The Roanoke Times from Roanoke, Virginia • 29

II I JI I I jiiji COLLEGK art 'A THE ROANOKE TIMES '21 SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 26 2004 () NC State 17 Virginia Tech 16 vr) A KICK IN THE PANTS mnr LMSH wma tVAilSg't hijm JLM 1 1 mW 1 4 ''IWKhJI Eg J' The KsmKMH mlrKT but kick is on9 wide to the tup enough gO right no 9BP1 amM Sgf 9ood OM ALWJffl 0 linc must shoulder this loss See McARLING 3 Aaron Mcarling aaronmcfarlmg roanokecom 981 3222 cause Brandon the kick but game had come down to that And Martin knew it have 1 Martin is an offensive lineman Under normal cir cumstances not asked to be in a postgame interview room But these were far from normal circumstances pretty much speech Martin said as media members began to surround him try to take blame on the line but we have to watch the film really to see where all the pressure came where it came from: Everywhere Middle Left Right Everywhere Still wide right The final score NC State 17 Virginia Tech 16 popped on the screen serving as one last ugly reminder of everything that went wrong Saturday at Lane Stadi um Jimmy Martin turned away 1J 1 In 1 i Iz In 11 IV 14 10 head and threw up his hands in disgust em he said Not be missed because the 1 fliW Photos by MATT GENTRY ALAN KIM and GENE DALTON I The Roanoke Times MMiggg mM3K "jjjH 'f wks? 1 4 1 4 'f 1 VwJRPJBr 1 i' 'J v' 1 Ife v7" 7 'i A try rl Wy A IJb a wirw 'J Hta MIL WM a 4w I '1 7 r1 NC State coaches rejoice after Virginia Tech kicker Brandon Pace (46) misses a 43 yard field goal attempt to win with three seconds remaining in the ACC game at Lane Stadium Holder Lance Goff (13) consoles Pace Virginia Tech gains just 92 yards total and 36 yards rushing against North Carolina No 1 defense By Randy King randykmgroanokecom 981 3126 BLACKSBURG The scoreboard clock read :03 As Brandon Pace lined up a potential game winning 43 yard field goal all of his Virginia Tech teammates and about 95 percent of the soldout crowd of 65115 in Lane Stadium were ready to burst into a huge celebration party really confident in Brandon Pace" Hokics linebacker Mikal Baaqcc said see him in practice and making 50 yarders 60 yarders So we all expected him to make the When the ball left swinging right foot from the left hash mark the high arching kick looked true on its proper destination at least from the home sideline" be honest when the kick up'1 we all 'thought it was Baaqee said' 11 A couple of seconds later the officials parked under each of the south uprights delivered the bad news: On a day when defense was the only one in its group to bring the goods last play misfire was the final kick in the rear for the Ilokics in their first ACC football loss ever an excruciating 17 16 decision to North Carolina State When it was over Tech coach rank Beamer walked off the field with a smirk on his face that could easily be translated as total disbelief talked to Brandon in the dressing room and he just said he left the ball out Beamer said he hit it I thought he made it but I guess it just kept drifting on According to the television replay kick traveled about a foot wide of the right up right Pace who followed a miss of 33 yards with makes of 23 32 and 37 yards before the final kick refused requests to meet the media after the game Of course miss was just one of the few belicve it or nots for Beamer and Tech (2 2 1 1) this day That like list was topped by the total lockdown that ferocious defense threw on Tcch's offense The Hokics finished with 192 See TECH 3 SETH GITNER I The Roanoke Times wa 1 Kv SWisf A V2s? si Ts 'I i'c 3 Virginia's Jermaine Hardy hauls down Jared Jones The Orange manages just 254 total yards Virginia 31 Syracuse 10 Cavaliers ace their sternest test UVa QB Marques Hagans completes 1 1 of 12 passes for 202 yards and a TD By Doug Doughty 'dougdoughtyroanokecom 7 981 3129 CHARLOTTESVILLE Vir ginia football coach Al Groh was right Syracuse did provide the Cavaliers with their sternest test of the season Of cou rse when a team has an average winning margin of near ly 38 points per game that necessarily saying a lot If not for a couple of goal line stands the game would have been a little close for No 12 comfort but the Cavaliers ran their winning streak to sev en games over two seasons with a 31 10 victory at Scott Stadium need games like said UVa quarterback Marques Hagans who ran for two touch downs and passed for a third good Not every game is going to be a What so good for the Cavaliers was the sight of de fensive tackle and co captain Chris Canty being helped from the field with 7:31 remaining When the game ended he had a brace on his left knee and re quired crutches to get to the locker room Groh said immediately after the game that he had not been informed of status you could see by the way he left that he probably have an insignificant The Cavaliers (4 0 1 0 ACC) do not play again until Oct 7 when they meet Clemson (1 3 1 2) in a Thursday night game that will be televised by ESPN It will also be the final game of a four game homestand longest since 1982 know that what we have in mind as our goals will not be Groh said Groh had promised that Syr acuse would not be the pushover that the 25 point line had sug gested The Orange had won their previous two games but a season opening 51 0 loss to Pur due had diminished their repu tation to the point that no net works wanted to televise the Syracuse UVa game The Orange (2 2) quickly got the attention of the crowd of 59699 by holding Virginia with out a first down on the first se ries of the game and then See UVA 4 Inside this section 2 ACC No 8 lorida State overcomes the loss of quarterback Chris Rix and pulls away from Clemson for a 41 22 victory 2 STATE Shenandoah rallies to force overtime with a 43 yard field goal then hits another in overtime to defeat errum 27 24 6 TOP 25 Ciatrick ason rushes for a career high 210 yards to lead lorida over Kentucky.