Eagles Clipped
November 09, 2002 05:37 PM | General
November 9, 2002
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Avon Cobourne rushed for 138 yards and scored a touchdown to lead West Virginia to a 24-14 victory over Boston College Saturday afternoon at Mountaineer Field.
 |
|
| West Virginia running back Avon Cobourne is given a ride off the field by the student body after wrapping up a record setting career at Mountaineer Field Saturday. |
Cobourne, playing his final game in front of the home fans, reached the 100-yard mark for the 26th time for his career and the second time against the Eagles.
Junior Quincy Wilson added 100 yards on 17 carries to help West Virginia’s top-ranked rushing offense churn out 273 yards on the ground against a BC defense geared to stop it.
“I think their system is a lot more polished than it was last year,” said Boston College coach Tom O’Brien. “They came out and played with confidence and they were quicker and faster than we were today.”
“We were happy and proud with how we played,” added Coach Rich Rodriguez, now 10-11 in two seasons at West Virginia. “The theme all week was for the seniors to go out there and finish their last game on a good note.”
Quarterback Rasheed Marshall, who ran for a career-high 98 yards in last Saturday’s win over Temple, was more of a threat throwing the football today. The sophomore completed 12-of-18 passes for 124 yards and a touchdown.
“I was surprised by how much they threw the ball today,” admitted O’Brien.
West Virginia scored on the game’s opening drive after Boston College chose to defer and get the ball at the start of the second half. Three straight Cobourne runs netted 30 yards and Marshall completed a six-yard pass to tight end Josh Bailey to move the ball to the BC 34. The drive stalled at the Eagle 15 and Todd James drilled a line-drive, 32-yard field goal through the uprights to give WVU a 3-0 lead.
West Virginia tacked on seven more at the start of the second quarter when Marshall found tight end Tory Johnson wide open for a two-yard touchdown pass on third and goal. Marshall faked beautifully to Cobourne up the middle, and slipped to the outside where he flipped the ball to an uncovered Johnson for his eighth touchdown pass of the season.
The Mountaineers expanded their lead with 11:18 left in the half when Cobourne reached the end zone untouched from five yards out. The senior set up the score with a 36-yard first-down run that placed the ball at the BC goal line. James’ extra point made the score West Virginia 17, Boston College 0.
The Eagles answered with its best drive of the day covering 80 yards in 10 plays to close the gap to 10. Backup running back Brandon Brokaw finished off the drive with a three-yard touchdown run up the middle. St. Pierre got most of BC’s 80 yards through the air, completing three-of-five passes for 62 yards on the drive.
The Eagles could have had three more points right before the end of the half, but Sandro Sciortino’s 22-yard field goal was blocked by James Davis – his second field goal block of the day.
Davis also deflected Sciortino’s 48-yard attempt early in the first quarter.
Just when it looked like Boston College was regaining momentum midway through the third quarter, West Virginia got a huge break when Eagle punt returner Jamal Burke failed to field a Mark Fazzolari punt at the 25-yard line. The ball bounced all the way to the Eagle six, and a holding call on BC tacked on three more yards to place the ball back at the three.
That changed field position for the game and ultimately led to BC’s critical mistake of the game when St. Pierre overshot his tight end down the middle and the pass was picked off by Arthur Harrison at the Boston College 34. Runs by Wilson, Cobourne and Marshall netted 20 yards to the 14.
Two plays later, West Virginia finished the drive when Rodriguez called a nifty reverse that wide receiver Phil Braxton ran in from 10 yards out to give West Virginia a commanding 17-point lead with 1:28 left in the third quarter.
Burke also cost the Eagles a scoring chance when he was whistled for offensive interference on a 41-yard pass play that would have put the ball at the Mountaineer 30-yard line.
Boston College did manage to get on the board with 39 seconds left in the game when St. Pierre hit Burke for an eight-yard touchdown.
St. Pierre attempted 50 passes, completing 28 for 284 yards. BC, with the conference’s third-leading rusher in junior Derrick Knight, managed just 80 yards on 30 carries. Knight had 53 on 18 carries.
“Their line comes out and does the work and that allows their linebackers to get creative,” said O’Brien. “(Grant) Wiley’s a good player and so is (Angel) Estrada -- they played well today.”
Unofficially, Wiley and Estrada were credited with seven tackles each. Defensive back Brian King led West Virginia with eight stops.
Morgantown has not been kind to the Eagles. BC hasn’t won at West Virginia since 1990 and have lost five straight at Mountaineer Field.
West Virginia, now 7-3, 4-1, bolsters its bowl hopes with its seventh victory of the season. The Mountaineers also guarantee’s itself a winning record in Big East play for the first time since 1998.
Boston College, which defeated No. 4-ranked Notre Dame last weekend, is still searching for its first conference victory of the season. The Eagles slipped to 5-4 overall and 0-4 in Big East play.
Asked about his team’s surprising turnaround since their 48-17 loss to Maryland on Oct. 5, Rodriguez replied: “During the Maryland game we had the deer-in-the-headlights look. I haven’t seen that from them since then.”
West Virginia has 11 days to mend before traveling to Blacksburg to face Virginia Tech for a Wednesday night game to be televised on ESPN2.
Scoring Summary
WV – James 32 FG
WV – Johnson 2 pass from Marshall (James kick)
WV – Cobourne 5 run (James kick)
BC – Brokaw 3 run (Sciortino kick)
WV – Braxton 10 run (James kick)
BC – Burke 8 pass from St. Pierre (Sciortino kick)
Individual Statistics
Rushing: BC – Knight 18-53, Brokaw 9-26, St. Pierre 3-1, Total 30-80; WV – Cobourne 25-138, Wilson 17-100, Marshall 8-23, Braxton 2-12, Total 53-273.
Passing: BC – St. Pierre 28-50-2-284-1; WV – Marshall 12-18-0-124-1.
Receiving: BC – Knight 7-48, Burke 6-104, Ryan 3-33, Hemmings 3-32, Hazard 3-28, Toal 2-9, Brokaw 2-8, Misurelli 1-12, Adams 1-10, Total 28-284; WV – Henderson 4-50, Braxton 3-37, Smith 2-18, Neal 1-11, Bailey 1-6, Johnson 1-2, Total 12-124.
Attendance: 48,474
