ALLIANCE, Ohio – No. 4 ranked Mount Union beat No. 16 ranked Johns Hopkins, 45-35, in an NCAA Division III Playoff Second Round game Saturday at Mount Union Stadium.
The Purple Raiders (12-0) trailed 15-7 midway through the second quarter before scoring 24 unanswered – 10 before halftime to lead 17-15 at the break, then two more early in the third quarter to take a 31-15 lead.
Mount Union advances to the NCAA Quarterfinals (round of eight) for the 28th time in school history and will face No. 13 ranked Muhlenberg (Pa.) next Saturday at noon at a site to be announced Sunday.
Mount Union quarterback
Braxton Plunk (Plant City, Fla.) threw for four touchdowns as he went 21-of-26 for 256 yards.
Wayne Ruby (Miami, Fla. / Flanagan) caught three of those TD's as he had a season-high 176 yards receiving on nine catches. Running back
Josh Petruccelli (Perry) ran for 102 yards on 19 carries and had two touchdowns, including one with three minutes to play that put the Raiders up 10 points.
The Raider defense posted five sacks and three interceptions for the game and held a Johns Hopkins offense that averages nearly 500 yards per game to 359 total yards.
Malik Britt (Bossier City, La. / Airline) had two interceptions,
Jalen Griffin (Chicago, Ill. / Simeon) had a pick and
Duke Hill (Memphis, Tenn. Germantown) had 2.5 sacks to lead the unit.
Ryan Stevens threw three touchdowns on 359 yards passing to lead Johns Hopkins (10-2).
Hopkins got out to an early lead with a safety as Mount Union was called for holding in its own end zone for a 2-0 lead. They extended to 5-0 on a Kyle Battles 38-yard field goal.
Mount Union took its first lead at 7-5 with an eight-play, 90-yard march as Plunk hit Ruby on a 51-yard catch and run.
Hopkins came right back, and John Krill kicked a 25-yard field goal on the first play of the second quarter and the Blue Jays retook the lead 8-7.
John Hopkins took advantage of a Mount Union interception and ended up scoring a two-yard touchdown pass from Stevens to Harrison Wellmann and it was 15-7 with 8:16 left in the quarter.
Both teams traded punts and Mount Union got back in the end zone as Plunk and Ruby connected on a 53-yarder as Raiders closed to within a point, 15-14.
Two plays later, Britt got an interception that gave the Raiders the ball on the Hopkins 25-yard line. Mount Union did have to settle for a 25-yard
Nick Deack (Alliance) field goal but took the halftime lead 17-15.
Hopkins went three-and-out to start the second half and Mount Union went to work as Plunk engineered a 13-play, 91-yard, drive capped by a 20-yard pass to Ruby and the Raiders now led 24-15.
It was again two plays later and Britt intercepted Stevens again to give the Raiders the ball on the Hopkins 21-yard line. This time Plunk found
Jaden Manley (Columbus / Bishop Hartley) on a 19-yard strike and it pushed the lead to 31-15.
Hopkins tried to rally as Stevens threw a 49-yard touchdown pass to Quinn Revere and it was 31-21 lead after three quarters.
Both teams traded a pair of scores in the fourth quarter.
Mount Union sandwiched a pair of Petruccelli TD runs between a Stevens TD run and it was 45-28 Raiders with three minutes left.
Hopkins raced down the field and Stevens threw an 11-yard pass to Revere, they recovered the onside kick, but on the first play of the ensuing drive Griffin got the interception to end the threat.
