Cavs Hold Off Tar Heels to Earn Victory, 22-20

Story Links

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP) -Cedric Peerman shredded the North Carolina defense for 186 yards and a touchdown, and Chris Gould tied a school record with five field goals Saturday as Virginia held off North Carolina, 22-20.

Gould’s kicks included a 48-yarder in the third quarter that was initially ruled no good by officials under the crossbar. Coach Al Groh challenged the call and it was overturned. That gave Virginia (2-1, 2-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) a 19-7 lead.

But North Carolina (1-2, 0-1 ACC) shook off the reversal and drew to 19-14 when T.J. Yates hit Hakeem Nicks on a 53-yard scoring play. Nicks slipped one tackler and dragged another Virginia defender about 7 yards into the end zone.

The Tar Heels forced a Virginia punt and moved from their 20 to the Cavaliers 41. But defensive end Chris Long snatched Yates’ pass out of the air and ran 25 yards to the North Carolina 30.

Two holding penalties and a delay of game stalled Virginia’s drive and Gould kicked a 32-yard field goal with 8:56 left.

North Carolina rallied from a second turnover and marched 85 yards to score on Yates’ 2-yard pass to Richard Quinn with 1:57 left. But Yates 2-point conversion pass was batted down by Nate Collins at the line of scrimmage.

The victory snapped Virginia’s four-game road losing streak in the ACC.

Peerman ran 1 yard for a first-quarter score. Gould had a career-best 51-yard field goal in the period, and added kicks of 28 and 37 yards in the second quarter before Yates hit Nicks on a 4-yard scoring pass with 22 seconds left in the half.

Yates has nine touchdown passes in three games, the best performance by a North Carolina quarterback to start a season.