East Roundup : Lewis Scores Three Touchdowns as Pittsburgh Beats Syracuse

Derrick Lewis ran for three touchdowns and Alex Van Pelt completed 13 consecutive passes and threw for 306 yards and one touchdown as 13th-ranked Pittsburgh beat No. 10 Syracuse, 30-23, Saturday night at Pittsburgh.

Lewis scored on runs of two, four and four yards and Van Pelt completed 25 of 32 passes as the Panthers snapped a five-game losing streak against the Orangemen. Van Pelt, a redshirt freshman, entered the game as the country’s sixth-leading passer.

It was only the third loss in 27 games for Syracuse, which has the second-best record in the country during that span.

Pittsburgh (3-0) held Syracuse to 19 yards rushing in 31 attempts, including minus-three yards in the first half. The Panthers also sacked Syracuse’s Bill Scharr eight times.

After taking a 23-13 halftime lead, Pitt opened the second half with a 70-yard, eight-play drive that was capped by Lewis’ four-yard run.

Syracuse (2-1) made it 30-20 with 1:10 left in the third quarter on an eight-yard reverse by receiver Rob Carpenter and added a 26-yard field goal by John Biskup with 4:27 left to play.

The Orangemen got the ball back on their 11 with 1:06 left, but Scharr’s desperation pass was intercepted by Louis Riddick on the last play of the game.

After Syracuse returned the opening kickoff to its 31, the Orangemen struck quickly on a razzle-dazzle play.

Carpenter took a handoff from Scharr and threw a 69-yard touchdown pass to a wide-open Rob Moore, who caught the ball at the Pitt 28 and raced into the end zone. Moore finished with six catches for 170 yards. Biskup missed the extra point for the Orangemen, who had made 262 consecutive PATs before missing one in their opener against Temple.

Pittsburgh tied the score on its first offensive play when Van Pelt hit Henry Tuten on a 61-yard touchdown pass. Tuten, who had six receptions for 114 yards, caught the ball at the Syracuse 15 and raced untouched into the end zone.

It was the first touchdown pass given up by the starting Syracuse secondary in 50 quarters, dating back to the second game of last season against Ohio State. Pitt failed on the extra point. West Virginia 30, Louisville 21--Running back Eugene Napoleon’s two touchdowns in the final three minutes helped the ninth-ranked Mountaineers win at Louisville.

Napoleon’s one-yard touchdown run over left tackle gave West Virginia (4-0) a 22-21 lead with 2:54 remaining, and his 46-yard scoring run up the middle with 1:26 left sealed the victory.

Louisville (2-1) had taken a 21-10 lead early in the third quarter on Browning Nagle’s 16-yard touchdown pass to Anthony Cummings.

But West Virginia got field goals of 49 and 25 yards from junior Brad Carroll, the first a career-long effort, to pull within 21-16 10 seconds into the fourth quarter.

Napoleon finished with 121 yards in 17 carries. West Virginia quarterback Major Harris, who threw for 245 yards and a touchdown, also rushed for 73 yards.

Nagle, who transferred from West Virginia after losing the starting quarterback job to Harris, completed 18 of 32 passes for 208 yards and two touchdowns.

Penn State 7, Boston College 3--Tony Sacca scored on a one-yard roll-out with 44 seconds left to give the Nittany Lions the victory at State College, Pa.

Sacca, who became the starting quarterback this week when Tom Bill was indefinitely suspended after campus police cited him for public drunkenness, completed only four of 15 passes for 64 yards and had one intercepted.

The Nittany Lions (2-1) got a break with less than four minutes remaining when Boston College punter Brian Lowe kicked the ball 20 yards to the Eagles’ 35-yard line.

Blair Thomas rushed for 118 yards in 27 carries for Penn State.

Citadel 14, Navy 10--A two-yard touchdown run by substitute quarterback Jack Douglas--a drive that started after a Midshipman punt was blown backward by gusting winds--gave the Bulldogs the victory at Annapolis, Md.

With one minute left in the third quarter and Navy leading, 10-7, Jefferson Triplett lofted a high punt that was caught by the wind and landed five yards behind the line of scrimmage.

Army 14, Wake Forest 10--Quarterback Willie McMillian, making his first start in place of injured Bryan Williams, hit Calvin Cass with a 60-yard scoring pass and Mike Mayweather rushed for 118 yards and one touchdown as the Cadets won at West Point, N.Y.

Wake Forest (0-3) was driving for the winning touchdown when tailback Corey Donald fumbled inside the Army five-yard line on fourth down. Although Wake Forest recovered the ball on the Army eight, the Cadets (1-1) took over on downs with four seconds left to seal the victory.

Dartmouth 28, Boston University 27--Mark Johnson and wide receiver Tom Parker teamed for four touchdown passes, the last with 26 seconds left from three yards out, to boost the Big Green at Hanover, N.H.

Boston (0-3) took a 27-21 lead with 2:21 remaining when quarterback Stan Greene hit Darvell Huffman for 22 yards and their third scoring pass of the day. But Dartmouth’s Brad Preble blocked Matt LaPolice’s extra point attempt.

Dartmouth (1-1) then drove 62 yards as Johnson completed seven of 12 passes, the last to Parker on the left side of the end zone.

Colgate 42, Brown 7--Sophomore Jim Tierney scored three first-half touchdowns, two coming after recovered fumbles, leading the Red Raiders at Hamilton, N.Y.

Leading 21-7 at the half, Colgate (3-1) added three more touchdowns in the second half after interceptions of Brown quarterback Danny Clark.

Holy Cross 31, Harvard 17--Joe Segreti rushed for 171 yards and two touchdowns and Tom Ciaccio ran for one score and passed for another to rally the Crusaders at Cambridge, Mass.

Trailing 17-10 in the third quarter, Holy Cross (3-0) exploded for three unanswered scores.

Cornell 20, Bucknell 9--John McNiff ran for 135 yards and a touchdown and Chris Cochrane passed for two more scores to lead the Big Red at Lewisburg, Pa.

Cornell (1-0) opened the scoring on Cochrane’s two-yard touchdown pass to Carl Boehlert in the second quarter after Evan Parke blocked a Bucknell kick to give the Big Red possession on the Bison 7.

Cornell linebacker Mitch Lee intercepted a pass by Scott Auchenbach to set up Cochrane’s 33-yard touchdown pass to Frank Monago later in the second quarter.

Bucknell (1-1) scored on its second possession of the second half when Steve Barimo kicked a 35-yard field goal to make it 14-3.

Yale 33, Lehigh 17--Quarterback Darin Kehler ran for 186 yards and three touchdowns to spark the Bulldogs (2-0) past The Brown and White at New Haven, Conn.

Penn 25, Lafayette 12--Bryan Keys scored three touchdowns from the one-yard line as the Quakers (1-1) won their fifth in a row against the Leopards (1-2) at Philadelphia.

Villanova 38, Columbia 0--Freshman Mike Jones rushed for 125 yards, and redshirt freshman Jeff Johnson added 113 yards as the Wildcats won at Villanova, Pa.

Villanova (2-2) finished with 501 yards total offense, 379 of it on the ground. Columbia (0-2) managed just 139 yards.

William & Mary 31, Princeton 31--Joel Sharp threw a 13-yard touchdown pass to Scott Gibbs with six seconds left and then hit Judd Garrett on a two-point conversion as the Tigers (1-0-1) rallied from a 14-point deficit in the final seven minutes for the tie with the Indians (2-0-1) at Princeton, N.J.