Hopkins football cruises ‘Under the Lights’

With the game tied in the second quarter, freshman running back Stuart Walters broke free.

After cutting through 49 yards of defense, Walters found the end zone, giving Hopkins a one-touchdown lead. Heading into last Friday, senior quarterback Robbie Matey had the longest rushing touchdown of the season at 13 yards. No Hopkins running back had managed to score from that far out.

Walters did it twice in a span of seven minutes against Dickinson.

The second run went for 44 yards and pushed his team’s lead to 21-7.

“It was an outside run and the offensive line pushed everyone out towards the right,” Walters said. “The cutback line was across the backside on the left. While I was running I just saw Robbie running down the same sideline as me in front of me. He had the last block and put the guy on his butt. I saw it as I was running and in my mind I was laughing. That’s our quarterback out there making blocks. That just goes to show how close we are as a team. Everyone just wants everyone to succeed.”

Although the team had trouble scoring on the ground from long range before then, Matey expressed no surprise in his teammate’s second quarter performance.

“Stuart has been working really hard in finishing his runs and making big plays in practice,” Matey said. “With how good our offensive line is, how hard our wide receivers block, and how explosive our backs are, it did not surprise me one bit.”

While Hopkins entered this game at 5-0, Matey said there was no pressure to remain undefeated.

“One of Coach Margraff's favorite quotes is, ‘Pressure is for surgeons and soldiers,’” Matey said. “We like to approach each week the same and just execute our game plan.”

Heading into the half, Hopkins led 21-10 after a Dickinson field goal. The next score would come late in the third quarter when Matey connected with senior tight end Brendan Hartman.

Then, early in the fourth quarter, Matey completed a 22-yard pass to senior wide receiver Jared Beekman to push the score up to 35-10. The pass came one play after Matey scrambled 47 yards to convert a third-and-two. The long run surprised at least one of Matey’s teammates.

“We always joke with Robbie about not being the fastest player on the field, so yes, we were a little surprised,” junior defensive lineman Michael Longo said.

Longo himself filled up the stat sheet with seven tackles — including two for losses — one and a half sacks and a forced fumble. The sacks brought his total up to five and a half on the year, tying his total from last season in just half the games played. However, he gives little credit to himself.

“Our position coach, [Coach Chris Castillo], is the best position coach I have ever had at any level,” Longo said. “He’s taught me how to generate a more effective pass rush and has made my inside move much more effective. I think that all the other guys at my position would agree that he’s doing a phenomenal job.”

After Dickinson quarterback Cole Ahnell scored on a short run towards the end of the fourth quarter, freshman running back Dionisio Roman topped off the scoring with a 10-yard touchdown run of his own.

The final score of the game was 42-17, with Matey completing 14 of 24 passes for 150 yards and three scores, while also running for 56 yards.

Walters finished the game with his two second quarter scores and 124 yards, becoming the first Hopkins freshman since 2006 to cross the century mark in rushing in a single game. The other half of the running back tandem, sophomore Brandon Cherry, rushed for a career-high 152 yards.

Citing good chemistry between himself and Cherry, Walters described the pair’s personal celebration.

“We have our own handshake and everything,” Walters said. “Anytime we do something spectacular we both greet each other and do our handshake and congratulate each other.”

Walters was quick to deflect credit, claiming the offensive line was the real X-factor of the game.

“Those guys put in work every day and to me they don’t get as much credit,” Walters said. “On TV and replays you always see the running back, but without them we couldn’t do anything. They made the whole thing work. They protected Robbie all night.”

Matey and Longo agreed with Walters, giving the offensive line enormous credit.

“Our running backs consistently had holes to run through and made big plays because of the ample amount of room to make their cuts in,” Matey said.

As Hopkins prepares to take on Gettysburg on Oct. 26, Longo and the defensive line plan to continue their “fatboy funday” tradition this Friday.

“Basically, it’s a five minute game of two hand touch between people who have never played a skill position,” Longo said. “It helps break some of the tension and anxiety before games by getting us loose and it’s always funny to see some of the larger guys on the team try their hand at receiver or quarterback. Even [Head Coach Jim Margraff] can’t help but laugh at us sometimes.”

With an undefeated season on the line this Saturday, Longo was careful not to make any promises.

“I’m not going to guarantee anything,” Longo said. “But if we play our game and don’t make foolish mistakes I think we have a very good shot to win.”