Colandrea had lots of weapons at his disposal in comeback

By Jerry Ratcliffe

Fourth quarter, down 13 points and on the road is not a scenario that coaches relish. Still, Tony Elliott managed to conjur up a memorable comeback late Saturday night in Winston-Salem, when his Cavaliers overcame staggering odds to nip host Wake Forest, 31-30.

When it came to Crunch Time, quarterback Anthony Colandrea couldn’t have been much better. On Virginia’s two, fourth-quarter drives, Colandrea completed 10 of 11 passes (one throwaway) to lead the comeback.

“[Colandrea] showed up with that tenacity and that toughness and grit, and the competitiveness,” Elliott said.

Colandrea threw for 357 yards and three touchdowns, completing 77 percent of his passes (33 of 43). His only flaw was two interceptions, but he didn’t let those mistakes distract him from the mission.

“He didn’t blink,” Ellliott said. “That’s just AC.”

Colandrea explained his mentality after the picks.

“I think the biggest thing was, ‘Just don’t think back on it … it happened, so it happened, just go on to the next play,’”  Colandrea said after the game.

As good as Colandrea was, he couldn’t have made the comeback without all the weapons at his disposal: Malachi Fields, Trell Harris and Tyler Neville, who became the first UVA tight end to haul in two touchdown passes in a game since Tom Santi in 2007.

Fields turned in a monster performance with 11 catches for 148 yards, including a 45-yarder. Harris had seven receptions for 91 yards and a touchdown. Neville, who was an All-Ivy League tight end at Harvard, caught four passes for 2 touchdowns and 68 yards. If Virginia could ever get Notre Dame transfer Chris Tyree (4 catches, 11 yards) going, watch out.

“Malachi is like a safety blanket,” Colandrea said. “When everything is dead and you don’t know where to go, I’m looking for Number 8. He’s a big guy, 6-4, 220, and he makes big-time plays.”

One of those plays came with less than four minutes to go and Virginia driving for the potential winning score. Colandrea had already thrown the ball three times to Fields on the 56-yard march, including Fields getting a first down on a Wake pass-interference call (the Deacons struggled to cover him all night).

It came down to fourth-and-2 at the Wake 9. Colandrea drilled the ball to Fields for a 7-yard gain at the 2 for a first down. Two plays later, UVA was in the end zone and added the point after for the one-point win.

“Malachi understands coverages, he knows when he’s going to be open and I love having him on our team,” Colandrea said.

Neville was a new target of sorts. He caught one pass for 5 yards in the opening win over Richmond. His two TD catches against Wake were twice as many scoring receptions as Virginia’s entire tight end room made last season.

“Tyler is a huge piece,” Colandrea said. “He’s a great blocker, he’s a great route-runner and he’s a great player.”

Neville said that Colandrea threw a similar pass to him in practice this week, but he dropped it.

“After that touchdown, I went over to him and I was like, ‘Thank God you caught this one,’” Colandrea laughed.

Neville’s first scoring catch was a 17-yarder that cut Wake’s lead to 17-10 early in the second quarter. He hauled in another TD pass, this time wide open, from 24 yards out that drew Virginia to within 20-17 with 4:26 to go in the half.

“When I lined up for both, maybe the second one, I knew I was going to score, but the first one, you have no idea where the ball is going,” Neville said. “It’s about being where you’re supposed to be. And then AC made a ridiculous throw and I’m just glad I was where I was supposed to be.”

Neville emerged from the Virginia locker room with a similar wide smile to all of his teammates. It was a big win for Wahoo football, going on the road and winning on a late comeback on national television.

“I’ve played a lot of football and I’ve won a lot of games, won a lot of big games, but I’ve never seen anything like this,” Neville said. “This was probably the coolest one of my life. I’m thirsty for more.”