Don't worry, Chicken Little, the sky isn't falling quite yet. With the Virginia football team escaping what would have been an embarrassing loss to I-AA Richmond, coach Al Groh knows how fortunate the Cavaliers are to have defeated the Spiders.
"I thought that [Richmond] team did an outstanding job," Groh said. "They've got a courageous team that can do a lot of things. They played a courageous game and an effective game -- a game we were lucky to win."
The difference in the game was not luck, though. The Spiders should have won the game, but they did not capitalize on the opportunities the Cavaliers gave them. One more bounce or one more call in favor of the Spiders, and Virginia would have lost its first game to an I-AA team in 16 years.
Groh "shouldn't feel lucky to win the game," Richmond coach Jim Reid said. "His guys made plays. We just made too many mistakes to win the game."
When the Spiders look back at the film of the game this week at practice, they will realize how many chances they had to slay Goliath.
Midway through the second quarter in a scoreless game, Richmond quarterback D'Arcy Wills found wide receiver Ryan Tolhurst completely alone in the Virginia backfield and connected for a 61-yard touchdown. Unfortunately for the Spiders, the play was nullified by a holding penalty.
"We had that touchdown called back and lost 10 yards on the penalty," Reid said. "It's tough to crawl out of a hole like that."
The grievous error did more than just cost the Spiders six points; it woke the sleeping giant that had stumbled early and often to begin the game.
"I think it was a big wake-up call," Virginia quarterback Bryson Spinner said. "They could have gone up on us and that [play] helped everyone get their mind right."
With this newfound sense of urgency, Matt Schaub led the Cavaliers on a nine-play, 73-yard touchdown drive to end the first half; however, the Spiders had two opportunities to intercept or knock down balls during Virginia's march to the end zone.
"We had a ball in the linebacker's stomach on the last drive of the [first] half," Reid said. "He had both hands on it, in his stomach, and dropped it. We also had a tipped ball by a linebacker who couldn't get quite enough nail on it, and the Virginia guy catches the ball."
After falling behind, 17-0, Richmond scored its third touchdown in 55 years against the Cavaliers to shorten its deficit to ten. On the ensuing kickoff, the Spiders attempted an on-side kick and had the ball bounce off a Richmond player's hands before going out of bounds.
The most haunting blunder came after a Richmond touchdown that would have tied the score with a little under nine minutes left in the game.
Spider kicker Doug Kirchner lined up for an extra point attempt that he must have practiced thousands of times. All he needed to do was send the 20-yard chip shot through the uprights to tie the game.
"It's a mental game," Virginia cornerback Rashad Roberson said. "When people have pressure on their heads and feel like they can tie the game up, that's a lot of pressure."
The pressure proved too much for Kirchner, and his kick sailed wide of the goal post.
Even after all the Spiders' botched chances, they still had one more opportunity to grab a win from the Cavaliers late in the game.
With a little more than four minutes left in the contest, Tolhurst caught a 37-yard pass on a deep post-pattern to beat Roberson. With Tolhurst streaking toward the end zone, Roberson brought his arm down like a hammer and knocked the ball loose from behind.
"My instinct was to go for the ball, not to tackle him and prevent him from scoring," Roberson said. "I was focused on getting that ball."
Epitomizing the game for the Spiders, Tolhurst lost his grip on the ball and fumbled away any last hope of a Richmond victory.
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