Single-handed national champs Scott Rasmussen ’20 and Erika Reineke ’17
BC sailors won both crowns — men’s and women’s — at last weekend’s National Singlehanded Sailing Championships in Galveston, Texas. For senior Erika Reineke, it was her 4th title. Freshman Scott Rasmussen won his 1st title, and is the first Eagle to win the male championship.
Having sat out last year to compete in the Olympic Trials, Reineke is the first BC sailor to win four singlehanded titles. She surpassed former Eagle of the Year Annie Haeger, who won three National Singlehanded Championships.
Both Reineke and Rasmussen are natives of Florida. Not to worry, the women’s sailing team includes Katharine Bowman and Elizabeth Matheson, both of San Diego, and Katherine Roughneen of Coronado, and the men’s team has Scott Sinks of San Diego on its roster.
Louisville continued to add to BC’s undistinguished record against better teams in the ACC this season, beating the Eagles 52-7 Saturday in Alumni Stadium. Against teams in the ACC with winning records, BC’s football team is now 0-3, giving up 157 points and scoring 17 in those games.
Carlsbad’s own Ray Smith (96) takes aim at Louisville QB Lamar Jackson
Indeed, Saturday’s loss was the Eagles’ 7th straight to a ranked team, and 19th out of 20, since 2009. The sole win in this run was against USC in 2014.
Saturday’s game was a résumé-builder for Louisville’s freshman quarterback Lamar Jackson in his bid for the Heisman Trophy. He accounted for 7 touchdowns, 4 passing and 3 rushing, covering 416 total yards. Personally, he had 15 carries for 185 yards. The Cardinals gained 515 yards in total offense.
On the game’s 3rd play, Jackson ran up the middle and past BC defenders for 69 yards and a touchdown. He looked back a couple of times in the last 20 yards or so to find himself alone. “I was surprised when I looked back,” he said in the Boston Globe.
Louisville led 38-0 at halftime. BC scored early in the 3rd period on a 39-yard touchdown pass from Patrick Towles to Tyler Rouse. BC overall gained 207 yards, 150 on the ground, and had 9 first downs. Towles was 13-of-21 for 147 yards, 1 touchdown and 1 interception.
The Eagles have 3 games left — Florida State, UConn, and Wake Forest — needing to win 2 to reach the 6-win criterion for bowl eligibility.
A small, but hardy, crew at Saturday’s gamewatch. Front, l-r: Pat Ahern ’11, Chris Lamb MS’08, and Julia Leone ’11. Rear, l-r: Adrienne Lamb, Meryl Evangelista, Lissa Tsu ’00, Bill McDonald ’68, and Brian Tsu ’00.
In a game of teams with a total of one ACC win between them this season, no one expected elegance. Neither team achieved elegance. And odds-makers, who made North Carolina State a 15+ points favorite, didn’t expect a win by Boston College. But Eagles fans certainly hoped to see their team’s 12-game ACC losing streak end, and those hopes were realized.
With a trick play producing the winning touchdown and a defensive stop in the red zone — both of which were rare this season — BC defeated NC State, 21-14, and finally put a number in the conference win column. I’ve seen reports that it had been 700 days since the last conference win for the Eagles, and I’m not going to count to challenge that.
Jeff Smith finishes a 60-yard touchdown run
BC led 10-7 at halftime on the basis of a 24-yard field goal from Mike Knoll and a 60-yard jet sweep by Jeff Smith in which he ran untouched. A 29-yard field goal by Knoll made it 13-7 in the 3rd quarter, but about 90 seconds later and following an NC State interception of Patrick Knowles, the Wolfpack scored a touchdown to make take a 14-13 lead.
With just over 9 minutes left in the game, BC had the ball at its 37. Nine plays later, on the NC State 14, Towles handed off to freshman running back Davon Jones, who then threw a pass to tight end Tommy Sweeney for what would prove to be the game-winning touchdown. Knoll’s kickoff to NC State was returned 56 yards to the BC 42 yard line, with 4:34 remaining. The Wolfpack moved quickly into the red zone and was 1-and-goal at the BC 2. In an offense older BC fans may recall from Dana Bible, who was later the offensive coordinator for this Wolfpack team, NC State ran up the middle twice for a total of -1 yard and then attempted a quite predictable fade throw into the corner of the endzone. BC defensive back Kamrin Moore said later he had anticipated the throw, which he easily intercepted. BC then ran out the clock.
BC had 21 first downs and 386 yards total offense, compared to NC State’s 14 first downs and 338 yards. Towles was 18-of-33 for 204 yards, no touchdowns and 1 interception, for a QB rating of 28.2. NC State quarterback Ryan Finley was about as mediocre, completing 23-of-41 for 307 yards, 2 touchdowns and 2 interceptions. Jonathan Hilliman led the Eagles in rushing, with 74 yards.
The Eagles next meet #5 Louisville, in Alumni Stadium, 9 am PT, Saturday, November 5.
