An emotional day at Scott Stadium for the Virginia football program began with touching tributes for Lavel Davis Jr., Devin Chandler, and D’Sean Perry, included a pair of inspirational touchdowns for Mike Hollins in the middle quarters, and ended with a frustrating finish.
Ultimately, James Madison scored in the final minute Saturday to grab a 36-35 win in the teams’ first meeting in 40 years.
The heart-breaking conclusion on a heart-wrenching day of remembrance took an obvious toll on the Wahoos. The day began with pregame ceremonies to honor Davis, Chandler, and Perry, who lost their lives in a tragic shooting last November. UVA unveiled numbers 1-15-41 in the closed end of the stadium and added plaques to the Legends Walk beneath the open end’s pergola. Parachuters swooped into the stadium with flags attached bearing the numbers and UVA Strong.
“This one hurts, and it’s going to hurt for a while,” Virginia coach Tony Elliott said. “Got a football team in there that battled really, really, really hard for the last 10 months to get to this point. Do they deserve to win? I believe so. Because of the people that they are, and what they’ve been through. But unfortunately, the game of football, it’s not a game of deserve. It’s about what you earn. Today, unfortunately, we didn’t make enough plays. We weren’t a disciplined enough football team to win. I still believe that the young men laid it on the line and celebrated the lives of Lavel, Devin and D’Sean the best way that a football player knows how, to just leave it on the field.”
After a rocky start led to 14-0 deficit less than 8 minutes into the game, a 63-yard Malik Washington touchdown catch kept the team afloat in the first quarter. Then the Cavaliers showed their competitive resilience during the second and third quarters. During that middle portion of the game, Virginia ripped off a 28-7 advantage on the scoreboard and set up a winning opportunity on its home field.
That surge started with a half-ending drive for a touchdown. UVA took possession with 3:12 to go before intermission and put together an 8-play, 66-yard scoring drive.
Freshman quarterback Anthony Colandrea, making his first career start with Tony Muskett out injured, delivered 5 straight completions to get the offense going. The first came to Malachi Fields on 3rd-and-15 to keep a scoring chance on the table and a deep 32-yard connection with JR Wilson gobbled up a chunk of yardage on the next play. After three shorter completions pushed the ball inside the 10, the Cavaliers handed the ball off to Mike Hollins and he scored the 4-yard touchdown to lift the team and the fans.
Trailing just 17-14 at that point, Virginia immediately capitalized after halftime to take its first lead of the game.
On the first play of the second half, Colandrea found running back Kobe Pace free in the middle of the field and he sprinted 75 yards for the score. Moments later, the defense came up with a fourth down stop when an opponent went for it in short yardage inside its own territory for the second straight game. Linebacker James Jackson helped get that key stop and he was one 7 players with at least 6 tackles for the Wahoos. Jackson, Coen King, Kam Butler, Stevie Bracey, and Dave Herard all had 6 tackles each, while Jonas Sanker and Tayvonn Kyle led the defense with 12 and 8, respectively.
Unlike the opener, the UVA offense took advantage of the fourth down stop this time with another touchdown drive. This one covered 23 yards thanks to great field position. All three running backs contributed carries before Pace got to the left pylon for a 3-yard TD.
JMU stopped the run of 21 unanswered points with a touchdown drive that trimmed the Hoos’ lead to 28-24, but the third quarter scoring wasn’t done. Taking possession with 2:07 on the clock, a short pass on 2nd-and-7 to Perris Jones on the perimeter turned into a 60-yard gain that moved the ball to the Madison 12. Colandrea completed 20 of 26 passes for 377 yards, 2 touchdowns, and 1 interception in his first start. Washington accounted for 119 yards of that on 5 catches, while Fields had 8 receptions for 74 yards.
Two plays later, Hollins flipped into the end zone for a 9-yard touchdown run and a 35-24 lead. Given that Hollins suffered a gunshot wound that required surgery and doctors initially weren’t sure he would be able to play again, scoring 2 touchdowns in the team’s first game back at Scott Stadium proved to be an incredible bright spot Saturday.
“He’s a walking miracle. And I’m gonna say that every time I get asked about him,” Elliott said. “For him to be able to play today, I don’t think people understand just the magnitude of him to be able to take the field. And I know it’s been 10 months, and I know we’ve had the memorial service, but there’s a lot of devastation that was caused on November 13 that will take years and years and years and years not to fix but to ease where people can get to the point to where they can move forward. For him to be able to play the way that I’ve seen him persevere and push through on the practice field day in and day out. And to play, not just play, but to play at a high level. That is a testament to his internal fortitude, who he is as a person, how much belief he has.”
Unfortunately for the Wahoos, that ended up being their final scoring play of the day.
Neither team gained a first down on the first drives of the fourth quarter and the weather jumped in on the ‘stop’ trend moments later. Lightning in the area halted play and sent fans from the stands, while the teams headed for the locker room. After waiting approximately 45 minutes for the storm and downpour to clear, the game resumed.
James Madison took full advantage of the moment.
With most of its traveling fans at full throat for most of the fourth quarter, the Dukes rallied to the victory. It started after the delay when Ty Son Lawton capped off an 80-yard touchdown drive with a 27-yard touchdown run. The visitors ran the ball on 6 of 8 plays drive and gained 7+ yards on 4 of the carries.
A Virginia drive that was hampered by 2 penalties for false starts but still reached JMU territory ended with a punt and Madison got the ball back with 3:27 to go. The visitors marched 80 yards again, this time to win. UVA committed a personal foul (illegal hands to the face) and a pass interference penalty as part of the closing moments, but the Dukes converted on third down from the 10-yard line to get the go-ahead score courtesy of a Kaelon Black catch out of the backfield. The Hoos’ last chance in the final minute featured a sack and 3 incompletions.
“This was a great win for JMU. I am really proud of our team and the way they bounced back after the break,” JMU coach Curt Cignetti said. “I thought the break had the potential to help us being down, we could make a few adjustments, but also kind of fix what was going on between their ears. Whereas maybe Virginia with that two-score lead, maybe felt a little bit of relief. But regardless, our guys made the plays. I am proud of them. It was a game of momentum swings and it’s a great win.”
While the Dukes were elated with the win, the Hoos were dejected. They battled back from the early deficit to take the lead and appeared to have control of the game, but were undone by the weather delay and a hungry finish by James Madison.
As a result, UVA left with more questions about where things go from here. Any answers there won’t come quickly, but the Hoos have to figure out how to navigate the waters ahead and try to get any wins they can find after an 0-2 start to the season. Virginia now has a short week before it travels to Maryland for a 7 p.m. Friday night kickoff.
“That’s my job to make sure that it doesn’t,” Elliott said when asked whether the impact of the loss could linger. “Immediately, in that locker room, I called everybody out. We’re not gonna start getting in our own heads and listening to outside voices. Because what’s the reality? The reality is we win the football game. Then what? Tomorrow morning, we wake up and we gotta go get ready for Maryland. And so your responsibility as a player is to pour everything you have in every game. … But it’s my job to make sure that the staff and the players don’t stop believing. I’m not gonna stop believing. I don’t want people around me who don’t want to believe.”
George Welsh lost to JMU during his first year at UVA. Thought I would throw that out there. But eventually he turned the program around by getting a good share of the in state top recruits.
Yes, recruiting is the key = how many four stars did we get this year?
How many 4 stars did Welsh get in contrast?
Time will tell!