EAST ROUNDUP : Rutgers Wins on Last Play, 50-49

Bryan Fortay got one last chance and made the most of it.

Fortay, who threw five interceptions and was benched three times during the game, hit Chris Brantley with a 15-yard touchdown pass as time expired to give Rutgers a 50-49 victory over Virginia Tech in a Big East Conference game Saturday at East Rutherford, N.J.

Rutgers, 5-3 overall and 2-2 in the Big East, was trailing, 49-44, with 14 seconds left when Fortay hit Mario Henry on a 46-yard pass play to the Hokies’ 15. Brantley caught his school-record fourth touchdown pass of the game in the right corner of the end zone as time ran out. No extra point was attempted.

Virginia Tech (2-5-1, 1-3) held a 35-23 lead at halftime and extended it to 42-23 when Maurice DeShazo connected with Antonio Freeman on a 49-yard touchdown pass play.

Rutgers made it 42-37 on Brantley’s touchdown catch in the third quarter and a one-yard scoring run by Craig Mitter with 10 minutes left in the game.

Virginia Tech responded with an 80-yard drive in six plays, with Mark Poindexter scoring his second touchdown of the game on a five-yard run.

Rutgers made it 49-44 on Fortay’s seven-yard touchdown pass to Lance Evina with 4:19 left.

DeShazo completed 15 of 27 passes for 302 yards and two touchdowns, but threw four interceptions. Fortay was 24 of 45 for 338 yards and four touchdowns.

No. 12 Syracuse 41, Pittsburgh 10--Qadry Ismail scored two touchdowns and set up another as the Orangemen routed the Panthers in a Big East game at Syracuse.

Marvin Graves of Syracuse (7-1, 4-0) won by default in his matchup with Alex Van Pelt of Pittsburgh (3-6, 1-3), who was forced out of the game because of an injury with 8 1/2 minutes left in the second quarter.

Van Pelt, the nation’s total offense leader at 312 yards a game, completed four of nine passes for 49 yards.

Graves completed 12 of 19 passes for 158 yards before sitting out the final quarter. He threw for one touchdown and ran seven yards for another.

Ismail set up the first touchdown of the game with a 75-yard kickoff return. Graves scored on a seven-yard run four plays later to give Syracuse a 10-3 lead.

Ismail, who took a pass 33 yards for a touchdown to make it 21-3 in the second quarter, also scored on an 11-yard reverse in the third quarter. He finished with 201 all-purpose yards.

Army 57, Eastern Michigan 17--Chad Davis scored on a 40-yard reverse and caught Army’s first touchdown pass of the season as the Cadets (3-4) routed the Eagles at West Point, N.Y.

Craig Thompson of Eastern Michigan (1-8) returned a kickoff 98 yards for a touchdown.

Princeton 34, Columbia 7--Keith Elias rushed for 115 yards and three touchdowns to lead the Ivy League-leading Tigers (6-1, 4-0) past the Lions at New York.

Columbia (1-6, 0-4) scored with 23 seconds left in the first half on a 10-yard pass from Chad Andrzejewski to flanker Mike Sardo.

Dartmouth 31, Harvard 7--Jay Fiedler threw two scoring passes, giving him a school record 18 this season, as the Big Green (5-2, 3-1) beat the Crimson in an Ivy League game at Cambridge, Mass.

Harvard (1-6, 1-3) scored in the fourth quarter when Mike Girardi threw a 19-yard touchdown pass to Chris Taylor.

Penn 13, Yale 10--Andy Glockner kicked two field goals in the second half to lift the Quakers (5-2, 3-1) to an Ivy League victory over the Elis at Philadelphia.

Yale (4-3, 2-2) took a 10-7 lead on Keith Price’s four-yard scoring run early in the second half.

Cornell 16, Brown 6--Mike Cochrane kicked three field goals and Bill Lazor hit Mike Jamin on a 41-yard touchdown pass play as the Big Red (6-1, 3-1) downed the Bears in an Ivy League game at Ithaca, N.Y.

Brown (0-7, 0-3) scored on Bill Pienias’ five-yard pass to Charlie Buckley with 2:02 left.