Oh Henry!
November 22, 2003 04:35 PM | General
November 22, 2003
SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- At some point Big East teams are going to have to consider double teaming West Virginia University wide receiver Chris Henry. The sophomore caught a career-high six passes for a WVU-record 209 yards and two touchdowns to help the Mountaineers to a 34-23 victory over Syracuse Saturday afternoon in the Carrier Dome and keep its hopes alive for at least a share of the Big East regular season title.
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| Chris Henry caught six passes for 209 yards and two touchdowns Saturday against Syracuse. (All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks) |
The Mountaineers’ only two losses in Big East play during the last two seasons have come against Miami, which defeated Rutgers earlier today to keep pace with West Virginia and Pitt for the Big East lead.
This afternoon at Syracuse, Henry’s two long, second-half TD catches broke up a tight game for the streaking Mountaineers, now 7-4, 5-1. West Virginia was able to hold on for its first victory at the Carrier Dome since 1993.
“I knew it was going to be a grind," said West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez. "They’ve got a good football team, they’re well coached and we haven’t won here in a long time. I’m proud of our guys. We didn’t play well at times but we kept grinding and we made enough plays at the end."
Syracuse’s defensive strategy was to force Mountaineer quarterback Rasheed Marshall to pass the football and the junior responded with a career day. The junior completed 14 of 25 passes for 271 yards and three touchdowns.
“I thought he threw the ball well. He was managing our offense," said Rodriguez. "They wouldn’t let him get loose on some of the quarterback runs and the boots and nakeds because they were boxing us in. We knew we were going to have to go drop-back and Rasheed made some very nice throws.”
Syracuse counterpart R.J. Anderson also had a stellar game, hitting 23 of 36 passes for 336 yards and two touchdowns.
Johnnie Morant caught seven passes for 151 yards and a touchdown for the Orangemen.
West Virginia had a chance to cash in at the start of the game when a fumble by Walter Reyes on Syracuse’s third offensive play gave West Virginia great field position at the Orangemen 25. However, West Virginia couldn’t capitalize on the turnover when Mountaineer kicker Brad Cooper missed a 42-yard field goal to his right.
Seizing the momentum, Syracuse went deep on its first play after the Cooper miss and Anderson hit a streaking Morant at midfield and he ran untouched to the end zone for a 75-yard touchdown. It appeared West Virginia defensive back Adam “Pac-Man” Jones had a chance to tackle Morant near the 40 but he instead tried for the interception, leaving Morant in the clear for a walk-in score.
West Virginia answered with a long drive that resulted in a Cooper 25-yard field goal. Marshall completed two third-and-long passes, one to Miquelle Henderson for 15 yards and another to Henry for 43 yards to keep the drive going.
A 17-yard run by Quincy Wilson got the football to the Syracuse eight before the drive stalled. WVU had to settle for three instead of the touchdown when Marshall’s third-down pass in the end zone to Henderson was off the mark.
West Virginia forced Syracuse to punt on its next possession and the Mountaineers got a big 39-yard punt return from Jones that gave WVU the football at the Syracuse 22. Two plays later, Rodriguez called a reverse to flanker Travis Garvin that he turned into a 20-yard touchdown. Springing Garvin was a great block by quarterback Rasheed Marshall on Syracuse defensive end Josh Thomas that allowed Garvin an open running lane.
Syracuse retook the lead with 13:20 left in the second quarter when Marcus Clayton returned a Todd James punt 56 yards for a touchdown. Syracuse was in great position for a return after pinning West Virginia deep in its own territory and forcing the Mountaineers to punt from their own end zone.
West Virginia responded on its next possession with a 75-yard drive that resulted in a four-yard, Marshall-to-Tory Johnson touchdown pass. The Mountaineers completed two third-down plays to keep the drive going. Quincy Wilson moved the sticks when he ran nine yards up the middle on third and two at the WVU 33. The second third-down conversion came at midfield when Marshall hit Henry on a slip screen for 13 yards on a third-and-six from the Syracuse 41.
One play later, Wilson broke free for a 23-yard gain to the Syracuse five. Marshall culminated the drive when he rolled out to his right and hit Johnson for the score to put the Mountaineers back on top, 17-14.
Syracuse tied the game right at the end of the half when Barber punched through a 25-yard field goal. Anderson keyed the long drive with a 22-yard pass to Morant on third and 10 deep in Syracuse territory, and later ran 32 yards up the middle to the WVU 20.
Syracuse got to the WVU four before the drive stalled.
The Orangemen got new life when Pac-Man Jones was whistled for a personal foul, but an offsetting unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on Syracuse’s Morant pushed the ball back to the 18. With no time outs remaining, Syracuse was forced to settle for the tie.
After an exchange of possessions to start the third quarter, West Virginia managed to take the lead on a 27-yard field goal by Cooper. Once again WVU managed to convert a third-and-long play when Marshall hit Henry over the middle. Two plays later, Jason Colson broke free for 26 yards to the Syracuse 11. At that point the Syracuse defense stiffened and forced WVU to kick a field goal.
