Nov. 4, 2009

Johns Hopkins-Franklin & Marshall Football Notes in PDF Format

The Game: Johns Hopkins (6-2, 5-1 Centennial) returns to Homewood Field for the final regular season home game of the year. The Blue Jays welcome Franklin & Marshall (7-1, 5-1 CC) to Homewood for a key late-season showdown that will go a long way to deciding the Centennial Conference champion and representative in the upcoming NCAA Playoffs.

Last Week: Johns Hopkins returned to action after its bye week and rolled to a 58-7 win at Juniata. Franklin & Marshall made the first of two straight trips to Maryland a successful one as the Diplomats eased past McDaniel, 41-20.

Seniors Playing Final Regular Season Home Game: This week's game against Franklin & Marshall will be the final regular season home game for the 21 seniors on the Johns Hopkins football team. In addition to individual accolades and accomplishments, this group has helped the Blue Jays compile a 23-16 record and make one appearance in the ECAC Playoffs.

The Coaches: Johns Hopkins is coached by Jim Margraff `82, who is in his 20th season as the head coach at Homewood. Margraff is JHU's all-time leader in games won (125) and coached (202) and enters this week's game with a career record of 125-74-3 (.628). He has more than twice as many wins as any other coach in school history (Ray Van Orman is second with 60 wins) and joined Morgan State's Eddie Hurt as the only college football coaches in Maryland state history to win 125 or more games. Hurt won 174 games from 1929-59.
Franklin & Marshall is coached by John Troxell, who enters this week's game against Johns Hopkins with an all-time record of 18-20 in four seasons as the head coach of the Diplomats.

Win Number 125 ...: The win against Juniata was the 125th victory for Jim Margraff as the head coach at Johns Hopkins. In just 20 seasons, Margraff has accounted for 27% of the all-time victories in school history (125 of 459/.272).

JHU Grabs 100th CC Win: Johns Hopkins earned the 100th Centennial Conference vicotry in school history with last week's 58-7 win at Juniata. The Blue Jays now stand at 100-81-3 all-time in CC play. Only Dickinson (114) and F&M (102) have more all-time Centennial Conference victories than the Blue Jays.

Playing the Spoiler: Johns Hopkins' win at Juniata spoiled the Eagles' Homecoming last Saturday. The Blue Jays spoiled Homecoming festivities at Muhlenberg, Dickinson and Juniata in the month of October.

Captain, My Captain: In a vote of the returning players on the 2009 team, seniors Andrew Kase, Tim Miller, Glenn Rocca and Colin Wixted were selected as captains for the season. Kase is in his second season as a captain, while this is the first year as a captain for Miller, Rocca and Wixted.

Home(wood) Field Advantage: Johns Hopkins is 7-3 at Homewood Field since the start of the 2008 season.

More Home(wood) Field Advantage: JHU stands 40 games over .500 in home games under Jim Margraff. The Blue Jays are now 70-30-1 (.798) at Homewood under Margraff.

Road Warriors: The Blue Jays posted a 4-1 record on the road last season and JHU is 11-3 since the start of the 2007 season on the road. JHU is 33-12 on the road since the start of the 2001 season.

Running Game Hits 300: Johns Hopkins pounded out a season-high 319 rushing yards and six rushing touchdowns last Saturday at Juniata. Both totals are seasons highs, as was JHU's 8.0 yards per rushing attempt. This was the 23rd time Johns Hopkins has rushed for 300 or more yards in a game since 1955 and the ninth time under head coach Jim Margraff. The 319 rushing yards are the most for the Blue Jays since November 6, 2004, when they totaled 330 in a 38-14 win against 11th-ranked Hampden-Sydney.

It's Been a While: The 58 points Johns Hopkins scored against Juniata mark the first time since September 29, 2000 that JHU has scored 50 or more points. JHU totaled 54 that night in a 54-13 win against Gettysburg.. The 58 are the most by the Blue Jays since September 19, 1997, when they beat Swarthmore, 73-0. Below is a list of the top scoring games for the Blue Jays under head coach Jim Margraff:

73 - Swarthmore (W/73-0) - 9-19-1997
58 - Juniata (W/58-7) - 10-31-2009
54 - Gettysburg (W/54-13) - 9-29-2000
52 - Gettysburg (W/52-35) - 10-2-1998
49 - Ursinus (W/49-10) - 11-1-2003

Escape Artists: Johns Hopkins used a one-yard touchdown run by Andrew Kase with 49 seconds remaining to pull out the 35-31 win over Randolph-Macon on September 12. It was the first time Johns Hopkins won a game in the final minute since October 6, 2007, when Alex Lachman nailed a 40-yard field goal as time expired to lift the Blue Jays past Dickinson, 20-17. The Blue Jays had a chance to make it two last-minute wins this season, but a field goal attempt in the final 30 seconds was just wide against Ursinus.

