Virginia Takes Down Richmond In The Season Opener  (8-31-24)

By: Xavier Jones

Headline Photo Credit: Darrell Owens-LMS Network 

Saturday, August 31, 2024, at Scotts Stadium in Charlottesville, VA the Virginia Cavaliers took on the Richmond Spiders in their week 1 matchup. In a game where you saw UVA take control from their opening drive, it was pretty much a one-sided game. Coach Elliott and his coaching staff had their players ready and focused on both sides of the ball. The passing game and run game were balanced as UVA had 497 yards of total offense. This is the type of game that UVA fans want and expect to see from this talented group of players. 

On the opening drive, the Cavaliers managed to force Richmond to go 3 and out and punt the ball away. After a huge gain on the ground by QB Anthony Colandrea, he followed that up with a 35-yard TD rec to Tell Harris to give the Cavs a 7-0 lead. The Spiders struggled throughout the first quarter to generate any type of momentum on offense, while UVA continued to put points up on the board. The Cavs made a 21-yard FG and Colandrea connected with RB Jack Griese on a 57-yard TD rec. At the end of the first quarter, the score was 17-0 in favor of the Cavaliers. Early on in the second quarter, UVA pushed their lead to 20-0 after a 33-yard FG by K Will Bettridge. However, on Richmond’s next offensive possession, they managed to move the ball down the field and punch it into the end zone on a 5-yard run by QB Kyle Wickersham. Right after cutting into their deficit, the officials suspended the game due to severe thunderstorms in the Charlottesville area. The suspension would last for two hours, and that seemingly took away any momentum gained by Richmond at that point of the game. 

Once the officials announced the restart of the game, there was still a little bit of time remaining in the second quarter. UVA had the ball and took it right downfield in 4 plays to score a touchdown by RB Kobe Pace and advance their lead to 27-7. Halftime of this game was canceled due to the two-hour weather delay, so the two teams jumped right into the third quarter. Once again, UVA put together a 12-play 75-yard drive capped off with a 7-yard TD run by Colandrea to make the score 34-7. This would be the last time UVA put any points on the board. The Spiders managed to kick and make two more field goals making the score 34-13, which would also be the final score of the game. 

The top performers from the game would be the following players:

QB Anthony Colandrea… 17-23 297 yards 2 TDs

RB Kobe Pace…11 carries 93 yards TD

WR Malachi Fields 5 rec 100 yards 

Fields also had a highlight catch during the game that was SC Top 10-worthy.

Next up for the Virginia Cavaliers is Wake Forest, and for the Richmond Spiders, they are playing Wofford