No. 10 Florida St. Rallies to Nip Maryland

Posted 8:43PM on Saturday 29th October 2005 ( 19 years ago )

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) -- Drew Weatherford and James Coleman scored fourth-quarter touchdowns to lead No. 10 Florida State to a 35-27 come-from-behind victory over Maryland on Saturday. Weatherford's 15-yard run with 8:52 left gave the Seminoles a 28-27 lead and they scored three minutes later on Coleman's 1-yard run. Coleman's score was set up by Ernie Sims' interception. Maryland's final bid for a tie ended with 52 seconds left when Joel Statham was sacked by A.J. Nicholson at the Florida State 40. The Seminoles avoided losing to the Terps for a second straight year. Florida State (7-1, 5-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) can lock up a spot in the first league title game Dec. 3 at Jacksonville with a victory over North Carolina State next Saturday. Maryland (4-4, 2-3) scored 24 straight points midway through the game, building a 24-14 lead on Dan Ennis' 40-yard field goal three minutes into the second half. But the Seminoles turned to their favorite weapon, freshman wide receiver Greg Carr, to get back into the game. The 6-foot-6 Carr caught a 37-yard pass to the Maryland 1 and then, after two plays lost yards, he broke wide open in the end zone to snag a 4-yard scoring pass to cut Maryland's lead to 24-21. After Ennis kicked a 35-yard field goal to start the fourth quarter and give the Terrapins a 27-21 lead, Carr was again center stage. A pair of pass interference calls against Maryland's Gerrick McPhearson, who was trying to defend Carr, set up Weatherford's go-head score. Florida State wasted a fast start and its fans booed the Seminoles off the field at the half when they took a knee on the final play before the break. Leon Washington scored on a 3-yard run on Florida State's first offensive series and Willie Reid added a 61-yard punt return TD to give the Seminoles a 14-0 lead in the opening minute of the second quarter. But Maryland countered with three touchdowns in a span of nine minutes to take a 21-14 halftime lead. Statham ran for a score and added touchdown passes covering 29 yards to Derrick Fenner and 20 yards to Jo Jo Walker. Statham, who sparked Maryland's 20-17 victory over Florida State a year ago, completed 15 of 29 passes for 177 yards. Weatherford, a redshirt freshman leading the ACC in passing, completed 27 of 37 passes for 264 yards, but was intercepted twice. Reid had seven catches for 90 yards and finished with 227 all purpose yards . Maryland defensive back Milton Harris was taken to the hospital after suffering a possible neck or head injury late in the third quarter of the Terrapins' game at Florida State. However, officials did not immediately have an update on Harris' condition when the game ended. © 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

http://accesswdun.com/article/2005/10/122731