The 14-game regular season winning streak continues as the Hopkins football team tacked on another victory against Moravian, last Saturday, 33-14. The win improves their overall season record this year to 3-0, which includes two conference wins and a win against Susquehanna last weekend. The hosting Jays offense relied heavily on the run, using a two-headed monster out of the backfield with sophomores Dionisio Roman and Stuart Walters getting a significant bulk of carries. The duo received a heavier workload with the absence of the injured junior Brandon Cherry and combined for 142 yards on the day. Roman punched in two of the four Hopkins rushing touchdowns and also contributed a healthy 36 yards in the pass game.
“I thought today was the best Dionisio has run,” Head Coach Jim Margraff said. “He ran well the first couple of games but today was special.”
In addition to the heavy run game, the Jays sported a brilliant defensive outing that included three interceptions, three sacks and nine tackles for losses. The defensive momentum started early, forcing Moravian to punt on their first drive and allowing senior quarterback Braden Anderson to lead his offense 67 yards on 13 plays that resulted in a Jamie Sullivan field goal giving the Jays the first points of the game.
Moravian answered quickly with a couple of big plays from quarterback Mike Hayes who found receiver Jalen Snyder-Scipio for 25 yards and was then able to scramble for a gain of 16 yards two plays later. Hayes capped off the drive, finding Snyder-Scipio in the back corner of the end zone for a six-yard score.
However, the Greyhounds did not maintain their lead for long, as Anderson once again manufactured a similar drive to his first with 69 yards on 13 plays, only this one ended with Roman punching in a one-yard score, furthering his red zone proficiency and tying Anderson for a team high fourth rushing touchdown.
Now closing in on the end of the first quarter, the Hopkins defense started to make some big stops as their play recognition and pursuit were nearly flawless. The Moravian offense struggled to string plays together as the experienced defensive line for Hopkins put on the pressure play after play. Sophomore defensive back Jack Toner, who had an excellent performance, benefited from that pressure. Defensive linemen, senior Michael Longo and freshman Lance Hammond, forced Hayes to force a pass into a tight window that Toner stepped in front of for the interception. The team's interception total is nearing the total from last year, and Coach Margraff said that "turnovers have definitely been an emphasis this year." Hopkins was able to convert on the turnover with Roman’s second touchdown, giving the Jays the lead that they would maintain for the rest of the game.
Play got more physical after halftime with both teams fired up. For two drives, the respective defenses were able to stymie the other’s offense with aggressive tackling and some audibly impressive hits. Each hit gave way to some tremendous cheering from both sidelines as well as the emotional home-side bleachers. Four personal fouls were handed out in the midst of this defensive surge. Moravian eventually appeared to find an offensive rhythm, but it was soon silenced by a couple of pass breakups by Toner, forcing yet another punt and yet another Hopkins rushing touchdown, this time on a quarterback keeper for Anderson. The drive was accentuated by a huge stiff arm thrown by Roman on a seven-yard rush that encapsulated the physical nature of the third quarter.
A Hopkins field goal and a touchdown later, the score made its way to 33-7 during the closing minutes of the game, when Hayes and his Greyhounds threatened with a 67-yard drive that resulted in a short rushing TD. Without attempting an onside kick, the Greyhounds turned the ball over and Hopkins was able to kill a minute of clock time to secure the victory.
Anderson finished his best passing performance of the season, going 25-34 for a total of 218 yards passing, adding 38 yards on the ground, while on defense, both Longo and Toner notched seven tackles.
Hopkins will look to carry the momentum into next Saturday’s divisional matchup against an undefeated Muhlenberg team.
