Panthers fight back against Eagles

The words that came out of Walt Harris’ mouth were simple.

“Well that was a tremendous… The words that came out of Walt Harris’ mouth were simple.

“Well that was a tremendous football game,” the Pitt head football coach said.

Pitt defeated Big East conference rival Boston College Saturday afternoon at Heinz Field, 19-16. The Panthers, who were celebrating their Homecoming, gave the 45,060 fans in attendance a thrilling show as the game went into overtime.

With the win, the Panthers (6-2 overall, 3-0 Big East) are having their best start since 1983 and are tied for the conference lead with Miami and Virginia Tech.

The game was determined by field goals, as Pitt freshman place kicker David Abdul tied a school record with four kicks made. Abdul, who went four for four on the afternoon, kicked the overtime goal, which gave the Panthers the victory.

The team was expecting a tough match.

“We had thought it was going to be one of those down and dirty football games,” Harris remarked. “There are two teams who are very competitive, working day and night to get to the next level.”

Boston College (4-3, 0-3) opened the game with a strong scoring drive. Tailback Derrick Knight rushed for 17 yards reaching the Eagles’ 38-yard line before being tackled by Torrie Cox.

The ball was further advanced as Boston College quarterback Brian St. Pierre passed to wide-open receiver Grant Adams. After this 16-yard gain, Pitt committed a personal foul that led to a 15-yard penalty.

Knight rushed for 26 yards to line up at Pitt’s 12-yard line. After another Knight rush to the 7-yard line, he was tackled by Lewis Moore.

St. Pierre attempted to take charge on the next play but was sacked by Panthers’ defensive tackle Charles Spencer for a loss of 13 yards.

This opening drive, consisting of 10 plays for a total of 57 yards, was capped off by a 39-yard field goal made by junior Sandro Sciortino.

Pitt retaliated and opened their offensive drive with 10:05 left in the first quarter. Starting quarterback Rod Rutherford made back-to-back passes to Brandon Miree and freshman Larry Fitzgerald for a total gain of 21 yards.

Miree then took charge of the football and rushed for 38 yards to advance Pitt to the Boston College 6-yard line.

After a loss of 3 yards, Rutherford completed a 6-yard pass to Roosevelt Bynes to put the Panthers in excellent scoring range for Abdul’s kick.

With 5:31 left on the clock, Abdul’s 20-yard kick was good, as the Panthers tied the game.

Pitt regained possession after a Kevin McMyler 47-yard punt. After rushing for 9 yards, Rutherford hit Lousaka Polite with a pass good for 13 yards. This was followed by a 16-yard pass to Fitzgerald.

Rutherford continued his attack after rushing for 29 yards with one minute remaining in the quarter, reaching the Boston College 7-yard line. Facing a first and goal, Rutherford made a touchdown pass to an open Fitzgerald.

“We have been trying to fight for the first downs,” Fitzgerald said. “We had some bad breaks with the officiating today.”

Abdul followed with the extra point, which put Pitt ahead with the score 10-3 to end the opening quarter.

With 10:04 remaining in the first half after a 35-yard punt by Andy Lee, St. Pierre completed a 13-yard pass to Keith Hemmings. This put Boston College in field goal range in Panther territory. However, Sciortino missed the 46-yard attempt as it missed wide left.

Action was limited until the Pitt drive at 4:50. Rutherford hit Slade for 15 yards, which was followed by another Miree rush of 13 yards to the Boston College 38-yard line.

Rutherford took charge once again as he rushed for 12 yards in the next two plays and followed with a 13-yard pass to an open Fitzgerald. However, he failed to hit the end zone and once again Pitt called on Abdul, who made his 30-yard field goal. This made the score 13-3.

With only two minutes left in the opening half, Boston College made one last attempt to get back into the game. St. Pierre opened the drive by hitting Knight and Hemmings for a total gain of 12 yards. This was followed by two rushes by St. Pierre for a gain of 23 yards.

