Josh Ahern didn’t enter the season opener until the second half, but he made his presence felt once he hit the field. It took just two plays to make a tackle and his energy carried throughout the final two quarters as Virginia dropped Richmond, 34-17.
By the end of the game, Ahern posted 5 tackles despite limited action. That included 1 sack. Saturday’s outing matched his career high for stops, which he set last season against both Georgia Tech and Notre Dame.
Message board posters selected him as TheSabre.com Defensive Player of the Game.
“Ahern, man he’s a football player,” Elliott said. “He is a football player. I knew he was going stay engaged in the game. He was on the sideline the entire time, just chomping at the bit.”
Ahern’s biggest moments came on a drive late in the third quarter. On second down Richmond flipped a quick pass to the perimeter, which had success at times throughout the day, but Ahern swallowed it up quickly for a short 1-yard gain. That forced a 3rd-and-5 call and Spider quarterback Reece Udinski tried to throw over the middle under pressure. Ahern made an interception and UVA appeared to have great field position inside the UR 25. Unfortunately, a substitution penalty erased the turnover.
Ahern was obviously undeterred because he came up huge later in the drive. On 3rd-and-1 at the Virginia 36-yard line, he stuffed the run to force fourth down. Then on 4th-and-1 at the same spot, Ahern smothered Richmond running back Aaron Dykes again.
“We needed those stops, just from a confidence standpoint for the defense,” Elliott said. “They’d been giving up a lot in the run game, just too much on first down. Not playing in their backfield. Then to have 4th-and-1 and make the stop, it’s an opportunity to for us to show them what they’re capable of and what they can be if they play every down like it’s their last down.”
