The Hopkins football team returned with a vengeance after their disappointing upset to Susquehanna University last week with a massive blowout victory against Moravian College, defeating their fellow Centennial Conference members by a score of 41-0. The Jays held the Greyhounds to only 132 total yards of offense the whole game and dominated from the first touchdown to the fifth.
The game did start a bit slow, however. After the first quarter, Hopkins came away with only a 3-0 lead from senior kicker Mike Eberle’s 40-yard field goal. Moravian had gone nowhere on offense but the Jays struggled as well, their only points coming from a 33-yard drive.
However, they turned it on in the second quarter, capping a seven-play, 78-yard drive that took less than three minutes of game time with an eight-yard touchdown run from senior running back Dane Rogerson.
Only three minutes later, senior quarterback and MVP of the game David Tammaro hit sophomore receiver Harrison Wellmann for a 58-yard touchdown pass, turning a 3-0 lead into a 17-0 lead in under five minutes.
Hopkins wasn’t done for the quarter just yet, though. The Greyhounds had the ball in Hopkins’ territory in the final minute of the first half, but sophomore defensive back Robert Fletcher intercepted a pass from the Moravian quarterback David LePoidevin and took it all the way back to the Moravian 22-yard line.
Two plays later — both completions to junior wide receiver Ryan Hubley — Hopkins was in the endzone again and headed into the half up 24-0.
Tammaro commented on what it was like going into the second half with a huge lead, just like they had against Susquehanna.
“We all knew we needed to put together four quarters of good football. Last week we played three good quarters and one bad quarter, this week was all about making sure we executed for the whole game,” Tammaro said.
After a less-than-stellar second half last week, the Jays started the third quarter strong, taking the opening kickoff and driving 77 yards in seven plays, finished off by a 15-yard touchdown pass, once more from Tammaro to Wellmann, to make it 31-0.
That was all the scoring in the third, though Hopkins went on to add 10 more points in the fourth. Tammaro had a three-yard scoring run to complete a 97-yard drive. It took Hopkins over six minutes of game time to score after starting out on their own three-yard line. Finally, Eberle hit a career-long 45-yard kick to end the scoring and seal the Hopkins victory by a score of 41-0.
The Jays defense shone the entire game, shutting out Moravian for the first time since 2011, when Hopkins won by the same score as they did on Friday. Hopkins hasn’t allowed as few as 132 yards of total offense since September 2013.
The defense finished with a total of ten tackles for loss, five sacks and the Fletcher interception. Moravian only entered Hopkins territory twice the entire game and never got inside the Jays’ 35-yard line once.
Sophomore defensive back Nick Seidel led the team with seven tackles (two for loss), and senior defensive end Mike Kalanik added five tackles, including three for loss and one sack.
Tammaro was also excellent the whole game, going 27-of-43 with almost 350 yards passing and three touchdowns through the air, as well as his one on the ground, leading Hopkins in an offensive performance where they totaled 484 yards of offense.
Hubley and Wellmann both had over 100 yards receiving, the 18th time in Hopkins history that two receivers have topped that number in the same game.
“It always feels great to get a win,” Tammaro said. “And a 41-0 win makes it feel even better. I can’t wait to get back out there and keep the ball rolling.”
Hopkins plays next at Dickinson College on Sept. 28.
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