CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. -- The expected wild windy weather from the outer edges of a nearby hurricane turned out to be nothing more than a lone black cloud hanging over the Wildcats.
Hurricane Earl passed quietly in the night, but Boston College stormed past Weber State for a 38-20 win in Saturday’s sunny season opener at Alumni Stadium.BC running back Montel Harris rushed for 115 yards and the Eagles’ got an emotional lift from the return of linebacker Mark Herzlich, who made his first start in 18 months after successfully battling bone cancer in front of 34,168 in attendance.
Two first-half fumbles stalled Weber State drives into Boston College territory and fueled the Eagles’ first-half charge with 24 unanswered points.
In the second half, however, Wildcats coach Ron McBride found a silver lining to that dark cloud.
Sophomore David James’ interception prevented one Boston College score in the fourth quarter and Robbie Diamond’s fumble recovery at BC’s 32-yard line set up Josh Booker’s 4-yard TD run with 19 seconds remaining. That touchdown gave Weber State a 10-7 advantage after halftime, though both teams were freely substituting.
"The second half was a different story than the first half," McBride said. "I don’t come away from this being discouraged at all. The nice thing about our team is they never quit. They didn’t play backward, they played forward. They made a mistake, I got on their (case) and said ‘Hey, it’s over with. Go to the next play.’ That was a positive sign."
Taking on a Bowl Subdivision team gives in the preseason gives Weber State opportunities to learn, McBride said, like the little guy who keeps getting knocked down only to get up and win a fight.
"This is what we need to do so we know where we’re at," he said. "It doesn’t do any good to play weak opponents. All that does is gives you a false sense of security."
Senior quarterback Cameron Higgins completed 24-of-39 passes for 234 yards, one touchdown and one-tipped ball interception BC defensive back DeLeon Gause returned 66 yards for a pick-6 to give the Eagles a 38-13 lead late in the third quarter.
Afterward, Higgins was looking for silver linings, too.
"You never gonna get this game back, you’re never going to get that play back, so why dwell on it? Just take the positive on this game. You’ve got to have amnesia. You can’t dwell on bad things, you’ll bring bad energy to the team," Higgins said.
One good thing Higgins can take away is that his mistakes didn’t come from trying to force big plays, a trap he fell into at times last season. The Wildcats were able to move consistently with Higgins finding a steady rhythm of short connections.
Higgins is just four yard shy of reaching 10,000 passing yards in his career and will reach the milestone is next week’s home opener against Northern Colorado.
Mike Phillips had six catches for 69 yards and Joe Collins and Bo Bolen had five receptions apiece.
Eagles quarterback Dave Shinskie threw for 185 yards and two scores and backup Mike Marscovetra added another TD pass as the Eagles turned Weber State turnovers into 17 points.
The loss makes for a long trip home from a game that is both the farthest east and the farthest north Weber State has ever played football.
The Wildcats struggled to establish a ground game, rushing 39 times for only 104 yards.
Tailback Vaingamalie Tafuna led the team with 59 yards on 21 carries.
"It’s never a positive to lose," Tafuna said. "We came here to win, we expected to win and we’re disappointed that we lost. That’s all that matters at the end of the day, right? We played hard and it wasn’t good enough."
Boston College started the game with a delay of game penalty and Weber State linebacker Taylor Sedillo intercepted Dave Shinskie’s first pass and returned it to BC’s 17-yard line.
Shaun McClain kicked a 32-yard field goal to give Weber State a 3-0 lead, but the first series was only a speed bump for Boston College, which then scored 24 unanswered points to put the game away.
Jordan Brown led Weber State with seven tackles and Sedillo had six tackles to go with the interception.
"It’s always a good experience to play an FBS team. You get a shot at a bigger school. You get to come out East. We’re all from the West Coast, so it was cool to come out here," Sedillo said. "If I’m going to take anything away positive at the end of the day, it was good to see the kind of team that we have. We have a team that’s not going to give up. We’re going to fight to the last play, as you saw."
Sedillo would trade that lesson for something else.
"A W is a W and an L is an L," Sedillo said. "We got an L. I think personally, it was a good lesson learned, but I would like to have won."
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