Panthers rally for overtime win
PITTSBURGH -When Miami left the Big East Conference last off-season, Pittsburgh had to scramble to find an opponent to replace the Hurricanes on its schedule. The Furman Paladins, although ranked No. 2 in Division I AA were thought to be a big drop off in competition.
As it turned out, Furman (3-1, 0-0) played like the Hurricanes and gave the Panthers (2-1, 0-0) all they could handle, as Pittsburgh had to erase a 17-point deficit with 5 minutes left in the third quarter to force overtime, where Josh Cummings booted a 37-yard field goal to pull a 41-38 victory out of the jaws of defeat.
Trailing 38-24, Pittsburgh’s comeback started with a flea flicker.
Marcus Furman (Connellsville High School) took a handoff, rolled right, turned back left, and pitched the ball back to quarterback Tyler Palko who hit Greg Lee on the Furman two-yard line.
Running back Ray Kirkley banged it in two plays later to pull the Panthers back to within a touchdown, 38-31.
On Pitt’s next possession, Palko fired a 38-yard touchdown strike to tight end Steve Buches, his second of the game, to tie the score 38-38 with 3:44 left and force overtime.
“You could tell that late in the game we were prepared,” Palko said. “We practiced all summer long to stay strong in the fourth quarter.”
People said, “Oh, Pitt is only playing Furman, but we don’t care if we were playing Furman or Miami, this win is big for our morale because it was such a gut-check,” Palko said. “If we win by a blowout, that does not do as much for our confidence as having to come back the way we did late in the game to pull out the victory.”
After getting off to a slow start this season as the new starting quarterback at Pitt, Palko turned in his best performance so far and completed 30 of 36 passes for 380 yards and three touchdowns with no interceptions.
“I give our quarterback a tremendous amount of credit for hanging in there,” Pitt coach Walt Harris said. “He finally has a feel for what it takes to be competitive at this level.”
Many of the sparse crowd of 35,121 at Heinz Field filed out after Pitt fell behind 31-14 late in the third quarter, but Harris credited his team after the game for never quitting.
“It was bleak for us for a long time,” Harris said. “We had enough to keep fighting when things looked their worse and the people who stuck around end up seeing a great game.”
The only lead Pitt held came after Malcolm Postell intercepted an Ingle Martin pass late in the first quarter and returned it 44 yards for a touchdown to give Pitt a 14-7 lead. The interception return for a touchdown was Postell’s second this season.
“I just jumped the route and was able to make the play,” Postell said. “That was a big play for us because it ended up that we needed every score.”
Harris blamed turnovers and penalty flags as major contributor in Pittsburgh’s loss to Nebraska last week. He had hoped to shore up those problems soon, but deja vous struck less than two minutes into the game and continued as the Panthers self-destructed through three quarters of football.
A high punt snap contributed to Furman’s first touchdown and a 7-0 lead less than three minutes into the game. A Pitt penalty flag after the Panthers originally stopped the Paladins on downs contributed to Furman’s second touchdown, which tied the game at 14-14.
A Palko fumble stopped a Panther touchdown on fourth-and-inches at the goal line, and Furman converted the blunder into a 75-yard screen pass for its third touchdown and a 21-14 lead halfway through the second quarter.
Two Pitt roughing penalties fueled Furman’s third quarter opening touchdown drive and gave Furman a 31-14 lead.
After Cummings hit a 27-yard field goal to pull Pittsburgh back into the game 31-17 with five minutes left in the third quarter, the Panther defense rose to the occasion and made what Furman head coach Bobby Lamb called the play that turned the tide in Pittsburgh’s favor.
The Paladins were driving for a score that could have put the Panthers away late in the third quarter. Martin threw a 50-yard pass in the right corner of the end zone, but Pitt cornerback Mike Phillips held his position and came down with the interception.
“That interception in the end zone was a huge play for Pitt because either player could have caught the ball, but their guy (Phillips) came down with it,” Lamb said. “We had to be aggressive but they made one more play than we did in the end.”
Pittsburgh capitalized by putting together an 80-yard touchdown drive capped by a Palko 8-yard touchdown pass to Buches – his first career touchdown. The score pulled the Panthers to within one touchdown, 31-24 and gave Pitt new life.
The comeback only lasted 43 seconds, as the Paladins pulled out a reverse flea flicker, as wide receiver Isaac West took a reverse pitch and completed a touchdown pass to a wide-open Brian Bratton to push the Paladins’ lead to 38-24, setting the stage for the Panthers’ big push.