Streaking: Since the start of the 2002 season the Blue Jays sport a 59-24 (.711) record. Taking it back farther the Blue Jays are 65-27 (.707) since the start of the 2001 season and 70-32 (.686) since the beginning of the 2000 season. The 70 wins the Blue Jays have amassed this decade are already the most wins in a decade in school history. The previous record of 55 wins came in the 1990s.

200 and 200: Johns Hopkins totaled 216 rushing yards and 243 passing yards in a 41-23 win over Gettysburg on September 18. That effort marked the 24th time since 1955 that JHU has totaled 200 or more yards rushing and passing in the same game. Exactly half of those 24 have come since Jim Margraff took over as the Blue Jays' coach in 1990. JHU is 10-2 when rushing and passing for 200 or more yards under Margraff and 22-2 overall in such games.

Kase Ties One, Breaks Two: Senior Andrew Kase needed all of 14 carries to total 146 yards rushing and four touchdowns in last week's win at Juniata. For good measure, Kase also hit an extra point after one of the Blue Jays' touchdowns and was named the Centennial Conference Co-Offensive Player of the Week for his efforts. Kase, who didn't play in the second half (except to kick the extra point), tied the Johns Hopkins single-game record for rushing touchdowns with his four last week. The mark has now been hit five times, including twice by Kase.
In addition to tying the single-game rushing touchdowns mark, Kase also moved into sole possession of first place on JHU's career overall touchdowns list (43) and career scoring list (259). He moved past Bill Stromberg (1978-81) on both lists as Stromberg totaled 39 career touchdowns and 240 points in his career.

A Glimpse of the Future: Freshman Jonathan Rigaud and sophomores Lyndon O'Connor and Nick Fazio combined for 134 rushing yards and 183 all-purpose yards in the win at Juniata last Saturday.
Rigaud had a career-high 78 yards rushing, 51 of which came on one play. The 51-yard run is the longest by a Johns Hopkins player since O'Connor had a 69-yard run against Dickinson last season.
O'Connor totaled 19 yards on six carries and added two receptions for 49 yards, including a career-long 35-yard catch on second-and-24 from the Juniata 49. Fazio added 37 yards rushing and one touchdown on eight carries as the trio gave a glimpse of what life without Andrew Kase will be like next season.

Schweyer Makes His Mark: Freshman Adam Schweyer enjoyed a solid game at Juniata as he blocked a punt that he scooped up and returned 13 yards for a touchdown, intercepted a pass that he returned 46 yards to set up a fourth quarter touchdown and posted three tackles on special teams. His 46-yard interception return is the longest by a Johns Hopkins player since September 3, 2005, when Dan Requena took one back 53 yards against Rochester.

Tomlin Rolling: Sophomore quarterback Hewitt Tomlin continues to rank among the Centennial Conference passing leaders with two weeks remaining in the regular season.
Tomlin is currently 141-of-225 for 1,565 yards with 12 touchdowns against six interceptions on the year. He ranks third in the league in pass efficiency (133.4) and completion percentage (.627) and fifth in TD passes and passing yards per game (195.6).
Tomlin had his school-record-tying streak of 200-yard passing games snapped at four in the loss against Ursinus and ranks sixth in school history in career completions (295), seventh in passing yards (3,412), tied for seventh in attempts (500) and 10th in touchdown passes (21). He is also tied for fourth with 10, 200-yard passing games to his credit and has a 13-4 record in his 17 career starts.

Choose Your Poison: A big part of the Johns Hopkins offense this season is a deep and talented receiving corps that counts three players with 25 or more receptions and seven different players with nine catches or more. Most impressively, the top six pass-catchers are all due to return next season.
Sophomore Sam Wernick currently leads the team in receptions (34) despite missing the first game of the season. Junior Dan Crowley counts 33 receptions for a team-high 489 yards and four touchdowns to his credit, while classmate Tucker Michels has 25 receptions for 348 yards and three scores. Michels enjoyed one of the finest games of his career at Dickinson as he had four receptions for a career-high 141 yards and one touchdown. His 68-yard touchdown reception on JHU's second play from scrimmage was the longest reception of his career.

