Johnny Evans had a game-winning drive, too

BY TIM PEELER

 

RALEIGH Sophomore quarterback Daniel Evans isn’t the first person from his family to lead NC State to a game-winning touchdown in the final minute of an ACC contest.

            On Oct. 1, 1977, NC State played three-time defending ACC champion Maryland at Carter Stadium, hoping to pull off an upset. Led by senior quarterback Johnny Evans, the Wolfpack was looking to bounce back from Coach Bo Rein’s inaugural 3-7-1 season, and had won three of its first four games.         

Maryland, however, had won an ACC-record 21 consecutive games and three in a row over the Wolfpack.

The two teams traded touchdowns in the first half, but the Terps got a pair of Ed Loncar field goals for a 13-7 lead. The Wolfpack took the lead in the fourth quarter when Ted Brown scored from two yards out, capping a 13-play, 79-yard drive. Maryland scored on its next possession, thanks in part to a fumbled punt return by Woodrow Wilson, giving the Terps a 20-17 lead with 6:40 remaining.

Each team had the ball again, but couldn’t move it. State’s defense, led by a junior linebacker Billy Cowher’s 15 tackles and game-ball winner A.W. Jenkins, had played well all day, keeping the Terps out of the end zone despite allowing 377 yards of total offense. (Rein said afterwards that it was the first time in his tenure that he let his defensive coordinator call all the defensive plays a guy by the name of Chuck Amato.)

With 2:51 remaining, the Wolfpack got the ball back on the Maryland 31-yard line. The first three plays gained nine yards, and the Wolfpack relied on Brown to convert a fourth-down dive with 1:48 to play.

Brown and tailback Billy Ray Vickers helped the Wolfpack move the ball down the field in its option attack, though the comeback was nearly thwarted when Vickers fumbled following a 6-yard gain. Fortunately for the Wolfpack, sophomore center Jim Ritcher, a future All-America and Outland Trophy winner, was there to recover the miscue.

Evans threw on the next two plays, completing a 20-yard pass, with a 13-yard penalty on Maryland added on for tackling out of bounds. On the next play, the Terps were flagged for interference, giving the Wolfpack the ball on the 2-yard line with less than a minute to play.

Evans, who rushed for 37 yards on 10 carries that day, then scored the game-winning touchdown with 27 seconds to play.

Maryland returned the ensuing kickoff for a touchdown, but the play was called back because of an illegal forward lateral, allowing Evans to breathe a huge sigh of relief on the sidelines.

But it was nothing compared to watching his son lead the Wolfpack on the five-play, 72-yard drive in 38 seconds against Boston College.

“To me, it wasn’t quite the drama that Daniel and his team had the other night,” said Evans, now a color commentator on the Wolfpack Radio Network.

The next week, the Wolfpack went on the road and beat Auburn 17-15. Those two games earned the Wolfpack a bid to the Peach Bowl, where Evans’ MVP performance of two touchdown passes and a scoring run led State to a 24-14 victory over Iowa State and a final 8-4 record.

You may contact Tim Peeler at tim_peeler@ncsu.edu.

North Carolina State University Athletics

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