Freshman Mason Heintschel tossed four touchdown passes in his first collegiate start to lead Pitt to a 48-7 victory over visiting Boston College in an Atlantic Coast Conference matchup Saturday.

Heintschel completed 30 of 41 passes for 323 yards. His TD passes went to Justin Holmes, Kenny Johnson, Deuce Spann and Zion Fowler-El. Johnson had nine receptions for 115 yards.

Eli Holstein started in each of Pitt’s first four games, but was benched after he was intercepted twice in the second half of last week’s loss to Louisville. Holstein replaced Heintschel midway through the fourth quarter Saturday when Pitt had a 48-0 lead.

The Panthers (3-2 1-1 ACC) also received a 3-yard touchdown run from Juelz Goff, a 6-yard TD run from Ja’Kyrian Turner and two field goals from Trey Butkowski.

Pitt led 10-0 after one quarter, 31-0 at halftime and 45-0 after three quarters. Boston College (1-4, 0-3) had minus-10 yards rushing in the first half and finished the game with 27 yards rushing on 24 attempts.

Pitt scored on its first drive when Heintschel tossed a 14-yard touchdown pass to Holmes. The Panthers extended their lead to 10-0 on Butkowski’s 31-yard field goal with 39 seconds remaining in the first quarter.

A 12-yard touchdown pass from Heintschel to Johnson put the Panthers up 17-0 with 6:25 left in the first half. Pitt added TD runs by Goff and Turner later in the second quarter to build a 31-point halftime lead.

Spann’s 10-yard TD catch made it 38-0, and Fowler-El hauled in an 18-yard TD pass with 1:39 remaining in the third quarter.

Butkowski’s 47-yard field goal stretched Pitt’s advantage to 48-0 with 8:28 left in the fourth quarter.

BC avoided the shutout when Kaelen Chudzinski caught a 3-yard TD pass from Shaker Reiseg with 1:57 to play.

–Field Level Media