Virginia football bowls over Duke after slow start in season opener

While an experienced defense filled with playmakers forced seven turnovers, including four interceptions of Blue Devils starting quarterback Chase Brice, 6-foot-7 freshman wide receiver Lavel Davis Jr. almost single-handedly stole the spotlight with dazzling catches belying his youth.

Davis finished with 101 yards and two touchdowns on four receptions. His first touchdown catch covered 18 yards and put Virginia ahead to stay at 24-20 with 12:43 left in the fourth quarter. One snap earlier Davis caught a 39-yarder along the right sideline.

On Duke’s ensuing series, Cavaliers safety Joey Blount stepped in front of Brice’s pass over the middle for an interception that set up Virginia at the Duke 49. Virginia was in the end zone four plays later on Davis’s leaping 26-yard reception.

“He was one of our best-kept secrets,” Virginia Coach Bronco Mendenhall said of Davis. “It’s hard to hide 6-7 in practice. Wasn’t highly recruited. Thought to be a project. He kept making plays against us everyday during practice.”

Virginia amassed 450 yards of total offense, getting 95 yards and a touchdown on 16 carries from running back Wayne Taulapapa. Armstrong, a sophomore taking over for record-setting predecessor Bryce Perkins, completed 24 of 45 passes for 269 yards and two touchdowns and two interceptions.

The Cavaliers outrushed Duke, 188-56.

“Performance-wise a lot to learn,” said Armstrong, who tossed one interception directly into the chest of linebacker Rocky Shelton II. “I need to be more consistent, but I think that will come as time goes. We’re just going to continue to grow. After these long weeks of practice, I just think we’re happy to play.”

Virginia had been anticipating four previous openers before it faced the Blue Devils, who had played twice following ACC rescheduling. Among the Cavaliers’ games that were scrapped or pushed back were contests against Georgia and Virginia Tech.

“What a journey,” Mendenhall said. “It was a pretty surreal experience. There were many times throughout the game I couldn’t believe we were playing, but it was for real. It counted.”

Behind Armstrong’s four-yard run and Taulapapa’s one-yarder, the Cavaliers went into halftime with a 17-10 lead after trailing 10-0.

Those touchdowns came in the second quarter, allowing Virginia to overcome a pair of lapses that led to points for the Blue Devils (0-3).

Only family members and friends of players and coaches were permitted to enter the facility, where announcements during pregame warmups reminded fans of safety protocols for sitting in the stands and moving around the concourse. The scoreboard displayed those requirements prominently.

Face coverings were mandatory at all times, including when entering and leaving the restrooms. Stadium security in masks enforced social distancing, although spectators heeded the request of not sitting in groups of more than five people.

Those supporting individual players were easily distinguishable by the T-shirts they wore with names and numbers. Four fans wearing orange shirts imprinted with the No. 0 and Zandier on the back for linebacker Zane Zandier sat roughly 15 rows from the field.

Three rows behind them were five more from the Zandier party, also decked out in orange T-shirts.

A message from ACC coaches addressing social justice played on the scoreboard immediately before the national anthem. Then fans stood throughout a prerecorded version, with players from both schools remaining in their respective locker rooms.

Senior linebacker Charles Snowden shortly thereafter led the four Cavaliers captains onto the field. It didn’t take long for he and his defensive mates to get onto the field after Virginia’s Tavares Kelly Jr. got stripped returning the opening kickoff. The Blue Devils recovered at the Virginia 19.

The Cavaliers withstood the worst from that miscue by bowing at the goal line behind defensive end Mandy Alonso, who got into the backfield on third and goal from the 1 to force Duke tailback Deon Jackson to the outside. There, Brenton Nelson cleaned it up for a loss of six, and Duke settled for a field goal.

“Even when we were down in the third quarter, beginning the fourth quarter it seemed like everybody was cool, calm and collected,” said Zandier, who had 14 tackles, seven of them solo. “We kind of had the feeling we were going to win. Being resilient is part of this program, and I’ve kind of been trained on that in my four years.”