JOEDY McCREARY AP Sports Writer
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP) -
Virginia
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's defense did most of the heavy lifting Saturday. That was a big help for an offense that lost a couple more running backs.
Kendall Fuller returned an interception 47 yards for a pivotal touchdown in
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's 34-17 win over North Carolina.
The Hokies (4-2, 1-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) scored two offensive touchdowns in the opening 3½ minutes and forced three turnovers, turned them into 21 points and finished with five sacks while avoiding their first 0-2 start to league play since joining the ACC a decade ago.
"The defense played lights-out," quarterback Michael Brewer said.
Brewer was 18 of 27 for 186 yards with a 26-yard touchdown pass to Bucky Hodges. Marshawn Williams had an early 8-yard scoring run and J.C. Coleman had a game-sealing 1-yard TD.
The Hokies - who last week lost Shai McKenzie for the season - had two more rushers hurt: Williams sprained his left ankle and Trey Edmunds will miss 6-8 weeks after breaking his right collarbone without any contact, team officials said.
"We are just having trouble keeping those guys healthy, but that's just part of it and we've got to move forward," coach Frank Beamer said.
Elijah Hood had a short touchdown run. Marquise Williams rushed for 94 yards, was 17 of 33 for 187 yards passing and briefly made things interesting with a 9-yard touchdown pass to Quinshad Davis with 4:15 left.
The Tar Heels (2-3, 0-2) have lost their first two conference games for the second straight year.
And this time, the offense - and not the oft-maligned defense - was at fault.
Marquise Williams said during practice, the offense "was doing the things we do that's kind of our football - smart and fast," referring to the team's "smart, fast, physical" motto.
But once the game began, he added, "we didn't start so smart (and) we didn't start so fast."
North Carolina allowed 70 and 50 points in its last two games, and no power-conference team is allowing more yards (543) or points (44) per game.
The Tar Heels mostly bottled up
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, holding the Hokies to 357 total yards.
"It was definitely a pride thing," defensive tackle Justin Thomason said. "We just wanted to make sure they didn't keep putting up big points and rushing yards and passing yards."
But
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's defense neutralized North Carolina, which finished with a season-worst 323 yards.
And the Tar Heels' offense was responsible for the play of the game - by the Hokies.
Fuller jumped in front of redshirt freshman Mitch Trubisky's quick pass for Bug Howard and raced down the right side to make it 24-3 with 1:01 before halftime.
Neither offense did anything in the second half until North Carolina began clawing back into the game. M.J. Stewart intercepted Brewer at the
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16 with 13:32 remaining and Hood powered in from 1 yard out two plays later to make it 24-10.
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responded with a 15-play drive that chewed up 6:47 and ended with a 22-yard field goal by Joey Slye that made it a 17-point game with 6:28 left.
The Tar Heels countered by going 76 yards in six plays, capped by Williams' scoring pass, then forced a punt with about 3½ minutes left.
But return man Ryan Switzer fumbled the punt, Deon Newsome recovered it at the UNC 10 and Coleman iced it by scoring from 1 yard out with 2:30 remaining.
This one looked like a runaway for the Hokies right from the opening snap - which was fumbled by Marquise Williams. Dadi Nicolas recovered for
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at the UNC 16, and Marshawn Williams scored two plays later.
Hodges then split two defenders down the middle and Brewer hit him in stride for a touchdown pass that made it 14-3 on
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's next series.
But that was it for a while - the Hokies' next 10 drives netted a total of 155 yards. Then came the long field goal drive and the special-teams turnover that put the game away.
"It's good, but I want to keep going," Beamer said of the early lead. "When you've got them a little bit, keep going. Don't give them even a chance to recover. ... I'd like to speed it up during that process, not slow it down."
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