CARLISLE, Pa. – The Dickinson football team seemed poised on Saturday to not only post a monumental upset over the eighth-ranked Johns Hopkins University, but give themselves a shot at a share of the Centennial Conference title next Saturday on the road. Unfortunately, for the Red and White, the visitors tallied the final 21-points of the game to escape with a 34-23 win at Biddle Field in front of a capacity crowd.
Things could not have started better for the Devils as
Presley Egbers found
Bobby Markey for 62-yards on the first play of the game to take the ball to the JHU23. Runs by
Diante Ball and Egbers pushed it to the JHU20, before a ten-yard strike to Markey setup first-and-goal on the JHU10. After an eight-yard carry by Egbers he would take it in on his own from two-yards out a play later for the 6-0 lead (
Justin Worobel kick blocked). Dickinson would allow the visitors to get out to their own 39, before Bay Harvey was picked off by
Keon Eady to give it back to the Red and White on the DC42. However, on the ensuing Dickinson play Egbers was intercepted by Carson Bourdo at the DC49. Six consecutive rushes five of which by Harvey advanced the ball to the DC9. The Devils defense would dig deep and stall the Jays march forcing a 30-yard field goal by Joe Zahner cutting it to 6-3 through 15 minutes.
The Red and White gave the ball back to the Jays on their own 20-yardline after a punt from
Matt Maiona resulted in a touchback. Passes to Cole Crotty and Will Leger along with a 37-yard carry for Spencer Uggla brought Hopkins into the redzone at the DC11. Once again though Dickinson's defense dug in against the high-flying Blue Jays attack as they held the fort causing Zahner to come on and knock home a 24-yard kick to knot the score at 6-6. After each side went scoreless on their next possession the Devils began a drive on their own 30 with just over four minutes left in the half. Completions to
Devlin McCool and Markey for 23 and 14 yards respectively coupled with a pair of Ball runs moved the rock to the JHU22 prompting a timeout with 2:18 left. Two more touches for Ball and a sack of Egbers would not allow the Devils to find the endzone. Instead,
Kieran O'Neill drilled a 35-yard field goal to give DC a slim 9-6 edge going to the locker room.
Both teams went three-and-out on their opening drives of the half to suck just 4:20 off the clock. That was when the Blue Jays went to work at their own 14 and needed just one play for Harvey to find Crotty for an 86-yard touchdown strike and the guests first lead of the afternoon at 13-9 (Joe Zahner kick). However, the lead was short-lived as
Princeton Douglass took the Zack Stone kickoff from the DC4, 96-yards to the house and a 16-13 advantage (
Justin Worobel kick). The ensuing Hopkins drive ended after just three plays as Harvey was sacked by
Bram Leys who jarred the ball free allowing
Brendan Walker to pick up the ball on the nine and hustle home for a 23-13 lead (
Justin Worobel kick). The Blue Jays cut into the deficit on the next drive using a good combination of run and pass to get down to the DC16. A little trickery made it 23-20 as receiver Burke Griffin took a pitch and rolled to his right and found Josh Polce a 16-yard strike (Joe Zahner kick). Â
The fourth period began with Hopkins in the middle of a drive sitting first-and-ten on the JHU45. Two carries by Uggla and a 29-yard pass to Crotty brought it down to the DC21. Two plays later Harvey took off on his own and scampered 17 yards to the endzone bring Hopkins back in front 27-23 (Joe Zahner kick). The next Dickinson possession saw the Devils get a 33-yard pass to Markey to bring the ball out to midfield, followed by two Ball rushes up to the JHU42. However, on third-and-short a brilliant one-handed catch by Markey was brought back for an offensive pass interference penalty nullifying a first down and bringing up third and long. After Egbers was sacked on third down the Red and White punted from their own 33 to the Hopkins 30 where Nick Schnaars brought it back all the way to the original line of scrimmage. The Blue Jays then embarked on a time-consuming eleven-play drive converting a pair of fourth downs along the way, including a one-yard TD plunge from Harvey to extend the lead to 34-23 with just two minutes left. Unfortunately, the final Dickinson drive would not amount to anything as Egbers had his fourth down pass broken up to allow the Hopkins to kneel twice ending the game.
Defensively, the Devils were led by
John Prochniak who had a game-high ten tackles (seven solo).
Bram Leys added nine hits (two for loss), forced a fumble and had a quarterback hurry.
Jeremy Reid chipped in eight stops, while the duo of
Neville Krueger and
Alex Sulin combined for 14 tackles (three for loss) and one pass breakup.
James Basilii and
Sam Orzolek also had six stops apiece.
Up Next
Dickinson (6-3, 3-2 Centennial) will close out the regular season on Saturday, November 11th at 1pm in Collegeville, Pennsylvania against Ursinus College with a potential spot in the upcoming Centennial-MAC Bowl Series on the line.
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