Ben Scott kicked a 37-yard field goal with one second remaining to rally visiting Johns Hopkins to a 9-7 win over the Yellowjackets at Fauver Stadium in the season opener for both teams.
His winning kick came eight plays after Rochester took the lead, 7-6, with 1:19 left. Aaron Molisani threw a 23-yard TD pass to David Ferris and Rob Corey kicked the PAT.
The Yellowjackets tried a squib kickoff. It was fielded by Zach Rupert at the 21 and he returned it 18 yards up the middle to the 39. That set up a seven-play, 41-yard drive that led to the winning field goal.
Despite the disappointing outcome, Yellowjacket head coach Mark Kreydt found some positives, particularly with his defensive unit.
“I thought we played great defensively,” said Kreydt. “Any time you can hold an offense like that to one for 11 on third downs, you're doing something right. They had their backs to the wall several times and they got off the field with either no points allowed or a field goal.”
Scott made three field goals. He hit from 45 yards and 38 yards late in the second quarter to give JHU a 6-0 lead at halftime. He missed a 28-yard field goal, wide left, with 1:25 left in the third period.
Molisani completed five passes in the Rochester scoring drive. Tom Shay caught two balls, the first a five-yarder with 2:23 left on fourth-and-five that gave the Yellowjackets a first down at the JHU 45. Then he caught a 22-yard pass over the middle that moved the ball to the 23. After incompletions for Nate Gibbons and Rivers, Molisnai found Ferris in the middle of the end zone for the score.
Rochester missed a chance to get on the board late in the first half. After Scott's second successful field goal attempt, his kickoff was returned 39 yards by Michael Dermody. Scott tackled him out of bounds. The Blue Jays were assessed two 15-yard penalties - one for grabbing Dermody's face mask and another for a personal foul. The 30 yards in penalties moved the ball to the JHU 18 with 44 seconds left. Rochester drove to the six for a first down with nine seconds to play. Brian Cook broke up a pass for Michael Rivers in the end zone. Corey attempted a 23-yard field goal which was blocked by Matt Hagel and recovered by Mike Barrasso as the half ended.
“On offense, we need to be better,” Kreydt said. “We didn't get into a good passing rhythm early and we had a couple of dropped balls. We made some mistakes that are correctable and we had a shot to win it at the end.”
DiIonno completed 20 of 33 passes for 235 yards and one interception. Triplin caught nine passes for 79 yards. T.J. Lyons carried 14 times for 56 yards. The Blue Jays totaled 22 yards rushing and 235 passing.
Rochester had 208 - 81 on the ground. Matt Bielecki ran for 53 yards on 23 carries. Molisani completed 14 of 30 passes for 127 yards, one interception, and one TD. Rivers caught five passes for 47 yards and Ferris had four for 49 yards.
The Yellowjackets go to St. John Fisher on September 10 for the Courage Bowl.
