ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, October 27, 1996 TAG: 9610280149
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C10 EDITION: METRO
Very little time elapsed Saturday without one of Virginia's players from Roanoke figuring prominently in the action.
Most of the time, it was senior tailback Tiki Barber from Cave Spring, who rushed for a season-high 150 yards in the Cavaliers' 31-24 loss to Florida State.
Barber also recovered a pair of fumbles by Virginia teammates deep in Cavaliers' territory, and his brother, Ronde, had a touchdown-saving fumble recovery in the third quarter.
That was one of two turnovers caused by the Cavaliers, who extended their NCAA-record streak of games with at least one interception to 36 with a second-quarter interception by Shannon Taylor.
It was the first college interception for Taylor, a redshirt freshman from Roanoke. Taylor is a former all-state quarterback from Patrick Henry High School.
Walt Derey, the Cavaliers' starting tight end from Northside High School, had a 27-yard reception that was UVa's longest until the fourth quarter. One of his back-ups, redshirt freshman John St.Clair from William Fleming, has a knee injury.
PRIME TARGET
Germane Crowell, who burst on the UVa scene when he had a pair of touchdown receptions against Florida State as a true freshman in 1994, finished with six receptions for 126 yards - career highs in both categories - and UVa's lone passing touchdown.
STILL A WEAPON
Will Brice had eight punts for an average of 45.0 yards - less than his NCAA-high 47.2-yard average - but he repeatedly pinned the Seminoles deep in their territory. FSU return specialist Dee Feaster fumbled two Brice punts and three were downed at the FSU 15, 4 and 1, respectively.
Florida State punter Sean Liss, Brice's chief competition for the All-ACC team, averaged 37.4 yards on seven punts. That included a 14-yarder in the second quarter; however, FSU still has not given up a punt return of more than 14 yards this season.
BY THE NUMBERS
Florida State came into the game as the most-penalized team in the ACC and did nothing to change its status. The Seminoles were penalized six times for 82 yards - their average was 80.4 - and were whistled twice for excessive celebrating.
NEXT OPPONENT
The Cavaliers (5-2 overall, 3-2 ACC) visit Duke (0-7, 0-4) at 1:30 p.m. at Wallace Wade Stadium on Saturday. It is one of two non-televised games this season for Virginia, which fell to the Blue Devils two years ago in Durham, N.C., 28-25, but has won six of the past seven games in the series. Florida State goes to Georgia Tech for its second and last game of the season outside Florida.
LENGTH: Medium: 61 lines KEYWORDS: FOOTBALLby CNB