Box Score

BALTIMORE – Gettysburg put a scare into 10th-ranked Johns Hopkins University but lost 49-35 in a key Centennial Conference football game Friday night at Homewood Field.

The Bullets (5-2, 4-2 CC) led 35-28 with 14:37 left before the undefeated Blue Jays (7-0, 6-0 CC) ended the game – which featured five ties and three lead changes – on a 21-0 run.

With the win, Johns Hopkins retains sole possession of first place in the Centennial Conference while the Bullets now find themselves two games out with three contests left in the season.

Neither team led by more than seven until the Blue Jays scored the final touchdown with 4:51 left. Johns Hopkins tied it at 35-35 on a 63-yard touchdown run by senior tailback Jonathan Rigaud with 13:53 remaining, then went ahead to stay on a 3-yard TD rush by junior quarterback Robbie Matey with 7:22 showing.

The game featured two lightning delays, including one that pushed back the start of the game 50 minutes to 7:50 p.m. The final horn sounded just past 11 p.m.

The two sides accumulated 905 yards of offense, with Hopkins outgaining Gettysburg 499-406. Gettysburg scored 14 more points than any opponent had mustered against the Blue Jays this season, who entered the game tied for 13th in Division III in scoring defense (12.7 points per game).

Senior tailback Ted Delia rushed for 100 yards and two touchdowns for the Bullets, who had four scoring drives of 70 yards or longer. Delia has now rushed for 23 career touchdowns, which puts him in  tie for eighth in school history. Senior quarterback Kody Smith ran for 83 yards and a pair of TDs while throwing for 197 yards to move past Jim Ward '66 and into third on the school's career passing yardage list. He has now passed for 3,239 yards.

Senior tight end Matt Brophy made two catches for a season-high 72 yards while junior wing Peter Fessenden posted career-highs of five receptions and 32 yards. Freshman Robby Fay went 5-for-5 on extra points while pushing his consecutive made PATs streak to 23.

Senior linebacker Larry DelViscio led all players with 17 tackles for the Bullets while freshman linebacker Kodie McNamara made a season-high 16 stops. Junior linebacker Cody DiAmore added 10 hits.

Rigaud rushed for 210 yards and one touchdown for Johns Hopkins while junior tailback J.D. Abbott added 107 yards rushing and a pair of TDs. Matey ran for 59 yards and three touchdowns while junior receiver Daniel Wodicka caught 12 passes for 72 yards.

A takeaway by the defense sparked the Bullets early on, as senior Drew Olsen made his team-leading fourth interception of the season on Hopkins' second possession of the night. He returned the pick 27 yards to the Blue Jay-28, and five plays later Smith ran it in from 2 yards out to give the visitors a 7-0 lead with 8:16 left in the opening quarter.

On the ensuing possession Gettysburg forced a three-and-out, highlighted by a seven-yard sack from senior defensive end Chris Nolan, before the Bullets punted for the second time. The Blue Jays then got on the scoreboard with a 10-play, 58-yard drive, capped by a 1-yard touchdown run from Abbott with 2:05 remaining in the quarter.

Johns Hopkins took a 14-7 lead on a Matey 5-yard run on the first play of the second quarter. But Gettysburg answered back with an 11-play, 75-yard drive. On third-and-7, Smith scrambled in for a 9-yard TD run with 11:14 on the first-half clock to make it 14-14. The drive included a 37-yard pass from Smith to Brophy.

The Blue Jays responded with a 16-play, 65-yard touchdown drive. Their march was interrupted by the second lightning delay of the game, but shortly after play resumed Matey scored on third-and-goal from the 5.

Gettysburg promptly came back with a touchdown drive of its own, needing just nine plays to move 75 yards. Another long Smith-to-Brophy pass put the Bullets into excellent scoring position, as a 35-yard aerial down the middle gave the visitors the ball at the Hopkins-14. Delia would power it in for a 3-yard TD and Fay's third point-after made it 21-21 with 3:26 left.

The Bullets came up with a pair of defensive stops over the rest of the half, starting with a forced fumble by senior defensive end Joe Ventresca that was recovered by DiAmore at the Blue Jay-42. After a Gettysburg punt, Hopkins moved to the Bullet-35, but that's where the half ended following a 14-yard run by Matey on the final play of the stanza.

The see-saw affair continued in the second half, with the team sides trading touchdowns in the third quarter. The Bullets forced a turnover on downs at the Gettysburg-11, then embarked on a 13-play, 89-yard drive, capped by a 3-yard run by freshman James O'Rourke, who scored the first touchdown run of his career. Hopkins answered with a 12-play, 72-yard drive, with Abbott scoring on a 2-yard run to tie it a 28-28 with 2:57 left in the third quarter.

Gettysburg took its third and final lead of the night (35-28) when Delia capped a 12-play, 78-yard drive with a 1-yard touchdown run with 14:37 left. However, the Blue Jays needed just two plays to pull even, as Rigaud broke free up the middle for his 63-yard touchdown run.

The Bullets were forced to punt on their next possession before Hopkins went 72 yards on 12 plays en route to their game-winning drive, capped by Matey's 3-yard run with 7:22 left. The Blue Jays added an insurance touchdown with 4:51 to go when Taylor Maciow returned a fumble 42 yards for a touchdown.

Gettysburg picks up its schedule on Saturday, Oct. 27, when it hosts Moravian College at 1 p.m. in a Centennial Conference tilt.