicker Alex Latchman couldn't connect on a 35-yard field goal, and the visiting Bears snatched a 16-14 victory from the Blue Jays at Homewood Field.
Ursinus overcame stiff resistance from the Hopkins defense, gaining a meager nine yards of total offense in the second half.
With the victory, the Bears improved to 3-3 on the season and 3-1 in conference play, while Hopkins lost for the first time in six games and was handed its first conference loss of the season, falling to 5-2 (4-1).
The cold, wet conditions made for a sloppy game, as the Jays lost two fumbles and threw three interceptions, while Ursinus had two turnovers of its own. Both teams struggled offensively, going a combined 20-for-55 on passing attempts and 9-for-38 on third down conversions.
In a defensive struggle marked by 20 punts, Ursinus scored first when a high snap on a punt attempt flew over the head of Hopkins punter Max Islinger, who swatted the ball out of the back of the end zone for a safety, rather than risking Ursinus recovering the loose ball for a touchdown.
Less than three minutes later, the Bears would again make the Jays pay for a turnover. Ursinus's Joe Galie recovered a fumble at the Hopkins 27-yard line, and two plays later, quarterback Justin Decristofaro lobbed it up for Nick Giarratano, connecting on a fade route in the back of the end zone. The touchdown pass, one of two for Decristofano, put Ursinus up 9-0 at the end of the first quarter.
The two teams reversed roles in the second quarter, when the slippery conditions caused the Bears's Al Desidiero to fumble on a punt return, which Hopkins recovered on its own 46-yard line. The Jays used five plays to march the ball into the red zone and sophomore quarterback Hewitt Tomlin hit junior Dan Crowley on a 14-yard touchdown pass for the Jays's only passing score of the game, making the score 9-7 with 8:34 to go in the second quarter.
The Hopkins defense was gashed in the first quarter for 100 yards, but buckled down and amazingly allowed only 33 the rest of the entire game, forcing a quick punt on the ensuing Bears possession.
"Coaches started recognizing things and put us in good situations, and we executed pretty well," sophomore safety Kale Sweeney said. "Our man-to-man was consistent, allowing us to get to the quarterback. I think we just started understanding what they were doing."
Once again, however, a Hopkins fumble killed momentum, and Decristofaro connected with Travis Evans on a 10-yard screen pass, who scampered into the end zone to give the Bears a 16-7 lead that held going into the half.
The score remained 16-7 until late in the third quarter, when Hopkins capped a 46-yard, seven-play drive with a one-yard touchdown run by star running back Andrew Kase, bringing the Jays within two points of the Bears at 16-14. Despite the second half being played predominantly in Ursinus territory, Hopkins could not muster more than seven points. Early in the fourth quarter, a promising drive was cut short when Eikeem Barron intercepted a Hopkins pass at the Ursinus 22-yard line.
The Bears intercepted Hopkins again at 5:14 in the fourth quarter, but could not sustain a drive and punted the ball, leaving 3:33 on the clock for the Jays to go 80 yards. The Hopkins offense finally got rolling, and after Tomlin hit junior Tucker Michels on a 38-yard bullet, the Jays had a first down at the Ursinus 29.
From there, the offense went conservative, rushing three times for nine yards and was assisted by an Ursinus penalty, finally settling at the opposition's 15-yard line.
After a Hopkins timeout, Lachman nailed a 35-yard field goal, but, in a show of gamesmanship that has become increasingly popular in football, Ursninus called a timeout just before the snap in an attempt to ice Lachman. The ploy worked, as the junior's second kick hooked wide and the Bears secured their third consecutive victory at Homewood Field.
"I don't like it, it throws off the rhythm of the whole game," said safety Michael Milano of the pre-snap timeout policy.
"We were pretty shocked because even though we knew they were a good team, we didn't expect to lose that game, even as it came down to the last minute," running back A.J. Safi said.
The players remain optimistic as they look to finish the remainder of their schedule strong and capture the conference title.
"It's a toss-up right now for us, anything can really happen. We've got a big game against Franklin & Marshall, who beat Ursinus," Safi said.
Kase had a game-high 122 rushing yards and tied Bill Stromberg's record of career touchdowns as a Blue Jay, 39. Tomlin finished 11-of-27 for one touchdown and two interceptions. The 133 yards allowed by the Hopkins defense was a season low and senior Glen Rocca led Hopkins with eight tackles, including 2.5 sacks. The Jays have a bye week this weekend, and return to the field Saturday, Oct. 31 at 1 p.m. when they travel to Juniata.
