Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, November 7, 1993 TAG: 9311070168
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: E8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: SCOTT BLANCHARD STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHESTNUT HILL, MASS. LENGTH: Medium
That's the decision Virginia Tech faced when the Hokies, trailing Boston College 34-27, tried a field goal on fourth-and-three from the Eagles' 21-yard line in the fourth quarter Saturday.
Tech's offense was hot behind quarterback Maurice DeShazo, having scored touchdowns on back-to-back drives of 80 and 82 yards.
Rickey Bustle, the Hokies' quarterbacks coach, said Tech wanted to inscribe three points on the scoreboard at the moment, then let the offense have its shot later in the quarter.
"You knew you were going to have to make up that point somewhere," Bustle said of the missed extra-point attempt that would have been Tech's 28th tally. "It's [a field goal] that's very makeable, and you don't have to make up that point by going for two [if you score a touchdown]. We were moving the ball. You had plenty of time left."
That strategy backfired when Ryan Williams missed the 38-yard field-goal attempt, leaving Tech seven points down.
DeShazo, who despite mediocre stats seemed to carry and control Tech's offense more than usual Saturday, couldn't do anything.
"Coach Beamer said, `We're going to kick a field goal,' and that's what we had to do," DeShazo said. "A quarterback wants to go for it on fourth-and- six.
"It's an emotional letdown," the quarterback said of the decision.
And he squirmed in misery over a couple other missed scoring chances.
"That's just an emotional blow," DeShazo said. "You know what your offense can do."
DeShazo obviously does. Although BC protected against one of his favorite plays, the long pass, the junior from Stuart threw for 174 yards and a touchdown and ran for 71 yards and a score.
Before he was replaced by Jim Druckenmiller, he ran or threw on 35 of Tech's 73 offensive plays - not counting several option handoffs or pitches.
He bought time for several completions - including a soft toss to Brian Edmonds that resulted in a 19-yard touchdown play - by scrambling back and forth across the field.
"Their defensive line is very aggressive, very strong, but I don't think they're as fast as West Virginia or Miami," said DeShazo, asked if the roundabout scrambles were by design.
DeShazo regularly got a half-dozen or more yards on scrambles or option keepers, and twice he ran a quarterback draw out of the shotgun formation. One of those was an 11-yard touchdown run; the other was an 8-yard gain on fourth-and-one in the second quarter.
Bustle said he and DeShazo - whose bruised thigh forced him to hobble stiff-legged to the team bus after the game - pored over BC's defensive sets and tendencies during the week.
"They didn't disguise a lot of things," Bustle said. "We wanted him to be familiar with every movement they did.
"They didn't fool him. He was so prepared for what they did, and he knows going down the stretch here he has to be that way."
\ ON FOLEY: DeShazo was asked what he thought of BC's Glenn Foley, a senior who is the only Eagle to throw for 2,000 or more yards in each of his four years.
"I've never seen a quarterback that puts the ball . . . on the money [like that]," DeShazo said.
\ INJURIES: Receiver Antonio Freeman sounded optimistic his sprained ankle would be fine by Saturday, when the Hokies face Syracuse, and DeShazo downplayed his thigh bruise. Free safety Antonio Banks missed most of the second half with a sore thigh; freshman defensive end Cornell Brown sprained a shoulder; and special-teams player Shaine Miles suffered a shoulder "stinger."
Keywords:
FOOTBALL
by CNB