Wahoo Wire

Photo Courtesy Jardy Waegerle, Wahoo Wire

The Commonwealth Cup was a lopsided battle with the Cavaliers falling 37-7 to the Virginia Tech Hokies.  The Cavaliers will now look to the future while learning from this past season, particularly their last game.

Last Saturday’s game continued common themes from the Cavalier’s season: miss opportunities, penalties and turnovers.

The Wahoo defense had a promising start, stopping Virginia Tech from gaining a first down, after a penalty on the kickoff put the Hokies deep in Cavalier territory.  The Cavaliers held the Virginia Tech offense to three and out throughout the first quarter and the early second quarter.  However, Virginia Tech’s offense was able to break out in the second half by using power players Ryan Williams and Darren Evans.

The Cavaliers struggled in the game with missed and/or poor tackling.  On all five Virginia Tech touchdowns, at least one defender missed a tackle or was run-over by the Hokie offense.

The Virginia Tech backfield ran for 201 yards and four touchdowns over 40 carries.  Senior Quarterback Tyrod Taylor could not be contained by the Cavalier defense.

The Cavalier offense started the game strong, moving the ball effectively but remained scoreless. Chris Hinkebein missed a 46-yard field goal, which would have put the Cavaliers on the board first.

The next two Cavalier offensive drives ended with a punt, followed by an interception by Virginia Tech’s Ed Whitley at the Virginia 5. The interception resulted in a Virginia Tech touchdown from Ryan Williams.

Offensively, the Cavaliers only converted 1 of 12 third downs.  The performance continues the trend of the season.  They are ranked in the bottom fourth of the nation’s Division 1-A football programs for third down conversions.

Quarterback Verica shared playing time with Michael Rocco and Ross Metheny, who are candidates for the starting  job in 2011.  Metheny was the more productive of the two, leading a four play charge downfield for 76 yards, resulting in an 11-yard pass to Keith Payne for the only touchdown of the day.

Payne,  Jones, Burd, and Inman only had three receptions on the day, which prevented the offense from gaining momentum.

Kris Burd ended the season with 58 catches for 799 yards and five touchdowns. Billy McMullen is the only Cavalier in UVA Football history with more recorded receptions than Burd.

Quarterback Marc Verica, despite his many interceptions, ended the season as Virgina’s sixth-most prolific passer with 4,992 yards of offense, as well as the programs third-most accurate passer.

Comparatively, the Cavaliers were disciplined on Saturday. They were only charged with five penalties for 45 yards.

“They’re the measuring stick right now,” London said of the Hokies. “That’s what I aspire to be… This is very humbling. With humility I see how far we have to go.”

In the post game conference Coach London looked to the future of the Cavalier Football Program, particularly in recruiting.

“You try to entice young men and say, ‘Listen, you can come in and make a difference here,’” London said. “That’s the whole goal right now, to close the gap in recruiting, to close the gap on the field, because [Virginia Tech has] been very good for a long, long time.