Johns Hopkins was foiled for the second straight year by Gettysburg, as the Bullets were out-gained in total offense 410 yards to 240, but escaped Homewood Field with a 13-10 Centennial Football Conference victory last night.
Hopkins got 175 yards rushing on 27 carries from Hari Lymon, as the freshman from City got the Blue Jays' only touchdown on a 36-yard run with 4:02 elapsed. He had 148 yards with 24 minutes remaining, but carried only six more times.
Sophomore Mike Bopp and junior Scott Cade took turns quarterbacking long drives, but the Blue Jays had only a 23-yard field goal by Kevin McCarthy to show for four penetrations inside the Bullets' 12-yard line. The last drive reached the 3 and ended with 9:34 left, when McCarthy missed a 26-yard field goal that would have tied the score.
"It's difficult to speak to a quiet locker room here," said third-year coach Jim Margraff, who entered last night's game with a 9-0-2 record at Homewood Field. "I told the kids they [Gettysburg] didn't win it, we lost it. I'll have to take a look at my calls down there [at the end of the failed drives]. This one hurts even more than last year."
Gettysburg (3-1, 2-1), which beat Hopkins (2-2, 1-1) with a last-minute touchdown a year ago, got the winning points on a 1-yard dive by sophomore Dwayne Marcus on the last play of the third quarter. Marcus, the No. 8 rusher in NCAA Division III even though he didn't play football at Archbishop Carroll High in Washington, had 154 yards on 26 carries.
Marcus' touchdown came four plays after Keith Miner intercepted Bopp on the Blue Jays' 26. A run-oriented team even before it lost its top two quarterbacks to injury, Gettysburg attempted its first pass of the night on second down, Marcus taking a swing pass from freshman Phil Schrode 19 yards to the 1.
McCarthy's field goal with 9:18 left in the third quarter had given Hopkins a 10-6 advantage, and his game-tying attempt was wide right. Hopkins had two more possessions, but couldn't return to Gettysburg territory.
The Blue Jays were disappointed with a 7-6 halftime lead, which they couldn't expand despite a pair of 15-play drives. The first reached the Bullets' 11-yard line and ended with three incomplete passes by Bopp, and the second used over seven tTC minutes of the second quarter before sputtering at the 1.
Hopkins did get the first break. Tom Baugher recovered a fumble by Schrode on the Gettysburg 36 on the Bullets' third play. Lymon squirted through the right side on second down and ran the rest of the way untouched for a 36-yard touchdown. McCarthy's point-after made it 7-0.
Gettysburg bounced right back with a 10-play, 67-yard drive exclusively on the ground, ending with a 2-yard touchdown run by Darren Smith with 5:25 left in the first quarter. Brandon Ream's point-after attempt was wide left, keeping the Blue Jays on top.