Phil Jurkovec and Zay Flowers were the staple of Boston College’s offensive revolution last year. The duo hooked up for four touchdowns of 20 or more yards.

They flashed two more during Saturday’s Jay McGillis Memorial Spring Game at Alumni Stadium.

Following a slow start, Jurkovec and Flowers teamed up for back-to-back scores in the final minute of the opening half. The first came on a play-fake. The second was off a five-step drop. But both resulted in perfectly-placed deep balls for the speedy Flowers, who hauled in each reception at the edge of the paint.

“That just gave us a little bit more confidence in what we can do in a late-game stretch,” Flowers said. “Those two touchdowns, it felt good. But everybody did it as a team: O-Line blocked, Phil threw a nice ball. Perfect. Right in the back of the end zone.”

The scoring plays gave Team Boston a 14-10 lead heading into the break, and Jurkovec’s guys ended up taking the exhibition victory by a score of 20-16 after a 30-minute period of situational football.

It wrapped a two-hour event in Alumni Stadium, which welcomed fans—limited to just players’ families—for the first time in over a year on a 70-degree day in Chestnut Hill.

Some key players sat out such as former FSU safety Jaiden Lars-Woodbey and wide receiver CJ Lewis, and the roster was divided in half. Team Eagles was headed by backup quarterback Dennis Grosel, while Jurkovec, who was 14-of-20 for 196 yards on the day, carried the torch for Team Boston.

Grosel hit on his first seven passes and staked his unit to a 10-0 lead. He marched his team downfield and capped the drive with a 17-yard touchdown scamper on the read-option. It was nothing new for the redshirt senior, who ripped off a 44-yard run in his heroic performance against Louisville last season.

“I thought Dennis had really good command like he always does,” second-year head coach Jeff Hafley said. “He just looks so confident. I’m right behind him, just listening to him, hearing him. Just a great leader. Great presence. He led some really good drives today.”

After a second straight Jurkovec-led series fizzled out—thanks to redshirt freshman defensive back Denzel Blackwell’s second pass break-up of the day (both in coverage of Jaelen Gill)—Grosel orchestrated another scoring drive. He nearly tacked on six again, this time with his arm.

Rolling right, Grosel lasered a pass to true freshman Lewis Bond. The 5-foot-11, 192-pound Kenwood Academy product snagged the ball and appeared to get his left toe down before falling out of bounds, yet it was called an incomplete pass and, given the circumstances, not reviewed.

“I thought that catch was ridiculous,” Hafley said. “He just finds a way to get open, and he really has great hands and catches the ball. It seems like the quarterbacks really like throwing to him.”

Earlier that drive, Grosel connected with Taji Johnson for three straight completions, two of which came on out routes. Johnson finished with a game-high seven receptions for 63 yards. Ultimately, though, the drive concluded with a 25-yard field goal from true freshman Connor Lytton.

Lytton also converted the extra point on the first Flowers’ touchdown of the second quarter. He was the only BC kicker to make a field goal Saturday. Danny Longman pushed a 36-yarder right, and Aaron Boumerhi pulled an attempt on Team Boston’s next drive.

Boumerhi was trotted out to get Jurkovec’s squad on the board with under seven minutes to go in the second frame because the 6-foot-5 gunslinger was “sacked” by Team Eagles’ interior pairing of Cam Horsley and Chibueze Onwuka. Although there were no real quarterback takedowns—the defense was playing to thud—Hafley was impressed with his defensive line’s speed.

“I thought the pocket collapsed a lot of times,” Hafley said. “I think our D-Line might be one of the most improved units, and it has to be if we’re going to play good defense next year.”

Jurkovec’s unit was stitching together chunk plays but couldn’t finish. That was, until he and Flowers finally synced up. Flowers used an inside release to get by All-ACC cornerback Josh DeBerry and then created separation from Brandon Sebastian on the other side of the field to set up the other score.

In between, Grosel started to unravel. He was “sacked” by true freshman Donovan Ezeiruaku, who tallied four tackles in the game. Then he missed tight end Charlie Gordinier over the middle. After that, he was picked off by redshirt sophomore defensive back Jalen Williams.

Grosel was also intercepted on a Hail Mary before the end of the half. He threw off his back foot, and safety Jahmin Muse came down with the takeaway.

At halftime, graduate safety Deon Jones was named the Jay McGillis Memorial Scholarship recipient. The award is given annually to a BC defensive back that “best exemplifies the personal qualities of team dedication and leadership by example,” according to the team website. It commemorates former BC defensive back Jay McGillis, who died from Leukemia in 1992.

The final 30 minutes of play consisted of situational football with a running clock. Matthew Rueve, Emmett Morehead, and Daelen Menard all saw time at quarterback. Notably, Rueve hit wide receiver Jacob Kraft on a slant for a gain of 12 yards. Eventually, he threw the game-winning touchdown to quarterback-turned-tight end Andrew Landry—a former walk-on from Newton North.

Before that, however, Menard found redshirt freshman running back Jackson Treister in the flat for a touchdown. The scoring play was made possible by Menard previously linking up with Gordinier. The redshirt freshman tight end rounded out the afternoon with four catches for 56 yards.

A somewhat confusing score line, random player swapping, mid-game position changes, parents in the stands—Saturday’s spring game was normally weird, and it breathed a bit of life back into Alumni.

“Everybody got in, which was cool to see,” Hafley said. “And that was really my objective. Excited for these kids. To be around their families after a game. I think that’s really cool, and they deserve it.”