As far as Johns Hopkins' Keith Corliss was concerned, Rowan running back Withler Marcelin's 19-carry, 126-yard performance in the first half of Saturday's NCAA Division III playoff game at Homewood Field wasn't out of the ordinary.
"We knew he was an excellent player," said Corliss, the junior inside linebacker who made six tackles for the Blue Jays in their 24-16 win. "What we wanted to do was, we wanted to get everyone to him with great pursuit to the ball and everyone doing their job and just gang-tackle him and neutralize him, and we were able to do that in the second half.
"I thought when we went in at halftime, we were kind of disappointed with ourselves because we kind of let him dictate what he was going to do a little bit. At halftime, we were able to fix some things, and [everyone was] able to maintain their jobs and do what they needed to do to stop him. It was a great team effort."
Thanks to the concerted defensive effort by the Blue Jays (11-0), Marcelin gained just 10 yards on eight attempts in the second half. And that forced the Profs (7-4) to turn to junior quarterback Bill McCarty.
McCarty recorded season bests in both completions (24) and yards (201), but he also posted season highs in dropbacks (48) and sacks (four), which contributed to Johns Hopkins' success and Rowan's downfall.
"We're a run-first, pass-second team," Profs coach Jay Accorsi said. "But they were stuffing the run, and we really weren't getting a lot in the run game. We ended up throwing it and had some success with that. That's not really our M.O., but I thought we adjusted and did a pretty good job of throwing the ball when we needed to.
"But it comes back to running the ball. We didn't run it well enough to be effective."
Influencing Rowan to abandon the run in favor of the pass was the Blue Jays' defensive strategy, according to senior defensive tackle Michael Rocca.
"Usually the way we play, we're going to put the offense in situations they don't want to be in," said Rocca, who had six tackles, one half-sack and one fumble recovery. "When you're playing a team that goes for [186.9] yards a game on the ground, you're going to want them to throw the ball a little more.
"Put them in tough situations. Put them in third-and-longs. When we do that, we love getting after the passer."