Leading the Way: Johns Hopkins ranks fourth in the Centennial Conference in scoring offense (30.6), third in rushing offense (173.2), fifth in passing offense (203.5) and third in total offense (376.8). While the players who carry, throw and catch the ball get most of the attention, the Blue Jay offense is led in large part by a seasoned offensive line.
Seniors Mike Stoffel, Tim Miller and Anthony Catanzano, junior Ryan Lino and sophomore Ed Rodger are the primary starters on the line, with senior John Fox and sophomore Doug Drummond also seeing regular action. The unit has allowed just two sacks on 239 pass attempts this season. The two sacks JHU has allowed are tied for the second-fewest in the nation.

Defense Rolling: The Johns Hopkins defense will be facing one of the top offenses in the nation this week against Franklin & Marshall. The Diplomats enter the game against the Blue Jays averaging 32.4 points, 305.0 passing yards and 375.5 total yards per game.
The Blue Jay defense enters the game on a roll of its own, however, as JHU has allowed a total of just 44 rushing yards and 330 total yards in its last two games. In addition, JHU forced six turnovers and registered seven sacks last week at Juniata.
For the year, JHU leads the Centennial in total defense (268.1), rushing defense (91.5) and forced turnovers (25) and ranks second in scoring defense (17.4). The Blue Jays are also tied for second in sacks (26).

An Opportunistic Bunch: Johns Hopkins has forced 25 turnovers in eight games this season and ranks first in the Centennial Conference in turnover margin (+1.62/game). JHU's 17 INTs in eight games are four more than the Blue Jays came up with last year in 11 games. JHU forced six turnovers (4 INTs, 2 FR) against Juniata and the Blue Jays have forced at least two turnovers in all eight games this season. No other team in the Centennial has forced at least two turnovers in every game this season. Dating back to last season, JHU has forced two or more turnovers in nine straight games and at least one turnover in 11 straight games.

Sophomore Sensations: A quick glance at the JHU tackle charts reveals that the top three tacklers and five of the top seven are sophomores.
Sophomore Mike Milano currently leads the Blue Jays in tackles with 54 and is followed closely by classmates Tyler Brown and Ryan Piatek, who are tied for second with 50 tackles each. Classmates Sam Eagleson (37) and Kale Sweeney (34) rank sixth and seventh, respectively in tackles.
In last week's win at Juniata it was Brown's turn to take the lead as he totaled a team-high six tackles, added two sacks, two forced fumbles and one fumble recovery. In addition, Eagleson and Milano both added intercpetions and Piatek paced the team with 2.5 tackles for losses.

In the Zone: Johns Hopkins has scored on 31-of-35 trips to the red zone this season (.886) and 23 of those 31 scores are touchdowns.

Seven's Heaven: Since the beginning of the 2003 season the Blue Jays are 50-16 when scoring more than seven points and 0-6 when they have been held to seven points or less.

It's All Academic: Johns Hopkins had three players named to the 2008 ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District Team. Current senior Steve Levinson (DL) was named to the first team, while classmates Mike Stoffel (OL) and Anthony Catanzano (OL) garnered second team honors.
Johns Hopkins has earned 29 CoSIDA Academic All-District selections since 2003. JHU's 29 selections in that time are the same number the other CC football-playing schools have combined for (29). Taking it back even farther, Johns Hopkins has earned 55 CoSIDA Academic All-District selections since 1991. During that time the other CC football-playing schools have combined for 59 selections. Johns Hopkins has had at least three players earn CoSIDA Academic All-District honors every year since 2001.

It's All Academic - Part II: Johns Hopkins placed nine players on the 2009 Centennial Conference Football Academic Honor Roll. The nine selections were tied for the most in the league. Individuals named to the team must meet the following criteria: be a sophomore or above in academic standing, maintain a cumulative grade point average of 3.4 or higher and be a starter for significant reserve. Below is a list of the Johns Hopkins players named to the 2009 CC Football Academic Honor Roll.

Name (Pos.) - Yr. - Major
Anthony Catanzano (OL) - Sr. - Natural Sciences
John Fox (OL) - Sr. - Economics
Max Islinger (P) - Jr. - Economics
Steve Levinson (DL) - Sr. - International / Latin American Studies
Dylan Meola (LB) - So. - Economics
Ryan Piatek (LB) - So. - Economics
Glenn Rocca (DL) - Sr. - Economics
Mike Stoffel (OL) - Sr. - Natural Sciences
Sam Wernick (WR) - So. - Political Science

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