News-Letter

Media Credit: Daniel Litwin

Traveling to McDaniel this past weekend, the Blue Jays needed a win to grab the Centennial Conference's automatic bid to the NCAA playoffs.

Not only did the Jays take down the Green Terror 38-14 and grab the bid, the win also gives the Jays the outright Centennial Conference championship, their fifth conference championship in the last seven years.

"We were very focused heading into the game, knowing it was essentially a playoff game," senior running back Andrew Kase said. "If we win, we keep playing, lose and we're done."

The Jays' focus showed early, as they jumped out to a 7-0 lead on the opening drive. Sophomore quarterback Hewitt Tomlin engineered a 65-yard drive down-field, culminating in freshman wide receiver Scott Cremen's first career touchdown.

The lead would not hold long, though, as the Green Terror responded in the closing seconds of the first quarter with a touchdown of their own, knotting the score at 7-7.

"The approach to the game was treating it as the biggest game of our season," Tomlin said. "We studied a lot of film, we practiced very hard and put together a very good game plan. It's hard playing a team that has nothing to lose, so we responded with a 'nothing to lose' attitude as well."

The Jays dominated the second quarter offensively, tacking on two more touchdowns before the half. Sophomore linebacker Ryan Piatek set up the first offensive drive as he picked off McDaniel's Thomas Massucci. A four-yard rush by Kase and an Alex Lachman extra point gave the Jays back their seven-point advantage.

The Jays would add on another touchdown just before the clock ran out in the first half. Starting at their own two-yard line, the Jays drove the ball nearly the entire length of the field, with Tomlin going 7-for-11 on the drive. Tomlin hit junior Tucker Michels for a 13-yard touchdown pass with 37 seconds left on the clock, giving the Jays a 21-7 advantage going into the locker room.

Following a scoreless third quarter, the Jays came out firing in the fourth, essentially putting the game on ice and securing their berth in the NCAA tournament.

Senior fullback Jay Adams ran the ball in from two yards out to give the Jays a comfortable three-touchdown lead early in the fourth quarter. Alex Lachman would follow this with a 21-yard field goal midway through the quarter.

Sophomore Mike Milano's pick and 42-yard return for a touchdown would complete the Jays' offensive production, giving them a 38-7 lead with fewer than two minutes left in regulation. The Green Terror would add on one more touchdown before the whistle sounded, but the Jays nonetheless cruised to a 38-14 win and the outright Centennial Conference title. The Jays have now won three straight and eight of their last nine games.

"It's great to be Centennial Conference champs, especially outright," Kase said. "Being only the second team to win the conference outright really puts things into perspective."

This win propels the Jays into the NCAA tournament and they will travel to Hampden-Sydney this Saturday to face the Tigers, who boast a 10-0 record. This will be the first meeting between these two teams this year.

"We don't know a lot about Hampden-Sydney yet," Tomlin stated. "But we will approach them like we do every other team. We look for weakness and tendencies and we exploit them. Hopefully we can find a few and take advantage of them without mistakes."

The Jays will try to put together a complete game this Saturday as they look to continue on in the tournament and build on their three-game winning streak.

"We know what we're capable of as a team and we are really just working toward playing up to our potential for a full 60 minutes on Saturday," Kase said. "We came close against Franklin and Marshall, but I still don't think we've played our best game yet. Saturday would be a good time to do just that."

Kickoff is set for noon this Saturday at Hampden-Sydney in Virginia.

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