Box Score
BALTIMORE, Md. - Anthony Triplin
scored on an 80-yard touchdown pass and Matt Hagel
returned a blocked punt for a touchdown to lead 18th-ranked
Johns Hopkins over Gettysburg 14-0 in Centennial Conference
(CC) football action on Friday, giving Blue Jay head coach
Jim Margraff his 100th career victory.
Triplin finished with 11 receptions
for a career-high 169 yards, helping the Blue Jays (6-0, 3-0
CC) post their 11th consecutive win against the Bullets (2-4,
1-1 CC). Zach DiIonno, the CC's leading passer,
completed 18 of 32 passes for 239 yards and the one touchdown
toss.
Max Whitacre caused Johns Hopkins'
second score, blocking a punt by Tom Pettit (Blue Bell,
PA/Wissahickon) deep in Bullet territory that Hagel
picked up and carried into the end zone from six yards out.
In addition to his touchdown, Hagel added eight tackles, two
sacks and one interception.
Tom Sturges (Ridgefield, CT/Ridgefield)
rushed for a game-high 82 yards for Gettysburg, which is winless
in its last six trips to Homewood Field. Chris Halleman
(Center Valley, PA/Southern Lehigh) made four catches
for a career-high 91 yards in the loss.
Harold Barton (Somerdale, NJ/Sterling)
recorded eight tackles and two sacks for the Gettysburg defense,
which held a nationally ranked team under its scoring average
for the second straight week.
Behind two big plays and a defense
that yielded only 248 total yards and no points, the Blue
Jays delivered their mentor's milestone victory.
Following a Gettysburg punt to the
JHU 20, DiIonno and Triplin needed exactly 13 seconds to put
their team ahead for good. The senior signal-caller drew the
defense with a play-action fake, then found Triplin on a post
route deep down the middle of the field. Triplin snagged the
ball in stride at midfield and galloped untouched to the end
zone to give the Blue Jays a 7-0 lead.
With less than one minute remaining
in the half, Whitacre and Hagel teamed up on the punt block
and return to put Johns Hopkins ahead, 14-0. It was the team's
first punt block return for a touchdown since the 2003 campaign.
The Bullets drove to the Blue Jay 23
in the final seconds, but Josh Huson's (McLean, VA/McLean)
40-yard field goal attempt was wide left.
Buoyed by strong defensive plays on
both sides of the ball, the teams battled scorelessly through
the night's last two quarters.
Gettysburg drove to the JHU 22 on its
first drive of the third quarter, but the march stalled on
an incomplete pass on fourth-and-14.
The Blue Jays marched to the Bullet
28 later in the period, but Daniel Silva (Lanham, MD/Eleanor
Roosevelt) ended the threat by ripping a reception
away from Corey Sattler. Gettysburg was the
recipient of another fumble recovery early in the fourth quarter,
but the ensuing drive netted only five yards before another
of Pettit's seven punts.
The Bullets' last push into Blue Jay
territory started after Ben Scott's punt to
the Gettysburg 1 with 8:08 remaining.
On in relief of starting quarterback
Hunter McMillan (Middletown, DE/Wilmington Friends),
Mark Campo (Arendtsville, PA/Biglerville) found
Halleman for an acrobatic 48-yard reception to the Bullet
49. A reception and two runs by Sturges put the visitors on
the Blue Jay 23, but three straight incompletions halted the
drive.
Nathan Smith (Hanover, PA/Cooperstown
Central [NY]) led Gettysburg with nine tackles while
Sliva added eight stops and one pass breakup.
Brian Cook, Adam
Luke and Mike Aynardi all recorded a
game-high 10 stops for Johns Hopkins.
The Bullets return to action on Saturday,
Oct. 22 at Ursinus. Game time is 1 p.m.
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