Virginia Football Pulls Off Come From Behind Victory to Defeat Wake Forest 31-30

The Cavaliers trailed by 13 points heading into the fourth quarter before two touchdown drives led by Anthony Colandrea powers the Cavaliers to victory.

Colandrea powered the Cavaliers to victory with 357 yards and two touchdowns. / Jamie Rhodes-Imagn Images

The Virginia football team improved to 2-0 Saturday Night, defeating Wake Forest in a thrilling, 31-30 win in their first ACC Matchup of the season in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The Hoos improve to 2-0 for the first time since 2021. 

The Deacons got out to a hot start, finding the back of the endzone on their first drive of the game on a 17 yard rush from Demond Claiborne. Virginia’s offense responded with a nice drive after the Wake score, but a costly drop on a sure touchdown from wide receiver Trell Harris dampened the early shift in momentum. The two offenses proceeded to trade field goals, with Wake Forest taking a 10-3 lead into the second quarter.

The second quarter was an action packed 15 minutes. Wake’s Claiborne found the endzone for the second time during his strong night to capitalize on Colandrea’s first interception of the season, extending the early Deacon lead to 17-3. Colandrea and the Virginia offense responded to the early turnover on their next drive, orchestrating an 8 play, 68 Yard drive culminating in a Colandrea 18 yard touchdown connection with transfer tight end Tyler Neville, cutting the lead to seven. Wake Forest came back and added a field goal to cushion their lead early in Saturday’s game, before the Hoos marched right back down the field for their second score of the quarter - another connection between Colandrea and Neville, sending the Cavaliers into the halftime locker room with a manageable deficit at 20-17. 

The Wake Forest offense started the second half with an excellent fourteen play drive, ending with a 3 yard toss from Demon QB Hank Bachmeier to receiver Donovan Greene to extend the lead to 27-17.  The Virginia offense struggled in the third quarter, putting up zero points in addition to Colandrea throwing his second interception of the night. The Wake offense added another field goal to leave the Hoos down 13, 30-17, heading into the fourth quarter. 

The fourth quarter saw the Hoos play their best quarter of the season so far. Virginia drove down the field at the start of the quarter with Trell Harris making up for his early drop, picking up two first downs from Colandrea before finding the back of the endzone on a 24-Yard Score - cutting the Wake Forest lead to 30-24. The Virginia defense stepped up in the 4th quarter, holding the high energy Demon offense scoreless. 

The Hoos took the ball back with 7:20 left in the fourth, and put together a game changing 12 play, 56 yard drive to find the endzone, and the lead, on a Grady Brosterhous quarterback sneak. The drive saw Malachi Fields continue to show himself as one of the best receivers in the ACC, as he secured two monster catches on fourth downs to keep Virginia's hopes alive. Brosterhous’ push into the endzone capped off the comeback, with the Hoos taking the lead at 31-30. 

The Demon Offense then had a chance to score with 1:24 left in the game, but another key moment from the Cavelier defense secured the victory as defensive back Malcom Greene forced a fumble recovered by Virginia's Antonio Clary, giving the Hoos the ball back and all but securing a fantastic win. Virginia went three and out, forcing the Demon Deacon’s to use their remaining timeouts before giving Bachmeier and the Wake Forest offense one last trip onto the turf with about a minute left in the contest. Bachmeier connected for one first down before the Deacons lateraled the remaining 20 seconds off of the clock. 

Virginia leaves Winston-Salem with a massive, 31-30 win in ACC play to begin their season 2-0. The Hoos take on Maryland next Saturday at 8pm in Scott Stadium.