Senior quarterback Braden Anderson threw three touchdown passes, and the Johns Hopkins football team held on for a 24-16 win against Rowan on Saturday afternoon in an NCAA Division III opening-round playoff game at Homewood Field.
The Blue Jays (11-0) advanced to the second round for the third time in six seasons.
Anderson connected on scoring passes of 31 yards to Quinn Donaldson and 48 yards to Ryan Finkel in the first quarter as JHU raced to a 14-0 lead. The Profs (7-4) closed to within 14-10 at halftime, but Anderson capped a 10-play, 65-yard drive with an 8-yard scoring strike to Donaldson early in the third quarter to put Johns Hopkins comfortably ahead.
Rowan closed within one score with a touchdown with 51 seconds to play, but JHU's Brandon Cherry recovered the ensuing onside kick.
Anderson completed 27 of 36 passes for 286 yards, and Bradley Munday snagged 11 passes for 77 yards. Donaldson added seven catches for 105 yards and two touchdowns.
Defensively, the Blue Jays held the Profs to 310 yards. Senior Michael Longo and freshman Lance Hammond paced Johns Hopkins with seven tackles apiece. Longo had 1.5 of JHU's four sacks, and fellow senior Matthew Connery had two.
JHU will visit Hobart in a second-round game on Saturday at noon at Boswell Field in Geneva, N.Y. The Statesmen (11-0) defeated Ithaca 22-15 on Saturday. The two teams have met twice, with Hobart winning both matchups, in 1965 and 1966.
A complete Division III playoff bracket can be found at ncaa.com.
