The Roanoke Times from Roanoke, Virginia • 15

Sports THE ROANOKE TIMES TUESDAY JANUARY 3 2006 PHI Jbksv fv 1 Out of steam ollowing a home win Saturday Virginia manages to lead only the first few minutes at Western Kentucky and falls to the Hilltoppers PAGE 3 GATOR BOWL Virginia Tech 35 Louisville 24 Underdog Louisville had the Hokies right where it wanted them but then surrenders 22 points in the last 13 minutes igy taw yy HAnL i 1 i UJU'V i 'v' 5rTr vK piW jUwv A 4 Photos by ERIC BRADY The Roanoke Times Cedric Humes runs forthe first of three Virginia Tech fourth quarter touchdowns in Monday's Gator Bowl victory over Louisville The Hokies made up an 11 point deficit and went on to a 35 24 win INISH WITH A LURRY By Randy King randykingroanokecom 981 3126 JACKSONVILLE la Virginia second trip to the River City in a month certainly proved to be a lot more entertaining than the first In a game it desperately needed to keep its pro gram running among the top 10 the Hokies erased an 11 point deficit with 22 fourth quarter points and beat pesky Louisville 35 24 in Gator Bowl at Alltel Stadium Only 30 days after seeing its BCS bowl hopes blow up in an ugly 27 22 loss to lorida State in the ACC championship game at Alltel No 12 Tech erupted for three TDs in the final 13 minutes to See TECH 4 MORE INSIDE SCORES Notes COTTON BOWL Alabama 13 Statistics Texas Tech 10 Quarter OUTBACK BOWL breakdowns lorida 31 Iowa 24 Page 5 CAPITAL ONE BOWL Wisconsin 24 Auburn 10 IESTA BOWL GAME Ohio State 34 ORANGE BOWL Notre Dame 20 Penn State SUGAR BOWL vs lorida State' West Virginia vs 8pmWSET Georgia late antics cheapen win JACKSONVILLE la get away with it He always docs The coaching staff will review the tape and determine that it was just some incident7 and that will be that Marcus Vick will survive again with a slap on the Nike wristband The message will remain clear Just rescue us with that right arm big guy listen to the haters who only want to bring you down Just win baby Then all OK The Virginia Tech Hokies did win the Gator Bowl here Monday Won if with a great fourth quarter come back that Vick was a big part of engineering It should have been a fantastic feel good tale It was perfect swan song for game MVP Cedric Humes who ran for a late score It was another tribute to the steady play of tight end Jeff King who caught the go ahead TD pass and now is off to show his stuff on Sundays It was another testament to Bud See MCARLING 4 aaronmclarlifig Wt to Jtaron Mcarllng 981 3222 like old times for playoff bound By Jim Ducibella Landmark News Service ASHBURN In 1971 George initial season as coach the Washington Redskins opened with five consecutive wins the first three on the road After a Week 3 victory at Dallas thousands of fans convened at Dull es Airport to greet the team upon its return On Sunday night just a few miles from that airport another five game winning streak spawned a similar though not as rabid gathering When Joe Redskins returned to Redskins Park from Philadelphia with a 31 20 victory and their first postsea son berth in six years in hand several dozen fans were wait ing in the parking lot Thirty four years ago giddy fans were celebrat ing the Redskins ascension from a perennial pro foot ball afterthought turnout had the same mindset want to thank the Gibbs said Monday echo ing several players else do you get fans like these fun to coach in a place where foot See REDSKINS 2 WILD CARD PLAYOS Washington at Tampa Bay Saturday 4:30 pm WSET slate suffers 1st blemish Associated Press HhmkI1HShHs8I9kwhbBSB8S3Bbk3bIss jjS 48r iShite WM a 1 1 tLWi Brittany Cook (21) is guarded by NC State's Marquetta Dickens (12) and Khadijah Whittington Cold shooting and careless ball handling costs Virginia lech which drops its ACC opener to NC State By Katrina Waugh katrinawaughroanokecom 981 3127 RALEIGH NC The Hokies planned to get into the forest they wanted to get in there But when they did there were so many trees No 25 Virginia unbeaten season evaporated in a hail of bad and blocked shots in a 65 44 loss at North Carolina State in both ACC opener The Hokies (12 1) hit just 277 percent of their shots from the floor and committed 28 turnovers 10 more turnovers than field goals The Wolfpack blocked a school record 14 shots than drawing the defense and passing I think we tried to force too many shots that we knew were going to be contest Dawn Chriss said think we were a little too aggressive and not very NC State 65 The Hokies Tech44 planned to go inside and get Wolfpack Next game center Tiffany High Point at Stansbury into foul Virginia Tech trouble that part Wednesday of the plan worked 7 pm Stansbury had two fouls in the first half and had to sit But NC State barely missed her as Khadijah Whittington and Gillian Goring stepped into the fray were so set on stopping Stansbury we forgot about the See HOKIES 3 Inside this section 2 NL our more coaches become unemployed including the Packers' Mike Sherman 3 BASKETBALL Coleman Collins and Deron Washington combine for 51 points as Virginia Tech beats JMU in its final game before resuming ACC action 6 NBA The Wizards recall rookie Andray Blatche from the Roanoke Dazzle.