CHARLOTTESVILLE—If the University of Virginia football team plays another night game at Scott Stadium this season, it will be Nov. 22 against Clemson. U.Va. has two home games left, and the first will start at noon, the ACC announced yesterday. Virginia and Miami will meet Nov. 1 at that time in a Coastal Division clash shown on Raycom.

Al Groh is known for his stern demeanor, but Virginia’s eighth-year football coach choked up for a moment during his postgame press conference last night at Scott Stadium. Cedric Peerman scored on a 2-yard run in overtime to lift U.Va. to a 16-13 victory over Coastal Division rival North Carolina. The senior tailback later presented the game ball to Groh.

COLLEGES WEDNESDAY
Delaware 2, George Mason 1   Virginia 5, Longwood 0

As much as other members of U.Va.‘s offense like talking about Cedric Peerman, they prefer watching—and listening to—the senior tailback run. Peerman, who missed Virginia’s Sept. 27 loss at Duke because of a knee injury, returned to run for 110 yards and one touchdown a week later in a 31-0 win over Maryland. He followed that up Saturday by rushing for 173 yards and two TDs in a 35-20 victory over East Carolina.

On a day when Al Groh got good news from a high school standout, the University of Virginia football coach wasn’t as pleased by what he saw when reviewing videotape of his team. U.Va.‘s offense and defense distinguished themselves Saturday against East Carolina. But the special teams units struggled in Virginia’s 35-20 win at Scott Stadium.

Al and Anne Groh’s 39th anniversary was yesterday, and the happy couple had much to celebrate. The team that Al Groh coaches, Virginia, pounded East Carolina 35-20 at Scott Stadium to continue a resurgence that started with a 31-0 win over Maryland last weekend. After the game, Terry Holland had just emerged from U.Va.‘s locker room when he spotted the Grohs in the hallway.

CHARLOTTESVILLE—Substitute Chase Neinken scored off a rebound with 2:09 left in the match to give Virginia a 1-0 victory over Clemson on Friday night. The winning play came on a corner kick by Matt Mitchell that was headed Toward the goal by Tony Tchani. His shot was Blocked, but the rebound came to Neinken, who scored to maintain the Cavaliers’ perfect Atlantic Coast Conference start.

CHARLOTTESVILLE—Cedric Peerman’s first-half touchdown runs of 79 and 60 yards helped Virginia race to an early lead on the way to a 35-20 victory over East Carolina today. The Cavaliers led 28-6 at the half but doused ECU’s comeback with 7:07 to go in the fourth quarter with a fake field goal attempt that finished with holder Scott Deke finding tight end John Phillips alone in the end zone.

Was it an aberration, or was Virginia’s 31-0 victory over Maryland a sign of things to come for Al Groh’s football team? We’ll know more this afternoon. In the Cavaliers’ first game since their Oct. 4 demolition of the Terrapins, they’ll step outside the ACC to meet East Carolina (3-2) at Scott Stadium. “I think we’re going to see more of the football team that played against Maryland than the one that played early in the season,“ ECU coach Skip Holtz said.

Jimmy Simpson scored two goals to lead 18th-ranked Virginia over Liberty 3-0 on Tuesday. Liberty————————————- 0 0—0
Virginia————————————- 3 0—3 Goal: U.Va., Simpson (Neinken), 14th minute; U.Va., Simpson (Mitchell), 19th; U.Va., Tchani, 22nd Saves: Gilbert (LU) 3; Giallombardo (U.Va.) 1

Skip Holtz, son of the legendary Lou Holtz, was on his father’s staff at the University of South Carolina for six seasons, the first five as offensive coordinator. So the younger Holtz, who’s in his fourth season as East Carolina’s coach, appreciates better than most the challenges facing Al and Mike Groh in their working relationship at Virginia.

CHARLOTTESVILLE—University of Virginia football players Will Barker and Dave Roberts have been acquitted of petit larceny. Barker, 21, and Roberts, 19, were arrested in late July at an after-hours nightclub in Charlottesville. They were alleged to have stolen beer from a cooler at Club 216, and each was charged with petit larceny, a misdemeanor. Judge Robert Downer found them not guilty yesterday in Charlottesville General District Court.

Clint Sintim (51) and Antonio Appleby stopped Maryland’s Dan Gronkowski on the way to the Cavaliers’ 31-0 upset victory Saturday. U.Va. coach Al Groh says he was “appreciative” of the Scott Stadium crowd’s energy in the Cavs’ victory over Maryland on Saturday. Where the heck did that come from? That question—or some variation—was asked by all who watched the Virginia-Maryland football game Saturday night. The Cavaliers entered as 13½-point underdogs. They won 31-0 at Scott Stadium.

It took the Virginia Cavaliers more than four games, but they finally threw a touchdown pass. The breakthrough came last night against Maryland, which surrendered a 51-yard TD pass from sophomore quarterback Marc Verica to junior wide receiver Kevin Ogletree late in the first quarter. Verica and Ogletree hooked up again on a 15-yard TD pass with 11 seconds left in the second quarter.

CHARLOTTESVILLE—If he’d been a one-game wonder, a comet visible for only a few hours, the drop-off would not be so mystifying. But Mikell Simpson’s star didn’t fade last year after his you-had-to-see-it-to-believe-it performance at Byrd Stadium, where the tailback from Harrisburg, Pa., came off the bench to pile up 271 all-purpose yards and score two touchdowns in Virginia’s 18-17 comeback victory over Maryland.