Boston College Escapes With a 21-20 Win Over Western Kentucky

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On Saturday afternoon, the Boston College Eagles (4-1, 1-0) played their final non-conference game of the season vs the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers (3-2). The big news before kickoff was, that BC’s starting QB Thomas Castellanos would miss this game because of an undisclosed injury. Grayson James was expected to get the nod for Boston College.

Western Kentucky won the opening coin toss and decided to receive the ball to get the game started. The Hilltoppers moved the ball downfield with a mixture of runs and passes. They would convert a fourth-down try. However, the second try, which was a quarterback keeper by WKU QB Caden Velbkamp, was stopped short by the BC defense.

The Eagles first offensive series began at their own 18-yard-line. James’ first completion of his BC career was good for 11 yards to TE Jeremiah Franklin. WKU’s second drive ended in a three-yard TD pass from Veltkamp to Kisean Johnson with 3:16 left. The big play of the drive was a 33-yard completion over the middle to River Helms (4 catches for 72 yards). Over his first two drives, Veltkamp was perfect going 9-for-9 for 88 yards, and a score. The Eagles defense came up with an interception with less than a minute to play. Khari Johnson picked off a Veltkamp pass on the left sideline. It set up the Eagles offense at the Hilltoppers’ 39-yard line as the first quarter came to a close.

The first play of the second quarter saw WKU’s defense return the favor by intercepting a James pass on the left side. Keondre Williams got his first interception of the year and returned it for 23 yards. Western Kentucky took advantage of the mistake. They went 47 yards and scored their second TD of the game when Veltkamp hit WR Easton Messer for a seven-yard TD pass on the right side. With twelve minutes left in the half WKU was up 14-0.

BC’s offense got rolling as the second quarter was winding down. A 13-play, 74-yard drive with five first downs. James was 6-for-6 for 52 yards on the drive. Kyle Robichaux (18 carries for 81 yards) punched it in from 3 yards out to cut the lead in half at 14-7 with two minutes left in the half. WKU used that final two minutes wisely. They drove down the field and with four seconds left on the clock, a 22-yard FG by Lucas Carnero gave the Hilltoppers a 17-7 halftime lead.

Western Kentucky can throw the ball and Veltkamp was 17-of-21 for 165 yards, two TDs, and a pick. The offense gained 247 yards in the first half. James got better for BC as the half went along going 12-of-16 for 92 yards and a pick. However, the ground game was lacking gaining just 41 yards in the half.

Boston College began the second half with the ball down ten. Three plays into their first series a completion pass to Lewis Bond on the right side resulted in a fumble recovered by WKU safety Devonte Mathews. Bond’s fumble was caused as he tried to jump over a defender. Despite converting two fourth-down tries, the best the Hilltoppers could do was a 35-yard FG from Carneiro to keep it a two-score game at 20-7 WKU with 8:44 left in the third. The Eagles defense created a break late in the third as LB Kam Arnold picked off a deflected pass and stopped a promising drive for the Hilltoppers. The interception was the second of the day thrown by Veltkamp (25-of-39, 232 yards, 2 TD, 2 INT).

Boston College started the fourth quarter with the ball and two scores to make up. They began that comeback by finishing off a nine-play, 57-yard drive on a James (19-32, 168 yards, 1 TD, 1 Int) QB keeper around left end for the one-yard score, his first college touchdown. With 11:36 to play, it was now a one-score game at 20-14 WKU. The Eagles defense once again came up huge. A strip sack caused by DE Donovan Ezeiruaku (third sack of the game) was recovered by the Eagles. His coach called him a “hell of a player.”He finished with 10 solo tackles, four assisted tackles, with four for losses.

The offense started at the Hilltoppers 20-yard line. The drive ended with James throwing an eight-yard TD pass to Jerand Bradley who fought off a defender to make the catch in the right side of the endzone. It gave BC the lead at 21-20 with 3:28 to play. After the game, Bradley called the victory an “ugly win” and said the message when the team was down 20-7 was “to finish.” Boston College’s defense was up to the task of stopping Western Kentucky and ran out the clock to escape with a 21-20 win.

After the game Coach O’Brien continued to preach that his team “needs to get off to better starts.” He also mentioned that Western Kentucky is a “good football team that is hard to prepare for.” For Grayson James, the start was his 12th overall in college football. He made 11 at F.I.U. before arriving at the Heights. Afterward, he said he was “Super Hyped.”

Now, it’s on to conference play for the rest of the season. Next week, the Eagles head back on the road to face Virginia with a start time of noon.