BALTIMORE – Aaron Molisani threw two touchdown passes and Matt Stack returned a clinching interception 80 yards for a touchdown with 2:23 to play as the University of Rochester defeated Johns Hopkins University, 20-10, at Homewood Field here.
The Yellowjackets won on opening day for the first time in five years and snapped three Johns Hopkins winning streaks. The Blue Jays had won their opener for seven straight years; they had a 14-game winning streak in September, and they had won all five previous games against Rochester.
Scott Greene earned his first career coaching victory in his inaugural game as Yellowjacket head coach.
Rochester's defense had five takeaways – three inside the red zone, including a pair inside the five.
“When we had adversity, I told the team 'how you guys play will determine how things go on the field',” Greene said. “We played hard.”
Molisani drove UR 53 yards in eight plays to open the scoring. He threw a 28-yard pass to Jay Jay Vanderstyne in the left corner of the end zone on fourth down early in the second period.
Later in that quarter, Hopkins drove from its own 29 down to the UR 2 before Rochester's Jim Vicario forced and recovered a fumble by Blue Jay QB Adam Waddell.
Ben Scott's 34-yard field goal midway through the third quarter cut the UR lead to 6-3. Two series later, Hopkins drove to the Rochester 5 before Brendon Reyes (Irondequoit) forced a fumble and Logan Bosiljevac covered it at the eight.
Molisani increased the lead to 13-3 with a seven-yard TD pass to Pat O'Brien early in the fourth quarter. Hopkins answered immediately, with a five play, 66-yard drive that ended on Shane Kibbe's 14-yard TD pass to Mark Nesbitt and Scott's PAT. It was 13-10 with 9:41 left in the game.
After forcing a Rochester punt, Hopkins took over on its own 17 with 5:26 to play. Phil Roberts broke free for a 40-yard gain down to the UR 43. Three plays later, the Jays had it second and nine from the UR 22. Rochester's Jason Goeller sacked Kibbe for a loss of seven. On the next play, Stack intercepted Kibbe's pass, angled to the sideline, and ran for a TD with Roberts closely behind him.
The Yellowjacket defense produced three sacks (Goeller had two for 14 yards), four fumble recoveries, and two pass breakups. Goeller had two solo tackles, four assists, and the sacks. Stack had three solos, four assists, one pass breakup, and the INT.
Offensively, Molisani completed 18 of 27 passes for 209 yards and two TDs. He was intercepted once. Matt Bielecki rushed 30 times for 108 yards and caught five passes for 52 more. Vanderstyne caught four balls for 82 yards. Rochester totaled 315 yards in offense – 106 on the ground, 209 in the air.
Roberts rushed for a career high 157 yards for JHU. Kibbe was 7 of 20 for 122 yards with one TD and one interception. Waddell was 3 of 7 for 14 yards. The Blue Jays had 206 on the ground and 136 in the air.
