Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, October 1, 1995 TAG: 9510020122
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RANDY KING STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PITTSBURGH LENGTH: Long
Angelo Harrison, a fourth-string flanker who figured he'd be redshirted this season, might as well have been wearing the shirt of Superman after what transpired Saturday afternoon at Pitt Stadium.
With the listless Hokies down and nearly out, Harrison came off the bench and lifted an entire team by himself in the second half, blocking two punts and igniting Tech's comeback 26-16 victory over Pittsburgh.
Tech's second straight victory squared its record at 2-2. More importantly, the Hokies improved to 2-1 in the Big East Conference.
For all that, Tech can thank Harrison. All the 19-year-old Spotsylvania native did was supply the game's two biggest plays.
The first one came with Tech trailing 9-0 and seemingly headed nowhere early in the third quarter. Harrison, rushing from the left side of the Hokies' line, stormed through unchecked and took the football off the foot of Pitt punter Nate Cochran, with teammate Korey Irby recovering at the Panthers' 30.
Three Dwayne Thomas runs later - the final one a 15-yard haul around left end - and Tech was back in it, trailing 9-7 with 10:14 left in the third quarter.
"[The block] gave us a spark,'' said Harrison. "And that spark got the fire started, and once the fire got started in our team, there's no more stopping us.''
Well, almost. The Panthers (2-3, 0-1) answered two drives later, going 80 yards in 10 plays. Set up by a third-down pass interference call on Tech's George DelRicco in the end zone, Pitt made it 16-7 on Chris Schneider's 2-yard touchdown dive.
After Tech drove for a 34-yard Larsen field goal to make it 16-10, Harrison struck again on Pitt's next possession.
Harrison, rushing from the right side this time, blew past the Pitt line untouched and repelled Cochran's punt from inside the Pitt 10. The ball rolled out to the 20, where Tech, after failing to move, settled for Atle Larsen's 33-yard field goal and a three-point deficit.
So, rattled by Harrison & Co., Pitt decided to quick kick on third down on its next drive. Right then and there, the Hokies knew this was their game to win.
"That was some big-time momentum changing with those blocks,'' said Jim Druckenmiller, Tech quarterback. "I was floating on cloud nine then. We realized that was our chance for a big turnaround.''
Minutes later, Druckenmiller did just that. Facing a second-and-16 from the Tech 27, the junior found Jermaine Holmes alone on a crossing pattern and the senior split end raced untouched to the end zone, making it 20-16 Tech.
After Pitt couldn't move on its next possession, the Hokies, while they were hot, decided to roll the dice again.
On third-and-10 from its own 1, Tech startled the sun-drenched gathering of 31,036 fans by going up top. Druckenmiller dropped deep in his end zone and rifled a 60-yard spiral downfield that landed perfectly in the arms of a gliding Bryan Still. Only a shoestring tackle by Pitt's Anthony Dorsett kept Still from a 99-yard score. As it was, the 85-yard connection was the third-longest in Tech and Big East history.
"It was a heck of a call by [offensive coordinator] Rickey Bustle,'' said Frank Beamer, Hokies coach. "Anytime you can get Bryan Still going deep in a foot race you've got a good chance of winning it. Bustle called for it all, and now I agree with him.''
When Pitt held at its 8, Larsen came on and drilled his fourth field goal of the game - a 26-yarder - to make it 23-16 with 6:19 left to play.
Tech's Pitt stop was over. The Panthers were dead, thanks to Tech's rousing comeback and sidelining injuries to their three primary offensive threats - wideout Dietrich Jells (sprained ankle) and tailbacks Demetrius Harris (turf toe) and Billy West.
West, the 1994 Big East player of the year who had missed Pitt's past three games with a separated collarbone, went down at the 6:19 mark of the third quarter. West, who had torched Tech's defense for 113 yards on 23 carries until that point, had his left leg broken when it was landed on in a pile. He is out for the season.
The news on West, Harrison's heroics and his club's third straight loss made for a long day for Pitt coach Johnny Majors.
"It's one of the most disappointing losses I've ever been around,'' Majors said. "In my estimation we were whipping them as bad as they could be whipped in the first half except on the scoreboard.
"The whole story was punt protection. It was atrocious. They were physical breakdowns; [Harrison] just whipped our right tackle. You take away those two blocked punts and I believe we win the game.''
At halftime, Pitt looked fit to make amends against a Tech team that had taken it to the woodshed the past two years, winning by outlandish scores of 63-21 and 45-7.
The Pitt defense, riddled for nearly 34 points a game in its first four outings, held Tech to 16 yards rushing on 13 carries and 98 yards passing. Tech never got a whiff of the Panthers' goal line in the first 30 minutes, with its deepest penetration being the Pitt 35.
Meanwhile, the Hokies defense, second in the nation against the run entering Saturday, couldn't stop West, who had 88 yards on 15 first-half carries. Still, Pitt couldn't put away the game, settling for three Chris Ferencik field goals.
"We didn't have any emotion, any intensity the first half,'' said Druckenmiller, who finished with a career-high 312 yards passing, 158 coming on the two bombs.
"There was some hollering and stuff. Basically, we just kicked each other in the butt and decided to go out and get it done. In the second half, we just took over.''
With a huge assist from a kid named Harrison.
"Thank goodness,'' said Tech defensive tackle J.C. Price, "we didn't redshirt that kid.''
see microfilm for box score
by CNB