Phil Jurkovec passed for 320 yards and two touchdowns on Saturday night, as the Boston College Eagles topped the Maine Black Bears 38-17 in a non-conference football matchup at Alumni Stadium in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts.
Maine (0-3) got off to a nice road start. Cole Baker gave the Black Bears the lead with 6:15 left in the opening quarter with a 45 yard field goal. Boston College responded on a 51 yard touchdown pass from Jurkovec to Zay Flowers. The guests took their last lead of the night when Trevin Ewing took the ensuing kickoff and returned it 73 yards to the BC 22 yard line. On the second offensive play, quarterback Joe Fagnano hit one of his favorite targets in tight end Shawn Bowman for a 17 yard TD and a 10-7 advantage. It only took the host Eagles just over two minutes to take the lead for good, as Jurkovec connected with George Takacs for a short two yard touchdown that was set up by a 53 yard passing play to wide receiver Jaden Williams. Williams would score on a nine yard run in the second, and Patrick Garwo also found the endzone on a short one yard run and Boston College pushed it out to a 28-10 lead at the half.
After the Eagles made it 31-10 with a 46 yard field goal almost four minutes into the third quarter, the Black Bears would find paydirt for the final time on the night. Fagnano completed passes of 49 yards to Zavier Scott, and a 17 yarder to Bowman on third down that set up a four yard TD pass to Montigo Moss to cut it back to a two score game at 31-17. Maine had a chance to make it even closer on a long drive with still plenty of time to play in the fourth quarter. Starting at their own 12 yard line, Fagnano completed passes on the drive of 29 yards to Tyrese Baptiste and a big 37 yarder to Scott as the Bears got down to the Eagles 10 yard line. Elijah Barnwell though would fumble on a fourth down and two, and the hosts recovered and took over with 9:03 left. After a three and out, Fagnano was intercepted on the next offensive possession. Boston College wasted that chance when they missed a 28 yard field goal, but Maine ended up turning it over on downs and Garwo finished off the win with a 30 yard touchdown run with just 1:48 remaining.
Fagnano would finish the game 21-43 passing for 289 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions in the loss. Tavion Banks led the run game with 34 yards on six attempts. Scott had a big night to lead the receiving core with eight catches for 135 yards, with Moss and Bowman catching a touchdown each from Fagnano. Kahzir “Buggs” Brown had 11 total tackles to lead the defense, and Adrian Otero went over 200 career tackles as he added 10. Along with the big passing night for Jurkovec (25-37), Garwo would finish with 17 carries for 78 yards and two touchdowns for 1-2 Boston College out of the ACC. Flowers had eight receptions for 89 yards and a touchdown, and Takacs had seven for 66 yards and a score. Maine has been outscored by a combined 100-35 in their three losses (two against FBS), and is now 4-25 against those FBS opponents all-time. They will get a bye week before beginning CAA play when they host Villanova on Saturday, October 1 at 1 p.m. at Alfond Stadium.
