The Roanoke Times from Roanoke, Virginia • 25

SCOREBOARD C9 SUNDAY OCTOBER 1 1995 The Roanoke Times SPORTS Roanoke 981 0100 rxjpR LINEHBSKSSEBSI New River Valley 382 0200 Regularly updated sports scores and more Category 3999 or see index in Scoreboard SECTION JACK BOGACZYK Special team deserving of a big hand PITTSBURGH have to look deep to find fresh man Angelo Harrison on Vir ginia football depth chart rank Beamer however go very far down his ros ter without mentioning Harri son among players to have had big hands literally in turning around the for tunes offense was going nowhere again Saturday afternoon on the Pitt Stadium artificial turf until Harrison blocked a punt early in the third quarter Three plays later the Hok ies not only were finally on the scoreboard they were in the game a place Harrison a fourth string flanker is surprised to be I thought redshirt me this he said Not sitting out the Spotsyl vania High and Hargrave Mili tary Academy product may be one of best coaching moves in a season the Hokies leveled at 2 2 with a 26 16 tri umph over the crumbling Pan thers Harrison blocked a punt that led to a field goal in upset of Miami last weekend Then after his first block of a Nate Cochran punt led to an awakening and a touchdown for the Hokies he snuffed another Pitt punt early in the fourth quarter Tech trailed 16 10 and had only 201 yards of offense in three quarters when Harrison repeated his rejection notice He was voted the Wes Wor sham player of the game by his teammates Presumably they need high SAT scores to deter mine this In the fourth quarter alone the Hokies not only completed two of the 10 longest passes in school history in a four minute span but they also had 224 yards Harrison seem as amazed at his three blocks in two games as he is that the Panthers stop him from doing it Sure the Hokies flipped sides on their called return from last week then we went back to what we did against Miami and it Beamer said I just doing what theyBeamer and assistant Terry Struck who handles the punt return unit coach us to Harrison said return left or return right and I just hope people start picking up what Even if foes figured out the scheme likely Beamer and his staff led by special teams coach and co defensive coordinator Bud oster would make an adjustment altered the approach of so many feet fit in at a convention Beamer and oster lectured on punt blocking at this American oot ball Coaches Association con vention It like they spoke on something never seen Tech has blocked some kind of kick in five straight Big East games and now has six PLEASE SEE BOGACZYKC8 Tech holds a block party By RANDY KING STA WRITER PITTSBURGH Thanks to a freshman who even think see action this fall Virginia Tech still has something left to play for in the 1995 football season Angelo Harrison a fourth string flanker who figured be red shirted this season might as well have been wearing the shirt of Superman after what transpired Sat urday 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 comeback 26 16 victory over Pittsburgh second straight victory squared its record at 2 2 More importantly the Hokies improved to 2 1 in the Big East Conference or all that Tech can thank Harrison All the 19 year old Spot sylvania native did was supply the 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 line stormed through reshman repels a pair of punts to ignite Hokies unchecked and took the football off the foot of Pitt punter Nate Cochran with teammate Korey Irby recover ing at the 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 block gave us a said Harrison that spark got the fire started and once the fire got started in our team no more slopping 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 George DelRicco in the end zone Pitt made it 16 7 on Chris 2 yard touchdown dive After Tech drove for a 34 yard Larsen field goal to make it 16 10 Harrison struck again on next possession Harrison rushing from the right side this time blew past the Pitt line untouched and repelled punt from inside the Pitt 10 The ball rolled out to the 20 where Tech after failing to move settled for Atle 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 was some big time momentum changing with those said Jim Druckenmiller Tech quarterback was floating on cloud nine then We realized that was our chance for a big Minutes later Druckenmiller did just that acing a second and 1 6 from the Tech 27 the junior found Jermaine Holmes alone on a cross ing 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 PLEASE SEE TECHC8 MW rwwpwRs 5 ALAN KIMStaff Jump ball William and Billy Commons catches the football in front of VMI defender Andre Thornton (right) on Saturday in Lexington Commons gained 29 yards on the reception to the VMI 4 yard line The Tribe scored a touchdown on the next play and defeated the Keydets 27 7 Story on C7 1552 i it i Wife KT