SAM DEAN The Roanoke Times

Virginia tight end Colter Phillips celebrates the Cavaliers' first touchdown in a 34-13 win over Richmond on Saturday.

At a point when the outcome had been decided and fans had to be contemplating an early exit, a hush fell over Scott Stadium with just under seven minutes remaining Saturday night.

Timeout was called as officials reviewed a call on which a Virginia receiver had been ruled down at the Richmond 1-yard line.

The Cavalier player had made a spectacular leap to try and get into the end zone, but it wasn't his effort that caused the crowd to pause.

It was the player, No. 89 Colter Phillips, who already had been in many of their thoughts and prayers.

"The play just happened so fast," said Phillips, a sophomore tight end from Darnestown, Md. "I didn't know where I landed. When I saw that I was in the end zone, I assumed the best.

"The referee made the call [not to reverse the spot] and I'll respect his decision and all that, but it would have been nice. I'll just have to get one this week."

Phillips and his teammates will head to California this week, where the Cavaliers will meet Southern California at 10:30 p.m., Saturday. It will represent a family homecoming of sorts because Phillips' older brother, Andrew, will be playing at the same time and in the same city.

Andrew, one of three Phillips brothers who are playing Division I-A football, is an offensive lineman for Stanford. The Cardinal visits UCLA at 10:30 (Eastern Daylight Time).

Colter thinks his mother, Janet, will watch the first half of the Virginia game before heading to the Stanford-UCLA game. That might not have been the original plan, but everything changed for the Phillips family following an Aug. 9 plane crash in the wilds of Alaska.

Husband and father Bill Phillips was one of five people killed in the crash, which also took the life of former Alaska Senator Ted Stevens, whom Bill Phillips had once served as chief of staff.

Survivors included 13-year-old Willy Phillips, the youngest of four Phillips brothers. Willy Phillips suffered a broken foot, a broken nose and a broken wrist and has undergone three operations.

"He was the only one who was mobile once the plane went down," Colter said. "He was running around, helping everybody out. I mean, it can't be easy to walk around on a broken foot. But everyone else's injuries were so much more [severe] that they wouldn't have survived without his help. He's an absolute hero."

Colter had spoken to his father on the night before a planned excursion to a remote Alaska fishing lodge.

"We were in our third day of camp," he said. "We just talked about practice, about how I was playing and how the team looked. We had a great conversation and he was excited about going on the trip with Willy and Senator Stevens and everybody. He was just so happy."

At several points in a Wednesday teleconference, Colter's emotions were unmistakable.

"It's hard," he said after one pause, "but he was a happy man."

UVa head coach Mike London and many of Phillips' teammates were among the mourners at an Aug. 20 service in Potomac, Md.

"It just absolutely meant the world to me," Colter said. "It meant the world to my mom."

As unimportant as football might have seemed at that point, it served as a rallying point for the family.

"We were all prepared to do whatever she needed [even] if we had to miss the season," he said. "From the very beginning, she was very, very [insistent] about having us go back to school and do everything my dad would have wanted.

"It was hard for us at first because we thought we needed to stay home with her and take care of her, but she's a very strong woman and has done an amazing job keeping her composure and figuring everything out."

Phillips was under no pressure to return to the team.

"At first, it was really frustrating," he said. "I was out of shape. I hadn't worked out in two weeks. I was behind on my assignments. I didn't know what I was doing out there. I was just really angry. I was not mentally doing very well.

"It really was great to have football to get away from everything. It really has helped me deal with the situation. It's given a lot of structure to my day and I'm not just sitting around and wondering why my dad isn't here."

Still, Phillips marks his father's initials on his wrist every day before practice.

"I did that for the game, too," he said. "When I saw my mom at the game, I pointed to her and pointed up to the sky to my dad. It's what I'm going to do the rest of my playing career."

There's still a sense of shock when an issue arises and his first impulse is to consult his dad.

"You always hear about things like this happening," he said, "and I never, in a million years, would have thought it would happen to me. It's one of those things that you see on the news and you're like, 'Oh, that's terrible and all that.'

"This is the toughest thing I've ever had to go through. Having to move on and do a lot of the things he helped me with has been difficult. But, it's made me be a lot more independent. I feel like I've had to grow up 10 years in the past month.

"Every day, when I wake up, I just try to live it like it's going to be the best day of my life because you never know when it's going to end."