Heintschel's Historic Day Propels Pitt Over NC State, 53-34
PITTSBURGH — With Mason Heintschel and the Pitt Panthers rolling on a three-game win streak as the ACC race heats up, they met the NC State Wolfpack for just the third time as conference foes.
Heintschel delivered a historic performance as the Panthers out-gunned the Wolfpack 53-34 Saturday evening at Acrisure Stadium.
The true freshman Heintschel broke the all-time single-game passing mark for a Pitt freshman quarterback with 423 yards on 28-of-48 to go along with three touchdown passes. It also comes as the sixth-most passing yards for a Pitt quarterback in a game, surpassing Rod Rutherford’s (2003) and Tino Sunseri’s (2011) 419 yards.
Pitt compiled 529 yards of offense, which included two 100-yard receivers. Kenny Johnson pulled in seven passes for 112 yards and a touchdown. Cataurus Hicks caught four passes for 120 yards and a lengthy 84-yard touchdown reception.
The Panthers defense entered the game without their top two linebackers in Rasheem Biles and Kyle Louis, along with primary backup Nick Lapi. Outside of a few explosive scores, Pitt stood tall on defense forcing four three-and-outs, a fumble recovery and three turnover on downs.
Pitt (6-2, 4-1 ACC) has seen unprecedented success on its opening drives under Heintschel as the Panthers made it four in a row with scores on their first drive. The possession was set up by a 26-yard punt return by Johnson to put the Panthers at the NC State 49. Once again, Pitt needed to convert on third down, which would not be a problem for the Panthers as Heintschel connected down field with Cataurus Hicks on a 29-yard play.
Two plays later, true freshman running back Ja’Kyrian Turner punched it in the end zone for the 1-yard score, his fifth of the year.
While Pitt’s undermanned defense held strong on the initial two drives for NC State (4-4, 1-3 ACC), it started to crack as the first quarter wore on.
The Wolfpack attacked the perimeter with several quick screens that eventually opened up the pass down the middle. On first-and-10 from the Pitt 25, Bailey dropped back and linked up with 6-foot-3 tight end Justin Joly to cut the Pitt lead to 10-7.
Since Heintschel has taken over at quarterback, he has spread the ball around to his playmakers, but it’s been Kenny Johnson that has benefited the most. He was another favorite target in the first half for the young quarterback as Johnson pulled in four passes of 12, 13, 23 and 19 yards on the Panthers’ second scoring drive. Pitt reached the end zone on a 2-yard Desmond Reid run to make it 17-7.
NC State punched back in the blink of an eye. Running back Hollywood Smothers, the ACC’s leading rusher, took the handoff and sprinted past the Pitt defense for a 65-yard touchdown to pull the Wolfpack back within three.
Smothers, who averaged 105.6 yards per game, was quiet for the remainder of the evening as he totaled just eight touches for 86 yards.
After Pitt’s first three-and-out of the game, the Panthers’ offense returned to its explosive ways as it moved down field. After a 28-yard catch and run by Deuce Spann, Heintschel went back to the air as a tipped pass found its way to Raphael Williams in the corner of the end zone for a 7-yard touchdown.
NC State attempted to keep up with Pitt’s high-scoring night by utilizing some trickeration. After trending towards screen passes, Bailey threw a backwards pass to wide receiver Teddy Hoffmann, who then looked down field with the double pass. He located a wide open Joly, who had to hobble the rest of the way to the end zone for the 59-yard score to make it 24-21.
As the two teams spent most of the first half trading shots back and forth, Pitt began to pull away with a late score moments before halftime.
Pitt converted on a key fourth-and-2 to tight end Justin Holmes for 19 yards before finishing things off with a 10-yard passing play to Johnson as he broke away from an ankle tackle to make it 31-21 heading into halftime.
The Panthers blew the game open in the second half behind Heintschel’s historic performance.
On the second Pitt drive of the third quarter, Heintschel unleashed a deep ball on the first play delivered to speedy Cataurus Hicks in stride. Hicks wheeled to the end zone for the 84-yard touchdown to make it 38-21. The passing play comes as the longest in Acrisure Stadium history.
Freshman kicker Trey Butkowski chipped in with four field goals, but his streak of 16 consecutive makes came to an end in the fourth quarter.
NC State and Pitt added three late touchdowns with a 30-yard reception for Hoffman and a 2-yard reception for Noah Rogers for the Wolfpack, while Turner added a 6-yard rush for Pitt.
Pitt will head to the west coast next Saturday to take on Stanford at 3:30 p.m. It’s the first road trip to California for Pitt since the ACC added Stanford and Cal.
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