By Jerry Ratcliffe

Des Kitchings had been patiently waiting, holding onto a wrinkle in Virginia’s goal-line, direct-snap play for weeks. Late in the first half last Saturday night, with the Cavaliers holding a 7-0 lead and facing a fourth down at rival Virginia Tech’s 1-yard line, it was time.

Kitchings called the play into quarterback Chandler Morris’ helmet, causing Morris to check back with his offensive coordinator.

“I had [Kitchings] recall it,” Morris said after UVA’s 27-7 victory. “I was like, ‘Hey, just to make sure that we’re rolling with it.’ We’ve had that one in for a while now and wanted to make sure I didn’t hear him incorrectly. It was awesome, a great, great play design.”

Morris lined up in shotgun formation with running back J’Mari Taylor flanking him. Because Virginia had been ultra successful this season with center Brady Wilson directly snapping the ball to Taylor, rather than to Morris, Virginia Tech and all of the 58,832 fans in the joint, knew what was coming.

Well, that’s what everyone thought.

Normally, Taylor takes the snap and bulls his way into the end zone.

Not this time.

Taylor took the snap and took a quick step toward the line of scrimmage, coaxing the Hokies defense to attack. Once he had suckered them to commit to stop his running play, Taylor abruptly stopped and lobbed the ball over the top and into the waiting hands of wide-open tight end Sage Ennis.

Touchdown. 14-0.

“I was thinking, we’ve got to score on this play because we’ve been practicing it all week,” Taylor said Tuesday afternoon. “It’s been hitting all week in practice and we got the look that we wanted. The only thing for me to do was to complete the pass.”

Tech’s defense was stunned.

“They were very surprised,” Taylor smiled. “Because any time it’s a direct snap to me, they think we’re automatically going to run the ball. So everybody honed in on the run. When they saw that pass, it made their eyes look like they can do something else out of it instead of just running the ball.”

Kitchings has been adding wrinkles to the direct-snap play ever since Virginia became successful with it, in anticipation that opposing defensive coordinators would scheme a way to stop it. He has used different formations and other eye candy to keep the defense guessing.

“We put a lot of time into our goal-line packages,” Kitchings said. “Historically, you get maybe 15 to 20 of those plays throughout the course of a season. So you spend a lot more time practicing than you actually get to do it in a game. But you have to, because when it arises, it’s so critical.”

Kitchings reminded how his offense struggled to score touchdowns in the Red Zone, but with the addition of Taylor, that some of the things Virginia is doing schematically, that when the Cavaliers are within 3 yards of the goal line, they’re almost guaranteed to score.

Ennis, a big target at 6-foot-4, 245 pounds, always seems to be open, which might explain why he is tied with speedster wide receiver Trell Harris for the team lead in TD receptions with 5.

Asked if he had ever been that wide open, Ennis couldn’t think of another occasion.

“Man, I don’t know,” the former Clemson player said. “I was pretty wide open, so probably not. I mean there was nobody. It was a well coordinated play and we choreographed it well.”

Ennis was so open that there was a ton of pressure to haul in the pass and not blow it.

“So those are usually the ones that are the hardest, right?” Ennis said. “So we’re lining up on the play and [Tech] has a defensive end or defensive lineman where the sixth offensive lineman was really our tight end on that play. And I’m like, ‘All right, well, if he loops out, I’ve got to take him. But Tech had shown multiple times on the goal line, they would dive … their defensive line would cut offensive lineman. So that’s what they did.

“They were usually pretty downhill, pretty quick, but the linebacker didn’t fill as fast, so when I came off to kind of bluff him, I was like, ‘Please do not realize this is a pass.’”

Ennis showed him hands, swiped him and was able to get behind the linebacker.

“Then it felt like the ball was in the air forever,” Ennis laughed. I turn around, I’m just looking at it.”

Along with 58,000 others in sub-freezing Scott Stadium and a national television audience. All the times Virginia has practiced the play, same result … touchdown.

“It was a great play by J’Mari, great play by the offensive line, great fake by Chandler. It really took all 11 of us to get it done, which is why I tried to find (center) Brady Wilson after the play. He didn’t know you couldn’t spike the ball, so he spiked the ball and we got a unsportsmanlike (penalty), but I think it was worth every yard.”

The pass wasn’t a Tom Brady-like perfect spiral, but the lob found Ennis’ hands and that’s what counted.

How would Taylor rate himself as a passer?

“100 percent,” Taylor laughed. “That’s all that matters.”