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CHESTNUT HILL, Massachusetts (Ticker) -- Defensive back Pedro Cirino celebrated his final game at Alumni Field with his first career touchdown and two sacks as No. 25 Boston College buried Big East Conference rival West Virginia, 34-17. Cirino, a senior, scored on the first of consecutive third-quarter touchdowns for Boston College (7-2, 4-2 Big East), returning a fumble 63 yards to build a 31-10 cushion 4:10 into the second half. "It means a great deal to contribute on a play like that," Cirino said. "It seems like my whole career I left my hands in Jersey. I hadn't gotten a ball all season and it was driving me crazy." The game was the last at Alumni Stadium for Cirino and several other seniors, including Carlton Rowe, who scored from 12 yards in the first quarter. "I've been waiting three years to see a play like the one Pedro made as a senior on Senior's Day," Boston College coach Tom O'Brien said. Junior Cedric Washington rushed 34 times for 181 yards for Boston College, which qualified for a bowl game with its sixth win over a Division I-A opponent. "I won't count on that until they mail it in," coach Tom O'Brien said. "I don't trust bowl people. I've said for a long time the best thing we can do now that we've won seven is win eight. That's where our focus is." Representatives of the Music City Bowl were in attendance for today's game. The Eagles played for the first time since defeating league foe Syracuse two weeks ago, but Matt Hasselbeck showed little rust, going 11-of-15 for 229 yards and a TD with two interceptions. He threw a 66-yard TD strike to Dedrick Dewalt and scored on a one-yard run. Sophomore Brad Lewis threw a pair of TD passes in place of injured starter Marc Bulger, but West Virginia (3-7, 2-4) still suffered its third straight loss and clinched its worst season since going 4-7 in 1990. The Eagles led 17-10 before Cirino scooped up Khori Ivy's fumble off a reverse and reached the end zone. Ivy misplayed the feed from freshman running back Avon Coubourne. "That damn play," West Virginia coach Don Nehlen said. "The first time all game I call that reverse and I knew when we broke the huddle and they brought Cirino up to the line of scrimmage we were in trouble. There was nothing I could do accept watch it fall apart. That damn play." Washington fell two yards short of a career high, set in a 31-28 loss to Miami on October 23. He has five 100-yard games this season. "The numbers are great, but winning seven is what's important," he said. "Now, we can go out and look for eight or nine. The holes are there for me. I've just been running through them." Lewis went 21-of-33 for 229 yards before being knocked out in the fourth quarter. Bulger sat out with a bruised thumb, suffered in last week's last-second loss to Virginia Tech. A sophomore, Lewis pointed to Cirino's fumble return as the turning point. "We came out in that second half with some momentum and that play kind of took the wind out of our sails," he said. "I didn't really see the exchange but I guess that's where the problem occurred." Coubourne rushed 21 times for 98 yards and Ivy and Anthony Becht combined for 14 catches and 171 yards for the Mountaineers, who totaled 348 yards of total offense to 443 for Boston College.
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