The Eagles took their final timeout with 15 seconds left on the clock, but upon returning could not score a touchdown. Sciortino ended the half with a 42-yard field goal.

Entering the half, quarterback statistics were similar as Rutherford had 98 passing yards and 45 rushing yards while St. Pierre threw for 100 yards and rushed for 40 yards.

Abdul and Sciortino were the most critical as they scored two field goals each.

Boston College’s first chance at scoring in the second half came during its third drive with 9:31 remaining in the third quarter. Knight rushed for 12 yards in the drive as he broke through the strong Pitt defense, but the Eagles were not able to capitalize.

On the Panthers’ next exchange, Rutherford passed to Miree, who slipped but held on to gain 12 yards. However, their scoring attempt was thwarted when Ralph Parent sacked Rutherford for a loss of 10 yards.

After a 36-yard punt by Lee, St. Pierre made passes to Joel Hazard and Hemmings for 29 yards. With the ball on the Panthers’ 6-yard line, the third quarter expired.

The fourth quarter opened with Claude Harriott forcing St. Pierre to make a fumble.

“Claude has been a dynamite performer,” Harris said. “I could not be more thrilled.”

St. Pierre, after recovering the fumble, failed to get into the end zone as Boston College once again relied on their kicker. Sciortino made the 24-yard attempt to move Boston College within four points of the Panthers.

After an unproductive Pitt drive, Boston College regained possession. St. Pierre started the drive with an 11-yard pass to Hemmings and later found him again for a 10-yard gain.

Knight, who had a career-high 138 rushing yards Saturday, had his biggest play of the day as he rushed for 44-yards to advance Boston College deep into Pitt territory.

St. Pierre then made the connection with Sean Ryan for the touchdown. Sciortino followed with the extra point to put Boston College ahead again, 16-13.

Action was minimal until there was 1:10 remaining in the game. Once again Rutherford took charge of the team and drove the Panthers into scoring position.

The drive started as Rutherford hit Fitzgerald for 12 yards, which was followed by another successful pass for 27 yards to Slade.

Rutherford then rushed for 12 yards but failed to make the touchdown pass. With Pitt down by 3, and nine seconds on the clock, the Panthers looked to Abdul again. The field goal attempt was good from 30 yards and the game went into overtime.

“That last offensive drive was beautiful – somewhat miraculous,” Harris said.

In overtime, where the teams go back and forth trying to score from the 25-yard line, Pitt went first. Rutherford threw three straight incomplete passes. However, Abdul squeaked the kick just over the cross bar, coming through for the Panthers for his fourth field goal on the day, a 42-yard attempt.

“I want to go out and not just make the extra point, but make field goals,” Abdul said. “As a kid you live for stuff like this. I hope it comes down to this again.”

Boston College had to score in order to stay in the game. Harriott started the Eagles’ drive with a sack of St. Pierre.

“It was really frustrating all day, chasing [St. Pierre] down and not getting there,” Harriott said of the sack. “It felt real good to get there and make the big play.”

Gaining no ground, the game rested on Sciortino. The kick, a 39-yard attempt, looked good from the stands, but Sciortino missed left.

Pitt won and the crowd and players erupted in excitement.

Rutherford, ranked first in the Big East with 257.9 throwing yards per game, had one of his best games all-around this season. He tied his career best with 20 completions and his 73 total rushing yards were a career high.

“We are just trying to make plays,” Rutherford said. “We made a lot of big plays at the end.”

His counterpart, St. Pierre, who ranked second in the conference with 251.5 yards per game, also played well with 179 yards and 18 of 34 passes made.

The strong quarterback play wasn’t enough to overshadow the work of Abdul.

“We decided that 30 yards and in would be comfortable field goal range. Football is scary, it is a game of inches,” Harris said of the overtime situation. “David Abdul really picked it up for us, he stepped up and played big.”

“We weren’t as sharp as we need to be in the second half,” Harris added. “A lot of teams might not fight back. Every game is going to be huge and treated as a championship game.”