Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, September 23, 1994 TAG: 9409230139
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: SCOTT BLANCHARD STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Medium
Maurice DeShazo and company didn't travel cross country, but they did get first-quarter scoring plays of 33 yards (a Brian Edmonds run) and 29 yards (a DeShazo-to-Antonio Freeman catch-and-run) en route to a 34-6 Big East Football Conference victory over the Mountaineers.
"We talked on the sideline about breaking the ice,'' Edmonds said. "That play and some others kind of set the offense off.''
It was Tech's largest margin of victory over WVU since a 41-0 rout in 1912 in the teams' first game.
A national cable television audience and 49,679 Lane Stadium visitors saw 14th-ranked Tech win its fourth straight this year and seventh straight overall, matching the school's longest winning streak since 1967.
The Hokies improved to 2-0 in the Big East and have a long week to prepare for Syracuse, Oct. 1 at the Carrier Dome.
West Virginia fell to 1-4 for the first time in coach Don Nehlen's 15 seasons. The defending Big East champions, who went 11-0 during the 1993 regular season, are 0-2 in the league.
Tech's running game, averaging only 153 yards per game, awoke as tailback Dwayne Thomas gained 79 yards and Edmonds 44 in the first half. Thomas, however, was helped off the field in the fourth quarter after spraining his left ankle on a 5-yard carry. He had gained 94 yards on 18 carries. Tech team doctor Duane Lagan called the sprain "moderate.''
The Hokies gained 238 yards in the half, five more than they got last week against Boston College. They had 389 in the game to WVU's 239; 204 of Tech's yards came on the ground as DeShazo struggled again, going 12-for-32 for 185 yards, three interceptions and two touchdowns.
Tech took a 20-6 halftime lead and extended that to 27-6 with 11:15 left in the game when DeShazo and Bryan Still connected on a 35-yard scoring pass.
Freshman Ken Oxendine's 53-yard touchdown run up the middle finished the scoring with 4:33 left.
By halftime, the Mountaineers had 147 total yards, only 49 on the ground. Tech battered the Mountaineers' quarterback duo of Eric Boykin and Chad Johnston, sacking them eight times - three by Cornell Brown.
West Virginia did bring a burst of emotion into Blacksburg, completing a 31-yard pass to the Tech 10 on its first play from scrimmage after cornerback Aaron Beasley intercepted DeShazo at the Hokie 41.
That was one of three Beasley pickoffs, the most in a game for WVU since Darrell Whitmore snagged that many against Cincinnati in 1990.
But WVU's aura wore off like aftershave. Tech's defense, ranked third nationally, allowed no movement from the 10, and Bryan Baumann's 27-yard field goal put WVU up 3-0 with 13:10 left in the first quarter.
One possession later, Still's 15-yard reception and Thomas' 13-yard run put Tech at the 33. Edmonds bounced outside left and rolled in for Tech's first offensive touchdown in nearly five quarters.
On the first play of WVU's next drive, Tech end Hank Coleman batted Boykin's pass high in the air; Tech linebacker Brandon Semones settled under it at the WVU 29. After one incompletion, DeShazo threw a wide-receiver screen to Antonio Freeman, who used blocks by Jay Hagood and Chris Malone to navigate a thin corridor into the end zone.
His first touchdown this year gave Tech a 14-3 lead with 7:32 left in the quarter and tied him with Ricky Scales for Tech's all-time touchdown reception record (18).
"It was a relief,'' Freeman said. "For weeks, I was a little antsy. [But] we knew sooner or later our offense would click, and our defense would do a great job holding West Virginia's offense.''
It did, even though Tech committed four turnovers.
Two Tech drives after Freeman's score, DeShazo threw his second interception of the game and fifth of the season when, rolling right, he motioned Still long and then underthrew the ball while on the run.
Beasley's second pickoff gave WVU the ball on its 49, but on the second play, Boykin threw directly to Tech linebacker Ken Brown's gut. Brown ran to the 46, but on Tech's first play, WVU clogged the option and DeShazo fell and fumbled.
WVU end Steve Perkins recovered, and backup quarterback Johnston connected with Zach Abraham, who made a diving catch at the 1.
But Jim Freeman met Tech's Jim Baron and George DelRicco and lost a yard; then Robert Walker slipped at the 4. Johnston missed Tony Minnyfield in the end zone on third down, and WVU settled for Baumann's 22-yard field goal for a 14-6 score with 13:25 left in the half.
One Tech student was holding a neon pink sign that said, "We want Miami,'' but the Hokies were content with a night's work.
"There are a lot of good things in this ballgame,'' Tech coach Frank Beamer said. "To be able to get [WVU] this year and be 4-0 feels great.''
by CNB