Flames come up short against UVA 45-24 on chilly afternoon

The Liberty Flames football team was put on ice by the University of Virginia Cavaliers in a 45-24 loss Saturday, Nov. 10 in UVA’s Scott Stadium.

Liberty struggled to keep up with the Cavaliers, despite scoring early in the game and racking up 354 total yards, compared to the Cavaliers
389 yards.

“I really thought we had a great chance to do some things,” Flames Head Coach Turner Gill said. “We had some good situations. Unfortunately, we didn’t make enough plays.”

The Flames were far from alone in Scott Stadium, though. Several seating sections were painted red with Flames students and fans and Liberty’s Spirit of the Mountain Marching Band competed with the larger Cavalier Marching Band.

Liberty received the first kickoff and struggled to gain momentum down the field until a breakthrough carry by redshirt sophomore running back Peytton Pickett. Pickett burst through the line, leaping over defenders and dodging tackles to earn 29 yards. Another Pickett run carried the Flames 18 yards to the Cavalier 7-yard line a couple of plays later.

Liberty chalked up the first points of the game on a 4th-and-1 rush from redshirt junior Frankie Hickson. The offensive line forced its way into the end zone, making a path for the 5’8 running back to dive in. Junior kicker Alexander Probert kicked the extra point home.

For Hickson, playing the Cavaliers and scoring a touchdown was
something special.

“My sister graduated from UVA, so I got to see a lot of games from the stands,” Hickson said. “And now I’m actually standing on the field, and not only standing on the field, but playing with these guys. And not only playing, but scoring. This season has been full circle for me. It’s truly a blessing.”

UVA responded with equal force, however, charging down the field for a 55-yard scoring drive that ended in a pass from junior quarterback Bryce Perkins to junior receiver Joe Reed. Perkins proved to be great trouble for the Flames throughout the game, dodging tackles and firing off pass after pass for two touchdowns, 168 passing yards and no sacks.

“(Perkins) kept drives alive for the team with his feet,” redshirt junior cornerback Bejour Wilson said. “It was really difficult for us.”

The Flames failed to score on the next drive, turning the ball over on the Cavalier 40-yard line after a 51-yard field goal attempt from Probert fell short. 

UVA took over on the 40 and continued its thus far unstoppable grind down the field. Its 66-yard drive was marked by increasingly longer passes from Perkins and several vital tackles that were nearly missed by the Flames. The drive came to an end when Perkins ran the ball in from the 13-yard line for a touchdown.

Once the Cavaliers earned the lead in the end of the first quarter, they never let go of it. The score going into the second quarter was 14-7 Cavaliers, and it only went up from there.

The Flames started the second quarter with an over-the-shoulder grab from redshirt senior receiver BJ Farrow for a gain of 26 yards, only to lose possession a few plays later when junior quarterback Buckshot Calvert threw an interception to Cavalier linebacker Elliott Brown.

“Defensively, Virginia did a lot of good things in their schemes,” Gill said. “I knew that going into the game they were going to do a lot of things post-read, so they caught (Buckshot) in some things that he didn’t read very well. You have to learn from that as we continue to play very good football teams. You have to be able to answer those things.”

The Flames couldn’t stop the Cavaliers from moving down the field for another touchdown, bringing the score to 21-7 after a 1-yard run from senior running back Jordan Ellis.

Liberty stalled out on their next drive and were forced to kick a 37-yard field goal to bring the score to 21-10.

However, the Flames regained some momentum when Wilson snatched a pass from Perkins out of the air and took off, dodging through the Cavalier offensive line for 33 yards. He was finally tackled on UVA’s 7-yard line.

The momentum carried Hickson the last 7 yards for Liberty’s second touchdown, followed by another successful Probert kick to bring the score to 21-17 with two minutes left in the half.

The Cavaliers were not done for the half, however. Liberty fought with all its might and managed to hold UVA out of the end zone for the final two minutes before halftime, forcing the Cavaliers to kick a 33-yard field goal.

The score at halftime was 24-17 with the Cavaliers set to receive
the kickoff.

For the Flames, halftime was a period of adjustment.

“We added some calls we didn’t have in the first half and we made some adjustments to some things we had run previously in earlier games that we hadn’t planned for this particular game,” Gill said. “I thought our defense made some different calls and made some adjustments to help ourselves out, and I thought it worked.”

Their adjustments made a difference in the second half, but only after a huge 90-yard kickoff return from Reed for yet another Cavalier touchdown. Scott Stadium was deafening as UVA fans went wild when Reed flew down the field.

Liberty refused to fall behind, however, and clawed its way to another touchdown, this one run in by Pickett. The score rose to 31-24 after Probert kicked the extra point.

The Flames held on and fought to stay within one touchdown of the Cavaliers for much of the second half, but couldn’t keep up after two more interceptions from Buckshot and two more UVA touchdowns.

The Flames lost a vital possession when a 4th-and-1 pass from Buckshot to junior receiver Antonio Gandy-Golden was swatted down by Cavalier safety Brenton Nelson. The failed play came after Gill gave Buckshot the option to pass or run the ball for the conversion on the Flames own 14-yard line.

“This game does not define him,” Hickson said. “This game does not define how good of a quarterback he is. I think as an offense we put him in some difficult situations that kind of forced him to do certain things that he probably wouldn’t have done under his own power. That being said, it happened, we move on and go forward and start preparing
for Auburn.”

The Cavaliers easily took the ball home for a 14-yard touchdown drive, extending their lead to 38-24. The Flames couldn’t make up the lost points for the rest of the game, which went back and forth until another UVA touchdown at the beginning of the fourth quarter. UVA’s touchdown was the last scoring drive of the game, which ended with a final score of 45-24.

Hickson said the Flames have to take the good and the bad
from their loss.

“You can take good and bad from everything,” Hickson said. “The good, obviously, we put up points in the first half and we were able to score. Offensively we were able to move the ball up and down the field all day and we were able to run the ball successfully. But you also see that offensively we need work. We can always get better and improve and trying to get better every single day is our goal from here on out.”

The Flames are anticipating another tough road game Saturday, Nov. 17, when they travel to take on Auburn. Their next home game is Saturday, Nov. 24, in Williams Stadium at 2 p.m. when they host the New Mexico State Aggies who they lost to 49-41 earlier in the season.