Cavs handle Richmond in opener

Typically, it is the run onto the field that remains memorable.

On Saturday night, however, it was the sprint off the field that will resonate for Virginia’s football players and coaching staff.

After eventually pulling away and sealing a 34-13 season-opening victory over Richmond in front of 54,146 spirited fans at Scott Stadium, the Cavaliers raced over to the student section and celebrated the win with the fans that remained.

It marked the first win in a sen-ior opener for Virginia since a 2005 decision over Western Michi-gan.

The victory also officially opened the Mike London era with a well-timed bang, something no coach had enjoyed since 1960 in their debut at Virginia.

“It was really important to come out and be representative of a team that is trying to improve,” London said. “We’re trying to show that we have improved academi-cally, we have improved socially and we wanted to show that we could take one quarter at a time and play a game where we don’t self-destruct, but rather score points and play defense.

“That’s the improvement we’re looking for. There are things we did well and some things we need to keep working on. Our goal for the season is to improve each time we play.”

It took Virginia (1-0) three quarters and four touchdowns from senior running back Keith Payne to create the needed sepa-ration to secure the win over the Spiders (0-1).

In fact, things got dicey follow-ing a Richmond field goal just over four minutes into the second half. Wil Kamin’s 41-yard kick trimmed Virginia’s lead to 14-13.

The Cavaliers responded with one of their most impressive drives of the night, as Payne rushed for 50 yards on five carries and capped a 74-yard drive with a 2-yard touchdown.

“That drive said it all,” Virginia defensive tackle Nick Jenkins said. “Keith was not going to be denied. We all fed off that.”

Richmond, which was playing in its first game under coach La-trell Scott, would not score again and managed just four first downs over the final 21 minutes.

It allowed Virginia to add to its rushing total. The Cavaliers fin-ished with 205 yards, 114 of which was gained by Payne, and there was a celebration that allowed the veterans to relax.

“The vibe was so crazy,” said Virginia wideout Dontrelle Inman, who finished with seven recep-tions for 88 yards. “I was telling the guys, ‘We can’t lose this game. This is my last year, we cannot lose this game.’

“We just went out there and gave it our all. We bled blue and orange and we just came out with a win.”

Virginia quarterback Marc Verica did his part, passing for 283 yards as he completed 24 of his 35 attempts. He also threw a 2-yard touchdown pass in the second quarter to Kris Burd.

“I thought Marc did a really good job of being able to [manage the game],” London said. “He was able to throw the ball deep to some of our guys and we had two wide receivers that did a pretty good job of catching the ball.

“He was not trying to win the game by doing something heroic. He just handed the ball off to guys like Keith Payne and Perry Jones and just stayed within himself.”

Virginia, which played without cornerback Ras-I Dowling (ham-string) and safety Rodney McLeod (knee) opened the scoring in the first quarter on its first drive, punching it in from two yards out on a powerful burst from Payne.

The score capped a 5-play, 77-yard drive that took just 2:14 and marked the first touchdown for Payne since 2007.

Richmond answered with 7:21 left in the first, tying the game, as starting tailback Kendall Gaskins, a former Woodberry Forest stand-out, raced to a 70-yard touchdown scamper.

“We’re learning. I thought we rushed the ball fairly well in the first half,” Scott said. “We made some plays on defense. I think Virginia started to wear us down a little bit in the second half, but we were still in the game.

“Things happen and we’ll be back.”

Virginia returns to action Sat-urday at No. 14 Southern Califor-nia (1-0). After a bye week, the Cavaliers return home on Sept. 25 against VMI.