Minutes later, Syracuse linebacker Kellen Pruitt gave the ball back to the Orangemen when he picked off a Marshall pass intended for Kay-Jay Harris coming out of the backfield. Taking over at its own six, Syracuse drove to the West Virginia 11 and after failing to convert on third and two, Barber missed a chip shot 29-yard field goal.
Henry eventually gave West Virginia a 10-point cushion with a 9:25 left in the game when he got behind the Syracuse secondary on third and four to haul in a 24-yard touchdown pass.
An exchange of possessions gave Syracuse the football at its own 20 with 6:34 remaining in the game. Two plays later, Anderson found Reyes out in the flat on a swing pass that he took 67 yards for a touchdown. Reyes tight roped the near sideline before cutting back across field for the nifty touchdown catch. Barber missed the PAT to make the score West Virginia 27, Syracuse 23.
“They’ve got some play makers," said Rodriguez. "Their quarterback played very well, made some nice throws and their wide outs did a good job. The environment is different. When you play indoors it took our guys a while to get accustomed to it.”
With the Syracuse defense up close to stop the run on third and three, West Virginia went deep once again to Henry who was facing man coverage. Marshall lobbed a beautiful long pass that the lanky Belle Chasse, La., native ran under for a 67-yard touchdown. It was his ninth touchdown catch of the year. Cooper successfully made the conversion to give West Virginia an 11-point lead.
“We liked the match up we got out there and Chris is a confident guy," said Rodriguez of Henry's TD catch. "We told Rasheed to make sure he threw it as far as he could. Don’t worry about overthrowing it because Chris has got great speed. He made a nice adjustment on the ball, it was a great throw, and I thought that was big as far as getting the momentum back.”
Attempting to stay in the game, Syracuse drove all the way down to the West Virginia two but on fourth and goal, Anderson’s pass attempt in the back of the end zone was knocked down by Brian King to end the Orangemen’s hopes of making a comeback.
Syracuse drops to 5-5 and has games remaining against Rutgers and Notre Dame to become bowl eligible.
West Virginia’s Quincy Wilson sat out a good portion of the second half but still managed to finish the game rushing 19 times for 105 yards. Colson finished the game with 56 yards on 13 carries subbing for Wilson, “I thought Jason was really ready," said Rodriguez. "He’s a New York native and he was really excited about coming back here. He’s worked hard getting himself into the rotation and I think he’s got a great future here.”
The Mountaineers were able to get 196 yards on the ground and finished the game with 467 total yards.
Syracuse had 499 yards of total offense including 163 yards rushing. The Orangemen had two key fumbles.
West Virginia was nine of 18 on third-down conversions while Syracuse managed to convert just four of 17. That was the difference in the game.
The win was West Virginia’s sixth in a row after beginning the season 1-4. The Mountaineers can win a share of the Big East title next Saturday in their final home game of the year against Temple.
“We’ve come a long way and we’ve got one big one left," said Rodriguez. "We’ve got an entire week to get focused on it and I’m sure our guys will be ready.”
There are still plenty of good tickets remaining for the final home game to bid farewell to West Virginia’s senior class that includes two national player of the year candidates in Grant Wiley and Quincy Wilson.
United Bank is offering a two-for-the-price-of-one promotion that can be redeemed at the Mountaineer Ticket Office this week. Fans can also take their Temple ticket stubs over to the WVU Coliseum for men’s basketball's season opener against Northeastern and get a $6 discount. The men’s basketball game will tip off at 6 pm.
Scoring Summary
SYR – Morant 75 pass from Anderson (Barber kick)
WV – Cooper 25 FG
WV – Garvin 20 run (Cooper kick)
SYR – Clayton 56 punt return (Barber kick)
WV – Johnson 4 pass from Marshall (Cooper kick)
SYR – Barber 25 FG
WV – Cooper 27 FG
WV – Henry 24 pass from Marshall (Cooper kick)
SYR – Reyes 67 pass from Anderson (PAT failed)
WV – Henry 67 pass from Marshall (Cooper kick)
Individual Statistics
Rushing: WV – Wilson 19-105, Colson 13-56, Garvin 2-26, Harris 4-10, Marshall 7-4, Team 3-minus 5, Total 48-196; SYR – Reyes 14-63, Washington 9-39, Anderson 8-31, Belton 4-20, Hanoian 2-11, Kennedy 1-minus 1, Total 38-163.
Passing: WV – Marshall 14-25-1-271-3; SYR – Anderson 23-36-0-336-2, Team 0-1-0-0-0, Total 33-37-0-336-2.
Receiving: WV – Henry 6-209, Henderson 3-28, Garvin 2-17, Colson 1-9, Wilson 1-4, Johnson 1-4, Total 14-271; SYR – Morant 7-151, Williams 4-16, Reyes 3-80, Jones 3-40, Washington 3-21, Fontenette 2-11, Donnelly 1-17, Total 23-336.
Attendance: 41,801
