ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1995, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, December 31, 1995 TAG: 9601020093
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C9 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: ATLANTA
SOURCE: DANIEL UTHMAN STAFF WRITER
VIRGINIA FINALLY got something to go its way in the fourth quarter as Pete Allen returned a kickoff 83 yards to clinch a Peach Bowl win.
The analysis of Pete Allen's game-winning 83-yard kickoff return drew varied descriptions from the Virginia football team.
``I saw the hole and ran as fast as I can,'' Allen said as he ran a victory lap at a considerably slower pace.
Sharing Allen's victory lap was Walt Derey, the Roanoke native and Northside graduate who fumbled away a ball that Georgia defensive tackle Jason Ferguson returned 10 yards to tie the game.
Derey, who slapped five with legions of Cavalier fans just a few minutes after they had pulled their hair out over their teasing team, had a take different from Allen's.
Was it a miracle? ``Yeah,'' Derey said.
Derey said he caught the ball a little bit behind his body and immediately felt the impact of strong safety Armin Love. He thought he had trapped the ball on the back of his right leg, but Ferguson pulled it away.
``I thought I might have lost us the game,'' Derey said, describing his feelings as he went back to the Virginia bench. ``It was pretty bad.''
And just like that, it was great again. Allen made sure of that. He looked stunned as he sat on the bench after giving Virginia a 33-27 lead. Children behind the bench screamed and begged for anything - shoelaces, wristbands - anything.
They settled on an elbow pad. Probably from the same elbow he had just dropped on the Bulldogs' upset hopes.
It was another of what have become typical games for the Cavaliers. Records and rankings may not have called for this kind of finish, but the teams involved did.
``It was about time we had one fall our way,'' Derey said.
Some probably felt it was time Georgia coach Ray Goff had one fall his way. He was coaching under what equated to house arrest, working almost as a benchwarmer. He knew 6-5 and a bowl appearance would not be good enough.
A day before Goff coached his final game, Virginia coach George Welsh advised him to take time "to smell flowers; take a year off."
Goff said he didn't think he could; that after staying home Monday and the next day and the next day, his wife would not be able to put up with him anymore.
If this season had gone on any longer, the same could be said of Virginia's fans. Welsh recalled a time in the mid-1980s when he told now-Liberty coach Sam Rutigliano, ``I'm tired of all this.''
He might have said that Saturday night. But only until Allen came through with his miracle run.
LENGTH: Medium: 58 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP Virginia's Pete Allen (right) eludes the tackleby CNBattempt by Georgia's Phillip Daniels during the Peach Bowl.