A simple plea last May motivated Syracuse running back Walter Reyes to work harder than he ever had.

Before he graduated, James Mungro — a 1,000-yard rusher for the Orangemen last year — took Reyes aside and told him, ‘You’ve got to fill in for me.’

‘That made me realize,’ Reyes said, ‘that I had to live up to his accomplishments.’

Saturday, at least in one respect, Reyes outdid his mentor. In fact, he one-upped every running back in Syracuse history, scoring his 15th touchdown of the season to break the SU single-season rushing touchdown record.

Reyes scored three times in Syracuse’s 50-42 win over Virginia Tech, rushing in from 1, 9 and 6 yards. His last scamper, a 6-yard run that put Syracuse ahead, 28-21, early in the fourth quarter, broke the 37-year-old record originally set by Floyd Little and tied last year by Mungro.

‘Wow, to have my name up there with Floyd Little and those old guys and James Mungro, my mentor, it’s amazing,’ Reyes said. ‘It’s an accomplishment I’ll be proud of forever.’

Reyes, who gained 118 yards on 21 carries for his third straight 100-yard game, may have scored again had a right knee injury not forced him to leave for good midway through the fourth quarter. After an awkward tackle ended Reyes’ 30-yard run up the right sideline, the sophomore held his knee and stayed on the ground for five minutes before two trainers carried him off the field.

After the game, Reyes said his knee is badly bruised or sprained.

‘At first on the sidelines, I couldn’t move, and I was like, ‘Oh no, this is bad,’ ‘ Reyes said. ‘It hurts, but no doubt I’ll play again next week. We’ve got to keep this thing going.’

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Kicked around

Collin Barber went from pumping his fist to sulking to jumping into the arms of teammates. The only thing consistent in any of his six kicks Saturday or the reactions that followed was the inconsistency he’s shown much of the season.

Barber made three field goals that kept Syracuse in the game but missed two kicks that could have haunted the Orangemen. He pulled a 33-yarder that would have given SU a one-point lead just before halftime and clanked an extra point off the left goalpost that would have put Syracuse up eight early in the fourth quarter.

After Barber’s missed extra point, his third of the season, punter Mike Shafer made the final two PATs. Shafer made two PATs a week earlier at Central Florida.

Head coach Paul Pasqualoni said he held an open kicking competition last week and decided on Barber hours before gametime.

‘Collin did a nice job kicking field goals, 3 for 4 is pretty good,’ Pasqualoni said. ‘But we’ll compete again this week starting over again. We could have one kicking field goals and one kicking extra points. Anything’s possible. We won’t decide until the end of the week.’

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This and that

Receiver Jared Jones partially tore the medial collateral ligament in his left knee during practice last week and did not dress. Starting quarterback Troy Nunes took over Jones’ duties as the holder. Defensive back Jeremiah Mason, who’s out with multiple stress fractures in his foot, also watched from the sidelines. … Hokie running back Lee Suggs scored a touchdown for the 23rd straight game in which he’s played. Suggs now has 48 career touchdowns, a Big East record. … Defensive back Garnell Wilds had three interceptions, tying Virginia Tech’s single-game record. … Ernest Wilford’s 279 receiving yards set a new Tech single-game record. Wilford, who also scored four touchdowns, had never before had 100 yards receiving in a game. … Bryan Randall’s 87-yard touchdown pass to Wilford was the longest passing play for Tech since 1986. … SU linebacker Rich Scanlon recorded his first career interception. … Joe Donnelly’s touchdown in the second overtime was the first TD catch of his career.

Published on November 10, 2002 at 12:00 pm