ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, October 27, 1996 TAG: 9610280152
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C11 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG
SOURCE: RALPH BERRIER JR. STAFF WRITER
SHAWN SCALES TURNS a short pass and a long pass into crucial touchdowns.
The bomb.
In an antiquated vernacular, to bomb meant to fail (as in "That play sure bombed"). In today's slang, as any Gen-Xer will tell you, "the bomb" is a buzzword for what once was referred to as "cool."
As in "That Shawn Scales sure was the bomb today."
Scales, a flanker for Virginia Tech, caught a bomb from quarterback Jim Druckenmiller that blew open the Hokies' tougher-than-it-should-have-been 34-17 victory over Pittsburgh on Saturday. His 71-yard touchdown reception with 14:51 left in the game followed his 7-yard TD grab in the third quarter that gave Tech the lead for good at 20-17.
They were big plays from a team that sorely was needing someone to follow in the cleated footprints of past big-play guys like Antonio Freeman and Bryan Still.
"I think that's a role I can fill," said Scales, a junior from Woodbridge who is averaging 18.9 yards per catch. "We have a number of receivers who can fill that role. It depends on what play is called, but it's definitely a role I can play."
Scales had a chance to fill that role earlier in the game, but couldn't catch up to a long Druckenmiller pass. Then, on the first play of the fourth, he outran Pitt defensive back Rasshad Whitmill and made a great grab of another Druckenmiller bomb.
"After the first one, I knew I had kept my head up too much," said Scales. "I should've just put it down and run. I was determined to catch this [second] one."
Scales swung the momentum in Tech's favor. The reception was the longest pass play from scrimmage this season for the Hokies, topping a 64-yard Druckenmiller-to-Scales scoring play two weeks ago against Temple. That play, however, was a screen pass.
Saturday's play was closer to the kind of ball Maurice DeShazo used to hang out for Freeman or Druckenmiller used to throw to Still.
"He made a great catch," said Tech coach Frank Beamer. "I thought Jim had overthrown him.'' The play reminded him of the "catches Bryan Still used to make."
For a while, the Hokies would have been happy with any kind of catch. Only the rain clouds above Lane Stadium had more drops than the Hokies. The Panthers had their share of dropped passes, as well. Beamer thought the weather or the Hokies' one-week layoff may have precipitated the drops.
"I don't think we can blame it on anything but a lack of concentration," said Scales, who had three catches for 95 yards. "We're Division I receivers. We should be able to catch the ball. When the ball hits my hand, I want to see it, so I can squeeze it. If you don't concentrate, you can't see it and you can't catch it."
Druckenmiller, for one, did not see his TD strike to Scales. He was hit on the play.
"We've needed something like that,'' he said. ``We've been missing [big plays] a little bit this year. You can't look for big plays. You have to let 'em happen. One happened today."
It was the bomb.
LENGTH: Medium: 67 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: LORA GORDON STAFF Shawn Scales hauls in a pass from Jimby CNBDruckenmiller that became a 71-yard touchdown for Virginia Tech. KEYWORDS: FOOTBALL