TIGERS TAKE DOWN JOHNS HOPKINS, 49-20, FOR WIN No. 7

Game Box Score

             HAMPDEN-SYDNEY, VA (November 5, 2005)—Hampden-Sydney’s football team piled up 42 first half points en route to a 49-20 victory over Johns Hopkins University Saturday in H-SC’s annual Hall of Fame Game.  Meanwhile, the Tigers’ 18 seniors celebrated win No. 32 for their careers as Hampden-Sydney improved to 7-2 overall, while the Blue Jays fell to 7-2. 

Tiger senior quarterback J.D. Ricca (Gaithersburg, MD/St. John’s College HS) completed 75 percent of his passes (24-for-32) for 333 yards and four touchdowns, becoming the ODAC leader in single-season touchdown passes with 37 on the year.  Meanwhile, Tiger senior receiver Brian Rolander (Exmore, VA/Broadwater) caught two TD passes, while senior tight end Ben Dull (Roanoke, VA/Cave Spring) had one as the H-SC senior class played in its final home game. 

Freshman receiver/running back Josh Simpson (Richmond, VA/Mills Godwin) got the Tigers on the scoreboard in their first two drives as he rambled in for touchdown runs from six and ten yards out to give the team a 14-0 advantage.  J.D. Ricca then got into the act with a fade pass into the endzone that Brian Rolander hauled in from a yard out to give Hampden-Sydney a three touchdown lead through one quarter of action. 

Johns Hopkins running back T.J. Lyons scored the first of two touchdowns on the day with a two yard run to spoil the Tiger shutout bid with 14:55 to play in the second quarter.  However, Hampden-Sydney answered with three straight TDs to cose out the half as Ricca connected with Rolander from 27-yards out and hit sophomore receiver Drew Smith (Richmond, VA/Mills Godwin) on a nine-yard scoring strike before junior running back Charlie Omick (Lawrenceville, VA/Brunswick Acad.) tacked on his second rushing touchdown of the season to give H-SC a 42-7 advantage at halftime. 

In the second half Ben Dull’s 23-yard touchdown reception from Ricca was sandwiched between a T.J. Lyons touchdown run and a Steve Eno reception as Hopkins cut into the Tiger advantage, but Hampden-Sydney finished off the contest with a 49-20 victory, its’ first over JHU since 1970. 

Overall, Hampden-Sydney’s offense racked up 487 yards and had 26 first downs.  Omick led the way for the team on the ground with his first 100-yard effort of the season as he finished with 130 yards on 20 carries and a touchdown.  Meanwhile, Drew Smith led all receivers with nine catches for 161 yards and one score. 

Johns Hopkins was limited to 299 yards of offense and 18 first downs as T.J. Lyons tallied 56 yards on 15 carries to go with his two touchdowns.  Receiver Anthony Triplin tallied eight catches for 79 yards, while quarterback Zach DiIonno completed 12-of-24 passes for 137 yards. 

Defensively, five seniors led the way for the Tigers as safety Jeff Inman (Virginia Beach, VA/Ocean Lakes) recorded 11 tackles, while Louis Burrell (Richmond, VA/Highland Springs) added nine tackles.  Linebacker Asim Wilson (Richmond, VA/Varina) recorded six tackles and a sack, while defensive end Zach Price (Richmond, VA/James River) and linebacker Wes Hall (Roanoke, VA/Cave Spring) both tallied five tackles, while Price made two sacks and Hall one. 

Adam Luke led a trio of Blue Jays in double figures in total tackles as he recorded 14 stops to go with a sack, while Adam Colicchio and Jim Sanders each finished with ten tackles, while Colicchio had a fumble recovery and a pass breakup. 

Hampden-Sydney’s football team closes out its regular season next Saturday, November 12, as the Tigers travel to Ashland, VA, to take on Randolph-Macon College in the 111^th all-time matchup between two teams that comprise the oldest small college football rivalry in the South.