Football shuts out McDaniel in last game of the regular season

The Hopkins football team glided up to Westminster, Md. to wrap up their regular season this weekend at Gill Stadium against McDaniel College. 

Despite scoring over 30 points in more than half of their games this season, Hopkins proved that their team was more than just a formidable offense. 

The defense refused to concede a single point to the Green Terror, ending the contest against their long-time rival 42-0.

The first half was packed with scoring drives from the Blue Jay offense. 

Less than five minutes into the first quarter, the Jays had already put up a touchdown. Off of a two-yard pass from senior quarterback David Tammaro, junior tight end Stephen Gervasi ran it into the endzone to put the Jays up 7-0. 

The Green Terror attempted to answer the scoring drive when they received possession right after, but the Jays defense dashed their hopes, forcing a punt on the first set of downs. Just over a minute after the Jays’ first touchdown, freshman running back Danny Wolf scored for the Jays in his first career start at Hopkins. 

In the second play of the drive, Wolf rushed 27 yards, widening the lead to 14-0. 

The Blue Jays entered the second quarter ready to improve their first-quarter dual-touchdown effort. 

Eight seconds in, they moved the ball up the field over eight plays. To finish the drive, Tammaro ran the ball eight yards to bring the Jays into the endzone once more. 

Almost five minutes later, Tammaro tossed a three-yard pass to senior wide receiver Nick Fries to end another eight-play run up the field with a touchdown for the Jays. With just 40 seconds left in the half, Hopkins squeezed in one more touchdown with another short pass from Tammaro, this time to sophomore wide receiver Harrison Wellmann.

Unsatisfied with a 35-0 lead, the Jays put up one final touchdown, with a five-yard run from freshman running back Jonas Larson to close the game 42-0 at 11:07.

Wolf explained how the Jays were able to keep the Green Terror off the board.

“I think it all started during the week in practice, because the offense was giving good looks and the defense was playing their tails off,” he said. “We all realized that McDaniel was a team that wanted to be physical and run the ball a lot, so our defense just took that as a challenge and played one of their best games of the season.”

This game marks the 19th consecutive win against McDaniel and closes out the Jays’ regular record at 7-3, and the first shutout the Jays have forced on the Green Terror since 1984 (26-0). 

The Blue Jay defense allowed a mere 139 yards in the game, half of which came in the fourth quarter when the game was all but over already. 

Sophomore defensive back Nick Seidel and junior defensive back Macauley Kilbane were the defensive stars of the day, each securing seven tackles. 

This puts entries down in the record books for Tammaro and Wellmann as well. 

Tammaro became the second Blue Jay in program history to hit 100 touchdowns and to surpass 10,000 passing yards. 

His 100 touchdown achievement consisted of exactly 80 passing touchdowns and 20 rushing touchdowns.

Wellman closed the game with his 72nd reception of the year, the eighth highest in a single-season in program history. 

The Jays will play their final game of the season against the Stevenson University Mustangs at their home field in Owings Mills, Md. in the Centennial-MAC Bowl. 

Wolf spoke on what the team looks forward to in their last game of the year.

“I think that everyone is looking forward to just playing one more time as a group,” he said. “For seniors especially, it’s most likely their last time playing football, so everyone is really pumped to send them out with a win. And getting to go out as a group against a local team is a special opportunity, so we’ll be locked in.”