BETHLEHEM, Pa. --- The Moravian College football team suffered its first loss of the 2018 season, falling to Johns Hopkins University, 47-3, in Centennial Conference action on Family Day at Rocco Calvo Field Saturday.
"From the outside, everyone will look at the score, and from the inside, I will tell you that this is a group that we will not halve to talk about effort with when we watch the film tomorrow," stated Head Coach Jeff Pukszyn. "These guys played hard for 60 minutes. Everyone that was in the game competed and played hard and that is a huge part of being successful. It didn't end up the way we wanted on the scoreboard, Stats are stats but what it really comes down to is effort and as a coaching staff, we saw it today. We will learn and grow from this.
"Let's not take anything away from Johns Hopkins," Pukszyn continued. "They are a very good team. They are very well coached. Hats off to Jim Margraff for what he has done with that program over the last three decades. This is something that we have to use as a learning experience because we didn't quit today. We were behind and made some mistakes and that starts at the top with me. I am really proud of the effort from our guys today."
The Greyhounds, 2-1 overall and 1-1 in Centennial Conference games, were limited to 216 yards of offensive on 60 plays while the Blue Jays had 680 yards of offense on 83 plays.
Moravian sophomore quarterback Doug Erney was 8-for-14 for 68 yards with an interception, and he added 26 yards on 14 carries. Senior running back Eli Redmond led the Hounds' rushing attack with 55 yards on 15 attempts to go with two receptions for six yards while junior running back Roberto Diez added 32 yards on 10 attempts. Freshman quarterback Christopher Mills made his first collegiate appearance and ran for 15 yards on two carries while freshman running back Gerald Grube had 11 yards on two attempts.
Senior running back Devon Bucks picked up six yards on two carries while sophomore wide receiver Nick Petros had two receptions for seven yards, one carry for three yards and punted eight times for an average of 37.0 yards including a 54-yard punt. Freshman wide receiver Eddie Olsen grabbed three passes for 32 yards, blocked a punt and made a tackle while freshman wide receiver Christian Pinnock added one catch for 23 yards.
Sophomore defensive back Jackson Buskirk led the Moravian defense with 11 tackles to go with a pass break-up while sophomore defensive back Justin McRae made 10 tackles. Senior defensive back Jacob Kober added nine tackles while sophomore defensive back Jalen Richardson had eight tackles with one for loss.
Freshman linebacker Noah Breidinger had seven stops while senior linebacker Nick Zambelli and sophomore linebacker Brady Hornbaker each had six tackles with Hornbaker adding a tackle for loss and a forced fumble. Senior defensive lineman Nick Tone forced a fumble to go with three tackles while sophomore defensive lineman Shane Mastro added a blocked extra-point, a pass break-up and four tackles.
Johns Hopkins scored on its opening two possessions and led 14-0 in the second quarter when the Blue Jays had a snap sail over the punter's head. After tracking the ball down, Olsen would blocked the punt attempt with freshman tight end Casey Klahr recovering the ball. Erney would pick up one fourth down with his legs before senior Jon Miller split the uprights with a 29-yard field goal to cut the deficit to 14-3 with 6:34 left in the first half.
The Blue Jays added one more score before the half with Mastro blocking the extra-point. The closest Moravian would come to scoring again would be on the second play of the fourth quarter, however; Erney's pass intended for Petros was intercepted in the end zone.
Moravian is scheduled to return to action on Saturday, September 22 in a Centennial Conference game at Urrsinus College beginning at 1:00 p.m. in Collegeville.
