SALISBURY, Md. - The No. 22 Salisbury University football team has begun the 2024 season 2-0 with high-scoring wins over Washington & Lee as well as, at the time, No. 18 Muhlenberg. The Sea Gulls now face their toughest challenge yet as they travel to No. 8 Johns Hopkins with kickoff set for Sep. 21st at 2 p.m. at Homewood Field.
THE RUNDOWN
LIVE STATS
LIVE VIDEO
GAME NOTES
The Series
This is the fifth time the Sea Gulls and Blue Jays have faced off in football. Salisbury is 2-2 all-time against Johns Hopkins and has lost the last two.
The two Sea Gulls wins came back in 1975 and 1976 when SU outscored Johns Hopkins 70-26 in the two matchups. The two Blue Jays wins came more recently in 2021 and 2023. SU was outscored 87-27 in those two games.
Early Season Review
The Sea Gulls are off to a 2-0 start and the offense has played a huge role in that effort. SU has totaled 1,265 yards of total offense through two games. 822 of those yards have been on the ground from the tricky spread option. SU is averaging 10.0 yards per carry which has helped them average 53.5 points per game.
Third down conversions have been key for the Sea Gulls as they are sitting at 62.5 percent on third down conversions. Along with the offensive explosive plays, the defense has created five turnovers through the two games. This start for the Sea Gulls has propelled them into the Top-25 Rankings.
The Captains
Seniors
Jaden Davis,
Gage Katzenell-Hall, Tony Mason, and graduate student
Frankie Giannetti were announced as team captains heading into week three.
Clark running wild
After gaining his first NJAC Offensive Player of the Week honors this week, and the team's first of the season,
Ronald Clark was named to D3football.com Team of the Week at the running back position.
Clark (Sr. – Baltimore, Md.) tallied 180 rushing yards on 11 carries with two touchdowns in the Sea Gulls' 59-38 win over then-No. 18 Muhlenberg on Saturday. He broke through the line for an 86-yard touchdown run that put Salisbury ahead 28-21 in the second quarter; in the third, he scampered 25 yards for a touchdown to help SU pull away at 49-38. Clark already has more rushing yards through two games this season (313) than he did over 16 games in his first two seasons combined (223).
Scouting Johns Hopkins
Dan Wodicka is entering his first season as the head coach at Johns Hopkins. A 2014 JHU graduate, Wodicka spent the last five years on the Blue Jay staff before being promoted on February 1, 2024 after former coach Greg Chimera was named the offensive coordinator at Penn.
The Blue Jays enter the 2024 season with a strong nucleus of returning players from last season's 12-1 team that claimed the program's league-record 16th Centennial Conference title and advanced to the NCAA Quarterfinals. The 12 wins tied the Johns Hopkins record for wins in a season and the Blue Jays finished the season ranked eighth in the nation by both the AFCA and D3football.com.
The 2024 team will be led by co-captains Oliver Craddock (LB), Bay Harvey (QB), Will Leger (TE) and Cole Peters (LB). Harvey is in his second season as a captain, while Craddock, Leger and Peters enter their first season as captains.
Johns Hopkins placed 16 players on the 2023 All-Centennial Conference Team and 11 of those 16 return. Returning First Team All-Centennial selections include Cole Crotty (WR), Will Leger (TE), Michael Nwosu (OL), Cole Peters (LB) and EJ Talarico (Ret. Spec.).
The No. 8 Blue Jays have started 2024 2-0 with a 27-23 win over Ithaca and a 14-3 win over CNU.
Salisbury University is a proud member of NCAA Division III with primary membership in the Coast-to-Coast Athletic Conference, along with the New Jersey Athletic Conference for football and men's and women's swimming, and the Coastal Lacrosse Conference for men's lacrosse. With over 500 student-athletes in 23 varsity sports, SU is recognized as one of the most competitive intercollegiate athletics programs regardless of division, featuring dedicated coaches and staff that foster excellence on and off the field. The Sea Gulls have celebrated 23 team national championships, 24 individual national champions, 199 conference championships, and 50 Academic All-Americans.
To Make Tomorrow Yours at Salisbury University, and learn more about Sea Gull Athletics' tradition of excellence, visit www.SUSeaGulls.com or follow on social media @SUSeaGulls.
