THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, November 6, 1994 TAG: 9411060336
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY FRANK VEHORN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: DURHAM, N.C. LENGTH: Long : 103 lines
Virginia center Bryan Heath could hardly wait to complete the long bus trip back to Charlottesville after Saturday's 28-25 loss to Duke.
Heath wanted to hurry home and watch a videotape replay of the defeat that ended the Cavaliers' six-game winning streak.
Replay the game? Why not burn the tape?
``This loss makes me sick,'' Heath explained. ``I want to see what the hell happened.''
What Heath will see on the tape is a well-prepared Duke team doing what it had to do to end its five-game losing streak to the 13th-ranked Cavaliers and grab the inside track for a second-place finish in the ACC.
Forced to the air by Virginia's stingy rushing defense, Duke quarterback Spence Fischer threw for 234 yards by smartly finding open receivers most of the warm afternoon.
Meanwhile, Virginia had first downs inside Duke's 5 twice and came away with only 3 points.
Picked in preseason to finish near the bottom of the ACC pile, the Blue Devils are now 8-1, 5-1 in the league, and looking to crash a New Year's bowl party.
Virginia, which has slumped in November the last two years, dropped to 6-2, 4-2, and braced for a stretch run against Maryland, Virginia Tech and North Carolina State.
``This is not the end of the season,'' coach George Welsh reminded. ``We still have lost only two games.''
But no one on the Cavalier side expected to lose No. 2 on Saturday, especially after jumping to a 17-7 start.
``This Duke team wasn't like the other Duke teams I've seen,'' Virginia backup quarterback Symmion Willis said.
``In the last three years, you could see them quit when we got a few points up on them. There was no quit out there today.''
Indeed, after scoring late in the second period to narrow Virginia's lead to 17-14, the Blue Devils dominated the second half.
They drove 90 yards on their first possession for a 21-17 lead, and two series later moved 56 yards for a 28-17 advantage with 2:03 left in the third period.
Desperately seeking to turn the momentum, Virginia seemed to get a break when defensive end Mike Frederick tipped and recovered a lateral pass at the Duke 5.
The Cavaliers, though, came away with no points.
Quarterback Mike Groh was sacked on second down, threw a couple of incompletions, and Rafael Garcia missed a 29-yard field goal attempt.
Earlier, in the second period, Virginia had a first down on the Duke 4 before settling for a field goal.
Willis, who had lost his starting job to Groh while recovering from a hamstring injury, accounted for Virginia's final touchdown.
On his second play from scrimmage, Willis lofted a high pass to wide receiver Pete Allen for a 69-yard scoring play.
Willis ran for the 2-point conversion to pull Virginia to within 28-25 with 7:07 remaining.
On Virginia's next possession, though, Willis on first down at the Duke 31 had a pass intercepted by LaVance McQueen.
Duke ran the clock down to the final 32 seconds before turning the ball back to Virginia, leaving Willis only enough time for three incompletions and a final interception.
Groh completed 14 of 26 passes for 217 yards and a pair of touchdowns to Tyrone Davis before being replaced.
Most of his misses seemed rushed, but he offered no excuses.
``I asked Mike if he was getting enough time, and he said yes,'' Heath said. ``So I don't know what was going wrong.''
The only explanation Groh offered was the team did not execute well enough when it had scoring opportunities.
``I thought the offensive line did a helluva job,'' Groh said.
``It is the quarterback's job to put points on the board, and I wasn't able to do that enough today.''
Welsh said Groh would retain his starting job against Maryland next Saturday.
``I don't think we executed well,'' Welsh said.
``But give Duke credit. That is an 8-1 football team. We didn't get beat by some 3-4 team.''
Virginia, which leads the ACC in rushing defense, limited Duke's Robert Baldwin, the league's top rusher, to only 67 yards on 28 carries.
``We had to stop him (Baldwin) to have a chance,'' Welsh said. ``We did that, but we gave up too many third-down-and-long plays.''
Contemplating the weak offensive showing in the shadows of the goal, Welsh shook his head.
``You can't score every time,'' he said. ``But we screwed it up. Now it's back to the drawing board.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
PAUL AIKEN/Staff
Duke quarterback Spence Fischer leaps over Virginia players to score
Duke's first touchdown. Fischer ran for two scores in Duke's 28-25
win in Durham, N.C.
Photo
PAUL AIKEN/Staff
Virginia's Patrick Jeffers can't hold onto a pass in Duke's 28-25
win Saturday. Duke moved to 8-1, while U.Va. fell to 6-2.
by CNB