i RSft wife it Illi "AU Tech defensive back Loren Johnson (1 2) lassoes i Demetrius Harris by the face mask Saturday in Pittsburgh I Reverse puts UVa in gear PETEY ALLEN makes the most of a rare rushing attempt to jump start the Cavaliers in their 35 1 7 victory By DOUG DOUGHTY STA WRITER CHARLOTTESVILLE Vir ginia like the direction its football game with Wake orest was taking Saturday so the Cavaliers shifted their offense into reverse An end around to Petey Allen restored the momentum and llth ranked UVa pulled away for its 12th straight victory over the Deacons 35 17 before 37500 at Scott Stadium Virginia won its fifth game without a loss in September and raised its record to 5 1 overall and 4 0 in the ACC The Cavaliers are 26 3 in September since 1989 including 15 0 at home The victory Saturday come as easily as the oddsmakers had predicted when they made UVa a 322 point favorite nor was it the rout that appeared likely when the Cavaliers led 21 0 and had 309 yards in total offense at the half was concerned at the half" Virginia coach George Welsh said was concerned two hours before the game I was concerned all week because the UVa players read all that stuff about how good they are and how bad Wake is I know if they took the Deacons lightly or Wake orest (1 4 0 2) limited the Cavaliers to a total of 12 yards in their first four possessions of the second half and cut the deficit to 2 1 1 4 on a 4 yard touchdown run by John Lewis with 13:34 remaining "I think the momentum had twisted a little Allen a fourth year wide receiver said knew somebody had to make a big play I know it was going to be me" Tiki Barber contained by Wake orest for most of the afternoon got ZIgyC i wHHa' iSSmmS MT MIKE HENERStaff Derick Byrd celebrates his 66 yard touchdown reception in the first quarter with teammate Patrick Jeffers the drive started with a 26 yard run off left tackle On the next play quarterback Mike Groh tossed the ball to his right where Barber took off on an apparent sweep to the wide side of the field Just as the Deacons converged on Barber he handed the ball to Allen on a reverse Allen followed the blocking of tackle Jason Augus tino center Tom Locklin and Groh on his way to a 49 yard touchdown run with 13:08 left made sure I got the handoff first" Allen said "If I dropped it I want to face Coach Welsh when I got to the sideline Once I turned the corner all I saw was three of my guys and one of their guys and he was getting It was the first touchdown of the season for Allen who had carried the ball only once sirce the 1993 season Il PLEASE SEE UVAC6 Yankees on the brink of ending drought NEW YORK BEEN in the playoffs in 14 years but that could change today Associated Press TORONTO There was only one thing that Scott Kamieniecki Don Mattingly and the rest of the New York Yankees knew for sure after game: As long as they keep winning no one can catch them The Yankees clinched a tie for the American League playoff wild card moving closer to their first postseason berth since 1981 by beating Toronto 6 1 on a four hitter by Kamieniecki The Yankees would wrap up the AL wild card Saturday night if Cali fornia lost to Oakland If not a vic tory by New York today or a loss by the Angels would clinch it kept this thing in our own Mattingly said feel good that we took care of think a lot of celebration going on" he said this point going to walk away from here today feeling like we have got to come in tomorrow and Yankees manager Buck Show alter said Sterling Hitchcock would start for New York today regardless of the implications of the game Showalter wants to save ace David Cone as long as possible me it makes sense" Cone said worst case scenario is me pitching Monday in a playoff game against California" A day after the Yankees rallied for four runs in their first ninth inning comeback in more than a year they went to work early Paul hit a three run homer his 22nd in a four run first inning and New York went on to its 11th straight win over Toronto think there was a lot of carry over from last night" Kamieniecki said "We want to come into the game get down and have to come back Kamieniecki (7 6) who wasn't sure he was starting until late riday night made the early lead stand up He gave up a triple by Alex Gonza lez and a single by Paul Molitor to begin the game then blanked the Blue Jays the rest of the way retir ing the last 15 batters in his first complete game in 16 starts this season Mattingly who began his big league career in 1982 with New York has played 1784 games with out reaching the postseason more I than any Yankees player in history and more than any active player in 5 the majors now just thinking about trying to stay focused and win this he said The Yankees' current postsea son drought is their longest since Babe Ruth helped them to their irst World Series in 1921 Irvan gets halfway to finish line in truck race C12.