University of Virginia Library

Wahoos Dump Hart, Devils 10-0

Defensive Effort
Shuts out Duke

By Hugh Antrim
Cavalier Daily Staff Writer

Photos By Bob Gill

Bill Lockwood Leaps Way Up To Snag Errant Leo Hart Aerial In Second Half

Duke Quarterback Never Saw This Pass Fall Into Wrong Hands: He Was On His Back

With one fell swoop the
Wahoo Defense ousted the
Duke Blue Devils from the
ACC title race and plopped the
Cavaliers right in the midst of
it.

Some 25,000 filled cozy
Scott Stadium and watched an
aroused defensive unit pound,
batter, and bruise Leo Hart and
his highly touted Duke scoring
machine into submission.

With 2:56 left on the third
period clock Jim Lacey crashed
through the left side for the game's
only touchdown. Jim Carrington
added the extra point, and the
Wahoos were in control,
offensively. Defensively, the
Cavaliers were never out of control;
Coach Tom Harp's Devils could
come no closer to pay dirt than the
Virginia 31-yard line, and that was
a first half venture.

A Danny Fassio-led offense
finally took command in the
second half and punched hole after
hole in the Duke line. The Wahoos
iced the game with a 20-yard field
goal off the toe of Jim Carrington
with just 5:34 left on the
scoreboard to put Mr. Blackburn's
team stop, 10-0.
A 30-yard pass
play to tight-end Bill Davis was
instrumental in setting up that field
goal situation.

But the glory-of-Saturday's win
just must go to the Defense. Paul
Reid got to Leo Hart the first time
the Blue Devils had the ball, and
from then on Hart must have felt
he was on the wrong end of some
kind of skeet shooting contest.
Time after time Hart went back to
throw only to wind up tasting that
dear, sweet Scott Stadium turf.

And Reid wasn't by himself in
the charge. Just about everyone sat
Hart down hard at some point in
the game. Possum Page enjoyed
himself while Randy Lestyk and
Ed Kihm eagerly took part of the
feast as well. But there was hardly a
defensive man that didn't get a
piece of that dirty white Number
10 before it was all over.

By the second period Hart could
stand Coach Lawrence's defensive
pounding no longer. He left the
game with a jammed thumb on his
throwing hand, but was stunned
and badly battered as well. Hart
returned to action in the second
half only when his replacement,
Dennis Statyshur, was crunched
and forced to seek the peace and
quiet of the Duke bench.

If there was anyone hitting
harder than the Virginia defense, it
was a certain Gary Helman. Helman
got the call on 32 occasions and
responded quite well - 158 yards
accumulated. Coach Blackburn,
only made cognizant of this fact at
the end of the game, grinned and
acknowledged the feat, "That's good."

With Helman blasting the Devil
line and keeping the opposition
busy there, Jim Lacey was often
seen sneaking around the end for
valuable yardage.

The Wahoos, though, not
explosive, moved the ball well.
Some 315 yards total offense lay
claim to the thought that the
offense is maturing and improving
all the time. Danny Fassio stayed
on the ground for the most part,
throwing just 11 times. Among his
four completions was a big gainer
gainer to tight end Davis to set up
Carrington's field goal effort.

The statistics are very
complimentary to the defense.
Duke could muster just 49 yards on
the ground and 143 through the air.

Saturday's shutout marks the
first time that Virginia has recorded
a blanking against ACC
competition, and the first time
since 1965 that one conference foe
has shut out another.

While Hart held a clear mind on
a fuzzy afternoon he did manage to
find receivers for 11 of his aerials;
but his 90-yards passing just was
not near enough, nor even
encouraging enough, to inspire the
Blue Devils on to better things.

Certainly Coach Blackburn was

proud of his defense, but when
asked after the game who were the
standouts on that squad, he had no
answer. The defensive
accomplishment was a team
accomplishment.

Saturday's demolition derby put
the Wahoos in a position to shoot
for the ACC crown. A loss to Duke
would have put the Virginia two
down in the conference and out of
contention.

The win was a big one, but Mr.
Blackburn has a habit of looking
ahead and never back. The Cavaliers
shift the action to Williamsburg and
the W&M Indians next week, and
any ACC aspirations must take a
two week vacation while some
Southern Conference business is
transacted.