ALLIANCE, OH – Fourth-ranked Mount Union used a 24-point run to turn a 15-7 second-quarter deficit into a 31-15 lead and held off a late rally by visiting Johns Hopkins as the Purple Raiders topped the Blue Jays, 45-35 in the second round of the NCAA Playoffs Saturday afternoon.  Johns Hopkins ends the season at 10-2, while Mount Union improves to 12-0 and advances to next week's NCAA Quarterfinals, where they will meet Muhlenberg, which topped Delaware Valley earlier today.
 
The Raiders led by just two at the half (17-15), but scored the first 14 points of the third quarter to create some separation with a 31-15 lead.
 
Braxton Plunk capped a 13-play, 91-yard drive for the 'Raiders on their opening drive of the third quarter with a 20-yard touchdown pass to Wayne Ruby, Jr. to stretch the lead to 24-15.  That score held for just 75 seconds as Mount Union would turn the second interception of the game by Malik Britt into a two-play touchdown drive that Plunk polished off with a 19-yard strike to Jaden Manley that pushed the lead to 31-15.
 
Johns Hopkins would pull within 10 on three different occasions in the final 16 minutes, but the first two times, at 31-21 and 38-28, were answered by short touchdown runs from Josh Petruccelli for the 'Raiders and the third was followed by an interception with less than a minute remaining to seal the victory.
 
A pair of Quinn Revere touchdown receptions (49, 11) and a three-yard scoring run from junior quarterback Ryan Stevens accounted for the Blue Jays' three touchdowns in the final 16 minutes.
 
The Blue Jays had grabbed an early 5-0 lead as Kyle Battles dropped a punt at the Mount Union two-yard line and the Purple Raiders were called for holding in the end zone three plays later to get the Blue Jays on the board first.  Hopkins then turned the ensuring free kick into a 38-yard Battles field goal to grab the early five-point lead.
 
Mount Union, which was forced to punt and drew the safety on its first two drives, put together a 90-yard scoring drive on its next possession to grab its first lead of the game.  The 'Raiders converted a third-and-14 from their own 49 with a 51-yard Plunk-to-Ruby touchdown to cap the drive 5:07 left in the opening period.
 
A 25-yard John Krill field goal on the first play on the second quarter gave the Blue Jays an 8-7 lead and Hopkins turned a Finn Zechman interception into a quick, four-play, 41-yard drive that Stevens polished off with a two-yard touchdown pass to Harrison Wellmann to push the lead to 15-7.
 
The eight-point lead held until the late in the second quarter when Plunk fired a 53-yard dart to Ruby streaking down the sideline to slice the deficit to 15-14 with 2:40 on the first-half clock and Nick Deack drilled a 25-yard field goal 25 seconds before halftime to give Mount Union a 17-15 halftime lead.  Deack's field goal was set up by a diving interception by Britt at the Blue Jay 42-yard line.
 
Mount Union forced a quick three-and-out on Hopkins' first possession of the third quarter and Plunk's third touchdown pass to Ruby followed to make it 24-15 and the Blue Jays never got it to a one-score game again.

Stevens was 30-of-51 for 359 yards with three touchdown passes and the one rushing score.  Revere led the Blue Jays with nine receptions for 147 yards and the two late touchdowns.  Matt Dubois (11 tackles) and Nick Seidel (10) led Hopkins defensively.
 
Plunk was 21-of-36 for 256 yards and the four scores, three of which went to Ruby, who was 9-176-3 in the victory.  Petruccelli (19-102-2) led a Mount Union ground game that churned out 164 yards.  Derrick Bradley had a team-high 10 tackles for the Mount Union defense, which counted five sacks and three interceptions to its credit in the victory.
 
Notes:  Wellman's two-yard touchdown reception in the first half was his 17^th of the season, which ties Sam Wernick's JHU single-season record • Stevens' 359 yards passing are the second most ever by a Johns Hopkins quarterback in an NCAA Playoff game (Jon Germano – 418 vs. Randolph-Macon (2016)) • JHU's last seven losses in the NCAA Playoffs have come by 10 points or less and a total of just 41 points (5, 3, 5, 7, 3, 8, 10) – three of those losses have come to Mount Union.