Hopkins drops home opener against Mules

On Saturday October 2nd, The Hopkins football team played on Homewood Field for the first time in the 2010 season. The Blue Jays hosted the Mules of Muhlenberg College in the season’s home opener.

The Jays trailed for the majority of the contest, but an exhilarating late fourth quarter comeback was staged just before Hopkins received a crushing 30-27 defeat. Muhlenberg outlasted the Jays late attack and squeaked out the three-point victory.

The high scoring affair was initiated by a Muhlenberg field goal early in the first quarter. Hopkins received the ball on the opening kickoff, but junior quarterback Hewitt Tomlin threw an interception after a short 25-second possession. On the ensuing drive Muhlenberg attained the ball on their own 48-yard line. The Mules drove all the way to the JHU 10-yard line before kicking a 27-yard field goal with a scoring drive taking up just over one minute off the game clock.

With 6:42 remaining in the first quarter, Hopkins responded. Junior running back Nick Fazio punched in a 3-yard run for the first touchdown of the game to put the Jays on top 7-3. The first quarter concluded with Hopkins leading by the four points.

In the second quarter Muhlenberg opened up the scoring flurry and controlled the pace of the game.  Muhlenberg quarterback Dan Delghan connected on a nine-yard pass to receiver John Gruver for the Mules first touchdown with 12 minutes remaining in the half.

Hopkins trailed by three after the score, when on the following possession Tomlin was picked off once again, and the ball was run back 38 yards into the end zone for a second Muhlenberg touchdown. Hopkins was failing to keep up with the Mules and was chasing a 17-7 deficit.

Head Coach Jim Margraff felt that the unforced errors were crucial in determining the momentum of the game.

“Many of the negative plays were self inflicted,” Margraff said. One of the team’s goals every week is to minimize turnovers and excel in special teams; “we did neither in Saturday’s game,” Margraff said.

With just over four minutes left in the first half Muhlenberg forced Hopkins’ offense to punt. The Mules drove down field and held the ball for a three minutes and 40 second possession before kicking a 25-yard field goal through the uprights with 35 seconds remaining.

Hopkins had given up 17 consecutive unanswered points, and trailed heading into the locker room at halftime 20-7.

The third quarter began and place kicker Alex Lachman started to heat up, igniting the Hopkins offense for what would be an action packed fourth quarter.

Lachman drilled a 27-yard and 38-yard field goal through the uprights in the third quarter. The only points scored in the quarter were on Lachman’s kicks, decreasing the Mules’ lead to a mere seven points, 20-13.

The fourth quarter opened with the Mules in scoring position. Just 10 seconds deep in the quarter, the Mules connected on a 22-yard touchdown strike, extending the lead to 27-13. Muhlenberg kicker Michael Katz added a 37-yard field goal to extend the lead three minutes later.

Following a fourth Tomlin interception and a punt by Muhlenberg, Hopkins took over down 30-13 with 8:46 remaining on the game clock. Tomlin showed why he was two-time Centennial Conference player of the week this year, connecting on all five of his pass attempts on the drive, concluding with a 22-yard touchdown to junior receiver Sam Wernick in a possession lasting just over one minute.

Hopkins kicked off and forced a quick three-and-out, receiving the punt with 6:39 left in the quarter on their own 20-yard line and trailing by ten.

Following the punt, Tomlin put together an 80-yard drive in just two minutes and 27 seconds, going 5-6 in passing attempts and converting a pivotal fourth and three with a pass to senior Tucker Michels.

Fazio ran in his second touchdown of the game from 13 yards out to put the Blue Jays down just three points, 30-27.

The following possession by the Mules lasted only three downs and five yards before the ball was punted back to the Blue Jays. Punter Jason LoPipero botched the punt and kicked the football out of bounds after traveling just 11 yards from the line of scrimmage.

Hopkins took control of the ball with 3:11 remaining in the game, and an opportunity to pull off a comeback from what was once a 23-point deficit.

Three rushing plays and a false start had the Jays with the ball on the Muhlenberg 32-yard line. Hewitt Tomlin threw a pass which was deflected by the Mules and then intercepted by Muhlenberg Kevin Ryan, devastating the Blue Jays and ending what would have been a memorable comeback.

Coach Margraff implied that the team leadership is prevalent and the late effort is extremely positive.

“Playing hard and playing well are two different things. We showed great effort, we just need to minimize negative plays in all phases of the game,” Margraff said.

Hopkins fell to 2-2 after the game against Muhlenberg and 2-1 in the Centennial Conference. With six games remaining on the schedule, Hopkins looks to rebound on Friday night, when Dickinson comes to Homewood Field for a 7PM game.

The Jays are very confident about the upcoming competition.

“Dickinson is an outstanding program,” Margraff said, “when we are playing our best we can beat anyone on our schedule. If we bring anything less than our best effort, anyone in the conference can beat anyone else on a given day.”