Sherwood's Arm Paces WVU
September 05, 2003 03:37 PM | General
September 5, 2003
GREENVILLE, N.C. (November 7, 1970) – Quarterback Mike Sherwood threw 4 touchdown passes to lead West Virginia to a 28-14 victory over East Carolina at Ficklen Stadium.
 |
||
| West Virginia Quarterback Mike Sherwood fired four touchdown passes against East Carolina. (WVU Sports Communications) |
Sherwood completed 18 of 28 passes for 306 yards with no interceptions in an impressive passing performance. It was the third-best passing effort in school history at the time. Sherwood set the school record of 416 yards against Pitt in 1968, topping Allen McCune's standard of 320 passing yards against Pitt in 1965.
Tight end Jim Braxton caught five passes for 138 yards, including touchdowns of 22 and 65 yards. Braxton became just the ninth WVU receiver to pass the century mark in receiving yards and his total ranked fourth on the school's single-game list behind Oscar Patrick (190 vs. Penn State in 1968), Milt Clegg (139 vs. Syracuse, 1964) and Bob Dunlevy (139 vs. William & Mary, 1965).
“It was a very unexciting and unemotional football game,” said West Virginia coach Bobby Bowden, “but we won and that is what counts.”
“West Virginia showed excellent offensive balance,” said first-year East Carolina coach Mike McGee. “Bobby Bowden has done an outstanding job and he had his team well prepared.”
West Virginia got on the scoreboard first early in the second quarter when Sherwood hit Pete Wood out of the backfield and a third-and-17 play that resulted in a 17-yard touchdown. Wood also had gains of 29 and 21 yards during the drive which started at the WVU 20.
The Mountaineers tacked on six more with 2:11 left in the half when Sherwood once found an open running back out of the backfield. This time he hit Bob Gresham in stride for a 33-yard touchdown. The Bellaire, Ohio, native also completed passes of 30 to Braxton and 9 to Chris Potts during the drive.
West Virginia scored once again to start the third quarter to take a commanding 21-0 lead. The Mountaineers took the opening kick of the second half and drove 83 yards in 9 plays. Sherwood hit passes of 18 yards to Nate Stephens, 15 to Eddie Williams and 17 to Stephens once again to give West Virginia great field position.
Following a third-down run by Gresham that gave WVU a fresh set of downs at the ECU 22, Sherwood found Braxton open for his third TD pass of the game with 11:40 remaining in the third quarter.
East Carolina finally answered with its best drive of the day.
The Pirates covered 77 yards in 10 plays, culminating with a John Casazza to Carl Gordon 33-yard touchdown pass. The Pirates converted three third-down plays to keep the drive alive.
Any hopes of the Pirates getting back into the game were squashed when Sherwood fired his fourth touchdown pass of the game with 13:52 left in the fourth quarter. On second and 11 at the West Virginia 24, Sherwood hit Braxton for a touchdown play that covered 65 yards.
After that TD pass Sherwood was lifted in favor of sophomore quarterback Bernie Galiffa, but had to return when the Pirates closed the gap to 14 midway through the fourth quarter.
“I tried to substitute a little in the second half but we could not do it,” said Bowden.
East Carolina tacked on one final score with 7:15 left in the game when Casazza hit fullback Dick Wallace on a 66-yard pass and run for the TD.
The Pirates attempted an on-side kick that was recovered by West Virginia’s John Flinchum. Two remaining East Carolina drives resulted in Casazza interceptions. The first was picked off by Leon Jenkins and the second was made by linebacker Dan Hannahs.
Pete Wood was West Virginia’s top ground gainer, rushing for 50 yards on 8 carries. Eddie Williams tacked on 41 yards on 9 carries, while Braxton finished with 27 yards on 4 rushes. In all, Braxton accounted for 199 all-purpose yards.
“Braxton was the difference in the ball game,” said McGee. “He made a lot of big plays.”
Casazza completed 13 of 27 passes for 197 yards and two TDs for East Carolina.
Tailback Les Stayhorn was the game’s leading ball carrier, gaining 87 yards on 21 carries. Wallace added 61 yards on 19 totes and he caught 5 passes for 84 yards to lead the Pirates.
“We may be a little brash, but we thought we could win this game,” said McGee.
A crowd of 10,240 witnessed the contest on a fair, cool Saturday afternoon.
West Virginia’s win boosted the Mountaineers’ overall record to 6-3. East Carolina, after losing seven of its first eight games, falls to 1-8.
Scoring Summary
WV – Wood 17 pass from Sherwood (Samuelson kick)
WV – Gresham 33 pass from Sherwood (Samuelson kick)
WV – Braxton 22 pass from Sherwood (Samuelson kick)
ECU – Gordon 33 pass from Casazza (Guzzo kick)
WV 00 Braxton 65 pass from Sherwood (Samuelson kick)
ECU – Wallace 66 pass from Casazza (Guzzo kick)
Individual Statistics
Rushing: WV – Wood 8-50, Williams 9-41, Braxton 4-27, Gresham 8-25, Sherwood 5-minus 19, Galiffa 2-minus 32, Total 36-148; ECU – Strayhorn 21-87, Wallace 19-61, Patterson 1-minus 2, Casazza 5-minus 4, Total 46-146.
Passing: WV – Sherwood 18-28-0-306-4, Galiffa 1-4-1-24-0, Braxton 1-1-0-34-0, Total 20-33-1-364-4; ECU – Casazza 13-27-2-197-2.
Receiving: WV – Braxton 5-138, Stephens 3-68, Williams 3-25, Potts 3-24, Kaser 2-34, Wood 2-33, Gresham 1-33, T. Williams 1-29, Total 20-364; ECU – Wallace 5-84, Gordon 2-44, Croisetiere 2-23, Wooley 2-17, Corrada 1-16, Flanagan 1-13, Total 13-197.
Attendance: 10,240
