The Hopkins Blue Jays football team kicked off their Centennial Conference season this past Saturday against the Susquehanna Crusaders. While the Blue Jays explosive offense is no secret, the story of this game was the defense, holding the Crusaders to only 122 offensive yards and totaling nine sacks on the day.
The game was scoreless for the first seven minutes. However, after getting the ball on their own 18-yard line, the Jays marched 82 yards in four plays and just 50 seconds to get their first score of the game. After running their typical fast-paced offense of quick hitting screens and read options, senior quarterback Robbie Matey threaded the needle deep, hitting sophomore running back Brandon Cherry for a 36-yard touchdown, giving Hopkins the lead 7-0.
Even early in the game, it looked as if Hopkins was going to dominate. Following the score, the defense recorded a quick stop and got the ball back. However, the Blue Jays fumbled the ball in Susquehanna territory on a bad handoff exchange. The Crusaders proceeded to drive the ball 62 yards, aided by a Blue Jay penalty, to knot the score up at seven. Susquehanna sophomore quarterback Taylor Kolmer connected with wide receiver Devon Pascoe for 31 yards down the middle of the field, putting them in first and goal territory. Kolmer took the ball up the middle to tie the game.
The next drive for Hopkins produced the same result, on almost the same exact play. After a good return for the Jays, the offense fumbled again on a botched exchange and Susquehanna recovered. Luckily for the Blue Jays, the defense stepped up and did not allow the mistake to hurt them.
Midway through the second quarter, the Blue Jays kept a drive alive on 3rd and 19 from their own 39-yard line when Matey found sophomore receiver Ryan Finkel for a 36-yard gain. Matey capped off the 79-yard drive scampering into the end zone from six yards out to give Hopkins a 14-7 lead that they would not lose.
The Hopkins defense stepped up even more in the second half, allowing only 52 yards on Susquehanna’s eight second half drives, including only 32 rushing yards on 41 attempts. The nine recorded sacks were the most since 2008, when Hopkins tallied the same amount against Ursinus in a 14-0 victory. Senior Andy Leychur had a career high 2.5 sacks, while junior Matthew Connery added a pair for himself along with a career high 10 tackles.
For his efforts, Connery was named the Centennial Conference Defensive Player of the Week, the first time the junior has received the honor.
The complete defensive effort never allowed Crusader quarterback Kolmer to get comfortable in the pocket or outside of it. In addition to the stifling defensive gameplan, Matey and the Blue Jay offense provided the necessary support for a well-rounded game by the entire team.
Early in the 4th quarter Matey and the offense drove down the field in 10 plays, netting 67-yards. Matey took the ball in from 13 yards out to put the game out of reach, expanding the lead to 21-7. The defense again stepped up giving the ball back to Hopkins midway through the 4th quarter. After burning almost six minutes off of the clock, freshman kicker Nick Campbell hit a field goal putting the game away at 24-7 with only three minutes remaining.
The Blue Jays offense totaled 485 yards on the day, while only allowing 122 to Susquehanna. Senior running back JD Abbott ran for a career high 125 yards on 20 carries and Cherry added 76 of his own on just seven attempts. Matey was 20-of-29 passing on the day for 242 yards.
Standing at 2-0, 1-0 Centennial, the Blue Jays are currently ranked 16th nationally according to d3football.com, the highest ranking of any Centennial Conference squad and the only Centennial team ranked in the Top 25.
Hopkins will travel to Moravian next weekend to play at 2 p.m.
