Box Score

BALTIMORE – Senior running back Andrew Kase rushed for 183 yards and three touchdowns and Johns Hopkins University scored on its first six drives as the Blue Jays defeated Gettysburg 41-23 in the Centennial Conference opener for both teams Friday evening at Homewood Field.

Johns Hopkins (2-1, 1-0 CC), which outscored the Bullets 38-3 to start the game, outgained Gettysburg 459-361. Sophomore quarterback Hewitt Tomlin threw for 243 yards and one touchdown on 20-of-29 passing while Dan Crowley caught three passes for 81 yards and a TD. Kase broke the Hopkins school record for career touchdown runs and upped his total to 27.

Junior tailback Jamel Mutunga (Bel Air, Md./Bel Air) led Gettysburg (0-3, 0-1 CC) with his second straight 100-yard rushing game, finishing with 131 yards and one touchdown. Senior quarterback Matt Flynn (Northfield, N.J./Mainland Regional) passed for 153 yards and one touchdown while completing 16 of 26 passes. His TD was the 44th of his career and moved him into sole possession of fourth on the Centennial Conference's all-time list.

The Blue Jays took turned a pair of interceptions into 10 early points. After receiving the opening kickoff, the Bullets drove 26 yards to the Hopkins-37 before Glenn Rocca intercepted a pass and returned it five yards to the Blue-Jay 21. Eleven plays later, Alex Lachman booted a 32-yard field goal to give the hosts a 3-0 lead midway through the opening quarter.

On the fifth play of the Bullets second drive, Sam Eagleson stepped in front of a pass and sprinted 43 yards down the right sideline to the Gettysburg-10. A holding penalty pushed the Blue Jays back 10 yards, but Tomlin hit Crowley for a 16-yard pickup on the next play, setting up a 4-yard touchdown run from Kase that made it 10-0 with 5:18 on the clock.

Gettysburg's third possession stalled at the Hopkins-36, where Flynn was sacked by Brian Peters on a fourth-and-three. The Blue Jays went on to score on their third straight series, going 57 yards on nine plays, capped by a 8-yard play-action run by Tomlin.

The Bullets responded by going to the ground, running the ball 10 times on a 17-play, 60-yard drive, converting a pair of fourth downs along the way. Junior Mike Barrett (Selinsgrove, Pa./Lewisburg) put Gettysburg on the scoreboard with his first collegiate field goal, knocking through a 24-yarder to make it 17-3 with 3:17 to go in the first half.

Hopkins scored again on the fourth play of their next drive. Crowley hauled in a pass deep down the right sideline, then raced untouched into the end zone after a Bullet defender slipped on the turf. The 54-yard scoring strike made it 24-3 with 2:03 showing.

After the Blue Jays forced the first punt of the game, the hosts made it 5-for-5 on scoring drives after going 64 yards on nine plays. A 37-yard catch-and-run from Kase set up the Jays at the Bullet-15, and three plays later Kase went up the middle for a 2-yard TD run, giving Hopkins a 31-3 halftime advantage with 16 seconds to go before the break.

Lachman squibbed the ensuing kickoff, and an eight-yard return from senior Vic Smith (New London, Conn./Taft School) gave the Bullets the ball at the Gettysburg-31. Flynn then completed a 19-yard pass to Mutunga out to midfield with 1.5 seconds left, but a Hail Mary pass at the horn was batted down.

The Blue Jays outgained the Bullets 277-156 in the opening half, with Tomlin completing 13-of-19 passes for 195 yards and a touchdown.

After receiving the second-half kickoff, Hopkins picked up where it left off, embarking on a 55-yard, six-play drive that resulted in Kase's final touchdown run, this one a 10-yarder that put the Jays up 38-3. The Bullets answered with their first touchdown drive of the game, going 84 yards on 12 plays before Flynn ran it in from 2 yards out to make it 38-10 with 7:53 left in the third quarter.

Sophomore safety Joe Delaney (Voorhees, N.J./Eastern Regional) gave the Bullets their first stop of the game when he intercepted a pass – his second pick in as many games – at the Hopkins-35, breaking Tomlin's string of 138 passes without an INT. Gettysburg then went 65 yards on 10 plays, capped by a leaping 14-yard touchdown grab by senior tight end #A.J. Perrotti# (Brick, N.J./Brick Township) in the end zone, making it 38-17 with 4.3 seconds left in the third quarter.

The Blue Jays scored their final points of the night on a 33-yard field goal from Lachman with 8:08 to go, pushing Hopkins lead to 41-17. Gettysburg came back with an eight-play, 67-yard scoring march, with a Mutunga 2-yard touchdown run cutting the gap to 41-26 with 6:10 left. Flynn was stopped just short of the goal line on a two-point conversion attempt.

The Bullets ensuing onsides kick attempt was recovered by Johns Hopkins, and the Blue Jays nearly ran out the remainder of the clock its next drive.

Safety Mike Milano led all players with 11 tackles while senior linebacker Tim Widdoes (Newark, Del./St. Mark's) and junior defensive tackle Sebastian Sullivan (Harrisburg, Pa./Bishop McDevitt) pacing the Bullets with 10 hits apiece. Delaney finished with seven stops.

Gettysburg returns home on Saturday, Sept. 26, when it takes on Muhlenberg College in another Centennial Conference tilt starting at 1 p.m.