Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, November 20, 1994 TAG: 9411210077
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: SCOTT BLANCHARD STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Medium
Virginia spent Saturday afternoon peeling an orange.
Or, in some cases, watching the orange peel itself.
Fourteenth-ranked Virginia Tech dressed in all-orange uniforms for the first time ever but came apart in sections when a victory would have guaranteed it a spot in the bowl coalition.
Against No.16 UVa, the Hokies had eight turnovers - not counting an interception on a point-after attempt - that led to 29 Cavalier points. Tech hadn't had eight turnovers in a game since 1958 against Richmond.
Tech won that game, but on Saturday with people packed in all corners of Lane Stadium, and with Boston College's loss beckoning a victorious Tech likely to the Gator Bowl, UVa drilled the Hokies 42-23 - the Cavs' largest margin of victory in eight wins at Lane Stadium.
And the way it happened ...
``I saw us do things today I haven't even seen in practice,'' Tech coach Frank Beamer said.
With 14 minutes left in the first half, Tech had run 10 offensive plays in 2 minutes, 24 seconds of game time and led 13-12. In another 130 seconds, UVa had driven 80 yards and led 19-13.
There's more. Virginia's Joe Crocker got an interception lying on his back. Teammate Percy Ellsworth got one kneeling.
Later, Virginia kicked off after taking a 35-16 lead with 10:08 to go. Rafael Garcia's kick floated to the Hokies' outfield, which let it drop for another turnover. From the Tech 21, UVa drove and scored for a 42-16 count.
Tech tight end Kevin Martin scorched fullback Tommy Edwards, who pulled up instead of running underneath the floating kickoff - nearly a replay of a UVa first-quarter kickoff that Edwards and Bryan Still bobbled together before Edwards got it and returned it 24 yards.
And then fumbled it to Virginia.
Martin wouldn't comment on his tirade directed at Edwards. He did say it was fullback Brian Edmonds' responsibility to call out who should field the kick. Maybe that's the problem. Edwards said it was Still's call.
``He was yelling, "You! You!'' Edwards said. ``I was coming up to get it.
``I saw the tight end in front of me [Martin] wave fair catch. I slowed up.''
Edwards' first adventure almost resulted in a Tech touchdown. Instead, it set up UVa's second field goal for a 6-0 Cav lead.
``I never really had it in either arm really good,'' Edwards said. ``I never had either end of the ball. I was trying to find the end of it and a guy slapped and knocked it out.''
Pretty much the story for Tech on Saturday: The well-intentioned Hokies seemed out of it from the beginning. Tech, penalized 51 times in its first five games, had only 28 in its past five. But the Hokies earned five offsides flags in UVa's first 19 plays.
Tech's first possession ended on the second play, a Maurice DeShazo pitch fumble. DeShazo also tied the school record with five interceptions; two of them made brief stops with Antonio Freeman before landing with UVa.
The first bounced off Freeman's shoulder pads into the arms of Crocker, who had slipped and was on his back. The other, a high ball, went through Freeman's hands to Ellsworth, who was kneeling as he caught the ball.
``You get puzzled,'' DeShazo said. ``You're like, "How in the hell do you catch a ball on your back? How in the hell do you catch a ball on your knees?' But I get mad at myself.''
Freeman did, too. Get mad at himself.
``They pumped me up for All-American, so I feel like anything that touches my hands, I should catch,'' said Tech's all-time leading receiver. ``It's solely my fault.''
Ellsworth's genuflecting interception, at the Tech 46, prefaced a 37-yard field goal by Garcia that made it 22-13 UVa. On Tech's next series, Crocker made a running, over-the-shoulder grab near midfield and returned it 16 yards to the Tech 37. Three plays later, Garcia made a 50-yarder for a 25-13 lead.
The Hokies, meanwhile, couldn't master anything. Trailing 25-13, Tech converted a third-and-2 from the UVa 9, but a holding penalty shoved the ball back to the 20. Tech got a 28-yard Ryan Williams field goal to make it 25-16.
Tech then tried a surprise onside kick that kicker Atle Larsen appeared to nudge with his thigh before it had traveled the necessary 10 yards. The officials, however, appeared ready to allow a Tech recovery - except that Virginia recovered.
``I wanted to use it the second time [we kicked off], and I could kick myself because I didn't use it the third time,'' Beamer said. ``They line up a little deeper than most people. They do a lot of cross-blocking, which means they have to leave early. I thought we had it. The ball was bouncing there ... All we had to do was execute.''
Saturday, that was Tech's epitaph.
Keywords:
FOOTBALL
by CNB