Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, September 3, 1995 TAG: 9509060057
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DOUG DOUGHTY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHARLOTTESVILLE LENGTH: Long
Virginia took advantage of numerous William and Mary miscues and eased some of the pain from a season-opening loss by beating the Tribe 40-16 before a crowd of 38,300.
The Cavaliers quickly found the new grass field to their liking, recovering two fumbles and blocking a punt in taking a 23-0 lead by the end of the first quarter.
Did UVa stop playing at that point? Not if the Cavaliers were smart, coach George Welsh said.
``If that's true, if that was a letdown after the first quarter, then that's ridiculous,'' he said. ``I was happy the way the game started. Then, we got sloppy.''
Virginia had let a 17-0 advantage slip away in falling to Michigan in the Pigskin Classic on Aug.26, but the opposition this time was not quite was imposing as the Wolverines, although William and Mary had its moments.
The Tribe got as close as 26-10 on a 2-yard run by Troy Keen with 7:10 remaining in the third quarter. A six-play touchdown drive was set up by a 32-yard interception return by Darren Sharper.
It was Sharper's brother, UVa linebacker Jamie, who had the first big play of the game when he smacked Keen on a screen pass and caused a fumble on William and Mary's third offensive play.
Jon Harris recovered at the Tribe 18-yard line and the Cavaliers needed only four plays to score on a 7-yard touchdown run by tailback Kevin Brooks, replacing a bruised Tiki Barber in the starting lineup.
A 35-yard field goal by Rafael Garcia had put UVa on top 10-0 before William and Mary's Steve Fill dropped back into his end zone to punt and could not avoid Cavaliers linebacker James Farrior.
Terrence Wilkins, a redshirt freshman running back, was the closest of several UVa players eager to pounce on the ball. It gave Wilkins the first touchdown of his career before his first rushing attempt.
Garcia missed a 35-yard field-goal attempt with 4:34 remaining and the Cavaliers still had time for one more first-quarter touchdown, a 62-yard strike from Mike Groh to Derick Byrd on the final play of the period.
The Cavaliers, so precise to that point, seemed to lose some of their edge during the final three quarters. Meanwhile, William and Mary began to look more like a team that went 8-3 last season and has been a Division I-AA power for more than a decade.
The Tribe has 19 starters back from last year, but clearly was experiencing some opening-game jitters. Quarterback Matt Byrne started slowly and threw two interceptions, but became more comfortable as the evening progressed.
Byrne's 32-yard touchdown pass to Terry Hammons with 7:42 remaining pulled William and Mary to 33-16 before Keen was stuffed on a two-point play. The Tribe needed to go only 31 yards after recovering a Barber fumble.
UVa had three turnovers - compared with five for the Tribe - but two led to touchdowns. Moreover, UVa was penalized 10 times for 107 yards, including three holding calls on running plays.
``There will be some coaching to be done this week,'' Welsh said. ``Maybe we need to have officials at practice. I'm going to take a close look at the tape. To have that many penalties, something must be wrong.''
The Cavaliers' final score came with eight seconds remaining, when Wilkins bolted 2 yards for a touchdown on his third consecutive carry and third of the game. Welsh was offended by the suggestion he could have had his quarterback drop to one knee at that point.
``I'm not going to tell 'em to sit on the ball,'' Welsh said. ``That's even more humiliating in some ways. They could have stopped us. We kept running the same off-tackle play.''
It was the last time the Cavaliers and Indians are scheduled to meet in a 32-game series that dates to 1908. UVa asked out of its season-opening game with William and Mary in 1996 in order to schedule a Division I-A opponent.
Certainly, there are less competitive teams than the Tribe, although Virginia has had little trouble with William and Mary since 1986, when the Cavaliers were upset 41-37. UVa has won the past four games between the teams by 28, 26, 34 and 24 points, respectively.
The Cavaliers rushed for 254 yards and outgained the Tribe 442-288 for the game. Brooks ran for 110 yards on 24 carries and Barber added 99 yards on 17 attempts.
``I'm going to kill myself when I see the game film because I missed a huge hole on my last carry,'' said Barber, who had an 18-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter. ``I think I'm going to find that I ran up the back of [fullback] Darryl Medley.''
Barber will be kicking himself also for the fumble. Welsh and his assistants feel Barber unfairly has been labeled a fumbler, but that didn't make Saturday night's bobble any more acceptable.
``I think I got too lax,'' Barber said. ``Darryl make a good block and I saw myself getting to the corner. The next thing I know, the ball was on the ground.
``I think we lost a lot of intensity and that's something we can't let happen. Coach Welsh was extremely hot at halftime and he had reason to be. If we'd have played like this in a conference game, we would have gotten beat.''
NOTE: Please see microfilm for scores.
by CNB