In four of the past five years, the Johns Hopkins football team had won 10 games. On Saturday, it grabbed the elusive No. 11.
A 24-16 victory over visiting Rowan in the first round of the NCAA Division III postseason helped the No. 6 Blue Jays improve to a school-record 11-0.
The current group of seniors had won 10 games in each of their first three seasons, but coach Jim Margraff said an 11th win would help the program avoid developing a complex.
"I think this year, if we didn't get to 11, it would have started to become a thing, because we've been there a few times now," he said Monday night. "You're excited to win every game, and in a historical perspective, they're the first team to win 11 games, and so it's exciting for our players. That was great for the evening, and now we're off to the next week."
Senior quarterback Braden Anderson said the 11-win threshold was "something that we as players would think about."
"I guess during our first three years, our goals always started with the Centennial Conference championship," he said. "The first year was our first undefeated regular season, but we didn't get the playoff win, and you want to keep building on that. I think 11 wins was the next building block for us, and we want to keep going and get even better."
Johns Hopkins can reach greater heights with a victory over No. 7 Hobart (11-0) in Geneva, N.Y., on Saturday in the second round of the playoffs. Sophomore wide receiver Bradley Munday said the team is not yet content.
"Obviously, we're very fortunate and we are happy to be here," he said. "That being said, we're not satisfied with just being here. We don't expect to be done. We hope to continue."