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Virginia continues home mastery of North Carolina

Oct 19, 2008 - 1:55 AM CHARLOTTESVILLE, Virginia (Ticker) -- Try as it might, North Carolina just can't win on the road against Virginia.

The Cavaliers found their offense just in time, scoring a late touchdown in the fourth quarter and another in overtime for a 16-13 victory over the 21st-ranked Tar Heels on Saturday in an Atlantic Coast Conference matchup.

Cedric Peerman scored on a pair of 2-yard TD runs, one with 47 seconds left in the fourth quarter and the second on Virginia's first possession in overtime.

North Carolina (5-2, 1-2 ACC Coastal) has not won against Virginia (4-2, 2-1) on the road since 1981, when the Tar Heels managed a 17-14 victory.

Virginia has now won three straight after it looked like its season was going to go off the rails following consecutive blowout losses to Connecticut and Duke - and no it wasn't basketball. The Cavaliers responded with a shutout win over Maryland and a victory over East Carolina.

"That was an awesome win for our team and I'm tremendously proud of our players and I'm happy for them that they got a chance to celebrate the way they did," Virginia coach Al Groh said. "Every team throughout the course of the year has go to find its identity. We clearly think over the last three weeks we're starting to find our identity, which is a tough-minded, stick together, purposeful team with a lot of resolve. There's a lot of trust and unity on the team."

For three quarters, it looked like Virginia's modest winning streak was about to end as well as North Carolina's road jinx in Charlottesville. But after the Tar Heels capped a 15-play, 70-yard drive with a 40-yard field goal by Casey Barth, Virginia finally got its offense in gear.

The Cavaliers took over at the 18 and marched down the field. Marc Verica completed seven straight passes to give Virginia a 1st-and-goal at the two and two plays later, Peerman scored to tie the game.

North Carolina went on offense to start overtime and settled for a 28-yard field goal by Barth to take a 13-10 lead.

Verica and Peerman came through again, as Verica hit John Phillips on 2nd-and-8 down to the 5. Peerman bulled his way down to the 2 on the next play and capped the comeback with his second TD run on the following play.

"It was the same goal line plan we ran at the end of regulation. The blocking was excellent and I just had to follow them into the end zone," Peerman said. "This is the best game I have ever been a part of here. For the defense to be tough like that the whole game was really incredible. They dug in and held Carolina's offense in check and did what they quite often do - put us in a position to win."

"The two runs Cedric made to get it in there typifies who he is and what he means to this team," Groh said.

Verica completed 24-of-38 passes for 216 yards and Peerman rushed for 45 yards on 17 carries for Virginia, which had 168 yards of offense before the game-tying drive in the fourth quarter.

"The first half couldn't have gone worse for us. I was making bad decisions, we were being penalized and we just couldn't move the ball," Verica said. "To be given that opportunity, to be able to drive 80 yards in two minutes with your team behind was an opportunity I always dreamed about as a kid. It was really an unbelievable win."

North Carolina played without wide receiver Brandon Tate, who suffered torn ligaments in his right knee in last week's win over Notre Dame. Tate had five touchdowns and was leading the ACC in all-purpose yards before being lost for the season.

"We made some mistakes in substitutions and formations that really hurt us, trying to shuttle as many different people in trying to replace Brandon Tate, and that's no excuse," North Carolina coach Butch Davis said. "Brandon not being here has nothing to do with us not winning."

Cameron Sexton was 16-of-25 for 167 yards and was intercepted twice while Shaun Draughn rushed for 138 yards on 30 carries for the Tar Heels, who had won three straight.