Fisher Advances to Second Round with Win over Previously Unbeaten JHU
The St. John Fisher College football team used five interceptions to stop one of the most potent offenses in Division III, defeating the Johns Hopkins Blue Jays 23-12 in the first round of the NCAA Division III Championships. Fisher snapped Hopkins 15-game winning streak, the previously second longest streak in any division of collegiate football.
Ryan Kramer was leading the Cardinals on a drive midway through the second quarter when he rushed for two yards at the Johns Hopkins 9-yard line. Kramer was tackled hard by two Blue Jays and sustained an injury that would put him on the sideline for the remainder of the game. Junior Ahmed Hassanien took over under center for Fisher and on his first play from scrimmage found Ryan Francis in the back of the end zone for a 7-yard touchdown. Monheim made the PAT to give Fisher the 13-6 lead and the game-winning point with 3:11 left in the first stanza and that lead would hold heading into the locker room at half.
The Cardinals took a 6-0 lead in the first half with two field goals from Chad Monheim, who cashed in points for Fisher who’s offense stalled in the red zone on both drives.
With 9:22 left in the fourth quarter, Johns Hopkins went for it on 4
th down and two yards to go from its own 34-yard line trailing by just one score, 20-12. Blue Jays’ quarterback Hewitt Tomlin through a pass to a slanting Daniel Wodicka but the attempt came up incomplete.
That directly setup Fisher’s final score of the game, taking over at the Hopkins 34-yard line, driving the ball 28 yards before using Monheim once again, this time for 23-yards out, putting the Cardinals up two scores 23-12 with 5:06 remaining in the game.
The Cardinals only touchdown in the second half came with 3:34 remaining in the third quarter, with Cody Miller capping an 8-play, 75 yard drive spanning 2:58 with a two yard rush to pay dirt.
Fisher’s first drive went 16-plays for 60 yards and ate up 8:18 off the clock before Monheim knocked in a 26-yard field goal to put the Cardinals up 3-0 with 6:42 left in the first quarter. The Fisher defense then forced the Blue Jays to a three-and-out to get the ball back.
The Cardinals then put together a shorter drive with that went 61-yards and ended with another Monheim field goal, this attempt from 28-yards to make it 6-0 with 14:52 left in the second quarter.
Johns Hopkins tied the game with 9:21 left in the half, scoring a touchdown on a pass from Tomlin to Wodicka for 6-yards. Mason Judd came up with a huge block on the extra point, keeping the score knotted at 6-6.
Hassanien finished the game 8-for-13 for 162 yards and a touchdown as the junior had one more completion and attempt than he had the entire season. The Binghamton native set career-highs for completions, attempts and yards in a game. Miller carried the rushing load with a career-high 29 carries that went for 89 yards and a score. Ryan Schmidt led the Cardinals’ receiving core with 11 receptions for 124 yards.
As a team the Cardinals won the time of possession battle 32:49-27:11 finished 9-of-17 on third downs and came away with points 5-of-6 times in the red zone.
Fisher will travel to face Delaware Valley College next weekend as the Aggies defeated Norwich 62-10 on Saturday.