Sunday, November 04, 2007
Cardiac Cavaliers continue to enjoy season's good karma
Aaron McFarling
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CHARLOTTESVILLE -- The clock was frozen at :02.
The ACC's best kicker took his paces behind the spot on the 37-yard line. That would make this a 47-yard field-goal attempt, well within Sam Swank's range.
Chris Long dropped into his stance along Virginia's defensive line. He and teammate Allen Billyk had thought about trying to get cute, maybe crossing up the blockers with some crazy stunting, but then they decided against it. Let's just go right through them, they figured. Let's will our way to the ball.
Tight end Tom Santi had no such control. So he squatted on the Virginia sidelines, closed his eyes, bowed his head and prayed.
That's when the unexpected happened.
"AGAIN, TOM?!!" boomed the response from the heavens, shaking Scott Stadium with its force. "SERIOUSLY! HAVE I NOT DONE ENOUGH FOR YOU GUYS?!!"
OK, I made that last part up, but the rest of it is true. Santi couldn't even watch. He was in the middle of a prayer when the ball left Swank's foot and sailed high in the air. He didn't open his eyes until the fans told him to. They delivered the wide-right message with a collective roar, sending Santi leaping into the arms of teammates, completely forgetting that he'd just returned from a high ankle sprain.
"Probably re-injured myself," he said.
He laughed.
"Nah, nah," he said. "I'm fine."
Of course he's fine. You don't honestly think something bad would happen to Virginia in the final seconds of a game, do you?
Not this season.
This season, the Cavaliers are living right.
With Swank's miss, they defeated Wake Forest 17-16. They regained sole possession of first place in the Coastal Division. They notched their fifth win of the season by two points or fewer -- a Division I-A record.
"Really? An NCAA record?" Long said. "We made history! Woo-hoo!"
Yes. Woo-hoo.
Pass the Maalox.
"I'm a healthy 22-year-old guy," Long said, "and I might go down with a heart attack."
Surely there are some UVa fans who feel the same way. How long can this team keep winning like this? There was the two-point survival at North Carolina, the last-minute field goal against Middle Tennessee, the fourth-quarter rally against Connecticut, the 90-yard drive against Maryland.
And now there was this: A 56-yard touchdown drive in the final 6 minutes against the defending ACC champions, another improbable comeback that held up only when one of the nation's best kickers misfired as time expired.
"Somebody's looking out for us upstairs, I don't know," Long said. "But I think a lot of it has to do with us just making plays, too. I've said all along: It's a skill to be able to win a football game. You can't measure it. You can't put it on paper. You've just got to feel it in the locker room. I think this is a special group of guys."
Clearly it is, and it's a group that took another huge step toward making that season finale against Virginia Tech a winner-take-all affair for the Coastal Division crown. With Miami's loss against N.C. State on Saturday, the Hurricanes would have to win out against UVa, Tech and Boston College to have a chance in the division. Under any other scenario, this is a two-team race between the Commonwealth rivals.
If it does come down to that Nov. 24 game in Charlottesville, the Hokies had better come prepared to blow UVa out. Otherwise, advantage Cavaliers -- at least this year.
"I think we've got guys that help old ladies across the street," Long said, smiling. "Karma adds up and we get some good bounces."
There's plenty more to it than that, of course. Their defense tackles well, turning touchdown drives into field goals. Their quarterback plays his best when the pressure is at its peak, no matter how spotty he's looked earlier in the game.
And Jameel Sewell did look spotty for much of this one, often throwing the ball high and not getting much help from the running game.
Yet when the Cavaliers took over possession with 6:15 remaining trailing 16-10, they were confident they'd find a way.
"Nobody's going to panic in that situation, because we've all been in it before numerous times," Santi said. "If I knew the secret to it, I'd tell everybody so we could do it on every drive. I don't know. This team's just got a feel for playing for 60 minutes."
Or at least for 59 minutes and 58 seconds.
The rest is up to the heavens.
