Records fall as Blue Jays win 17th straight

After outscoring their first two opponents by a combined score of 70-20, the Blue Jays continued their early season dominance with a resounding 49-15 victory over Moravian at Homewood Field. They racked up a season-high 582 yards of offense in the process and tied a NCAA Division III all-time record with 40 total first downs. Equally as impressive, head coach Jim Margraff crossed the 150 win threshold, becoming only the second head coach in Maryland collegiate history to do so (former Morgan State head coach Jon Hurt being the other, accumulating 154 wins from 1929-1959). With the victory, the Jays extended their regular season win streak to 17 straight games dating all the way back to 2010. Senior back Jonathon Rigaud starred for the Blue Jays, rushing for 114 yards and three scores to lead his team. The Blue Jays opened the game with a masterful 15-yard play, 77-yard drive, with junior quarterback Robbie Matey going six of seven, including a nine-yard scoring strike to fellow junior Daniel Wodicka. Rigaud gained 35 yards on the march, which took up nearly five minutes of the opening quarter. After Hopkins stopped Moravian, Rigaud capped off a five-yard play, 40-yard drive with a four yard touchdown run to put the Jays up 14-0 midway through the first quarter. The drive went quickly, taking up just over a minute and a half. Moravian’s Tyler Thompson then executed a beautifully placed 39-yard punt to pin the Jays deep in the shadow of their own goalpost at their own one yard line. Despite this setback, Hopkins would essentially ice the game with a devastating 15 play, 99-yard masterpiece that was finished off by a one-yard J.D. Abbott plunge to put the Jays up three touchdowns with just under seven minutes remaining in the first half. After a rare miscue in which Matey would be picked off by Moravian’s Travis King for a touchdown, Hopkins responded by closing out the half with a four play, 48-yard march that took less than 30 seconds and ended with a 13-yard Rigaud scoring run. Going into the half, Hopkins had piled up an astounding 387 total yards of offense, and led Moravian 28-7. After stifling any comeback attempt on Moravian’s opening drive of the second half, Jonathan Rigaud blew the game wide open with a one yard touchdown, capping a 45 yard drive to give the Jays a commanding four-touchdown lead. The Jays would punch it in twice more in the game, on drives of 45 and 77 yards, with Brandon Cherry and Jason Blades joining in on the scorefest with touchdowns of their own. Overall, the Jays racked up 338 yards on the ground and 244 yards through the air. Matey would complete 23 of 27 attempts for an incredibly accurate 85.2% clip, with sophomore Braden Anderson chipping in with 20 yards, going five for eight. Not to be outdone by the prolific output of the offense, the Jays imposing defense held Moravian to an anemic 18-yards rushing on 17 attempts, and just 171 yards passing on 37 attempts. Moravian’s only substantial drive of the day came during garbage time, late in the fourth quarter — until that point the Jays’ defense had shut out Moravian’s attack. Hopkins’s defense allowed only one third-down conversion attempt in 12 tries, a dominant performance. The Jays’ secondary picked off Moravian quarterback Jimmy Lahue twice, including crucial interceptions late in the first half and early in the second by freshman safety T.J. Reeves and senior safety Adam Dweyer respectively, that dealt huge blows to any comeback hopes Moravian might have had. Senior lineback Taylor Maciow led the team with seven tackles and recorded two of the Blue Jays three sacks on the afternoon. Hopkins’s defense has not yet allowed a 2012 opponent to cross the 200-yard mark offensively, and Hopkins’s front-seven has produced an impressive 14 sacks so far on the season. Hopkins faces its toughest test so far this season as it travels to Allentown, PA to take on Muhlenberg in a battle of unbeatens, as the Mules are also now 3-0 following a 33-0 blowout over McDaniel.