LANCASTER, PA – The Johns Hopkins football team scored three touchdowns in a nine-minute span midway through the first half and added three more in the first nine minutes of the third quarter to pull away for a 42-12 win at Franklin & Marshall Saturday afternoon. The win is the fourth straight for the Blue Jays, who hit their bye with a 5-1 overall record and a 4-1 mark in the Centennial Conference. F&M dropped its second straight and slips to 4-2 overall and 3-2 in the Centennial.
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The loss is also the first for F&M at Shadek Stadium, which opened early in the 2017 season.
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After being held scoreless for more than 13 minutes to open the game, the Blue Jays got going late in the first quarter as they pieced together a 10-play, 69-yard drive that senior
Stuart Walters capped with a two-yard scoring run with 81 seconds left in the opening period.
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The Blue Jays would score on their next two possessions as well to increase their lead to 21-0. A 10-yard touchdown pass from junior
David Tammaro to sophomore
Ryan Hubley was the final play in an 11-play, 72-yard drive early in the second quarter and Walters took a short pass from Tammaro 42 yards down the sideline less than three minutes later to account for Hopkins' two second-quarter scores.
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The Blue Jay defense forced F&M to punt on its first four possessions of the game, including back-to-back three-and-outs in the middle of their 21-point run.
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The Diplomats put together their best drive of the day late in the second quarter as they went 81-yards in 13 plays and got a three-yard touchdown run from Joe Hartley-Vittoria with 2:25 left in the half to make it 21-6.
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The Blue Jays' first three drives of the second half all covered more than 50 yards and resulted in touchdowns that staked JHU to a 42-6 lead midway through the third quarter.
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Walters added a 16-yard touchdown run on Hopkins' opening possession of the third quarter and
Hogan Irwin added a 14-yard scoring run of his own just over two minutes later to make it 35-6. Tammaro polished off the scoring for the Blue Jays with a three-yard run that capped a four-play, 50-yard drive.
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Like it had in the first half, the Blue Jay defense kept F&M from threatening while the offense was rolling. The Diplomats' first six possessions of the second half ended with five punts and turnover.
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F&M closed out the scoring with six seconds left in regulation when Zachary Bross hauled in a 19-yard touchdown pass from Jack Donaghy.
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Tammaro was 24-of-34 for 290 yards and the two scores and also rushed for a career-high 89 yards and the one touchdown. Walters added 64 yards rushing and two scores and the one 42-yard reception that also resulted in a touchdown. Hubley had a career-high 12 receptions for 107 yards and the one touchdown.
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Defensively, the Blue Jays held F&M to just 227 yards and came up with a season-high six sacks, including two each by senior
Anthony Davidson and junior
Mike Kalanik.
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F&M, which entered the game averaging 28 points per game, was led by Hartley-Vitt's 42 yards rushing and the one touchdown.  Senior Tanner Erisman was 9-of-19 for 104 yards, but the Diplomats were just 4-of-16 on third down chances and struggled to sustain drives to keep the Blue Jay offense off the field.
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Johns Hopkins will return to action on Saturday, October 20 when the Blue Jays travel to Gettysburg for another Centennial Conference game against the Bullets (1 pm).
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Notes: The win is the sixth straight for Johns Hopkins against F&M • Walters moved into second on JHU's career rushing touchdowns list (38) • Walters also now has 47 career touchdowns – just four shy of Andrew Kase's school record of 51 • Tammaro extended his school and Centennial-record streak for consecutive 200-yard passing games to 16 • JHU is now 40-2 in games played before its bye week since 2011.
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