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Virginia Tech bottles up No. 10 North Carolina, pulls off 17-10 upset

BLACKSBURG, Va. – For the first time in two years, fans filled Lane Stadium to capacity Friday night. Elbow room was difficult to come by, particularly in the Virginia Tech student section, where the orange-clad masses jumped in unison to Metallicas iconic “Enter Sandman” as players rushed out of the tunnel.

It was the rollicking atmosphere that had been absent last season in this football-starved corner of southwest Virginia during the coronavirus pandemic. The Hokies’ faithful, more than 60,000 strong, were eager to reclaim it, arriving hours before kickoff to celebrate being together again for the season opener against 10th-ranked North Carolina.

On the field, the Hokies provided their famously energetic crowd plenty for which to cheer in a 17-10 victory behind a defensive uprising that included six sacks at the expense of North Carolina quarterback Sam Howell, who also threw a career-high three interceptions.

“Wow, what a crowd,” Hokies Coach Justin Fuente said. “I’ve never seen it like that. It was different. So much energy, so many festivities, so much loud music. It was awesome. Our fans were incredible. They played a huge role in the game in my opinion.”

The defense sealed the outcome when cornerback Chamarri Conner intercepted Howell, juggling the ball and getting his hand underneath it as he fell to the turf with 37 seconds to go. It was the first fourth-quarter interception of Howell’s UNC career.

No sack was more impactful than TyJuan Garbutt’s on third and four with the Tar Heels at the Virginia Tech 10 late in the fourth quarter. North Carolina was seeking to trim the deficit to seven but instead had to settle for Grayson Atkins’s 31-yard field goal with 5:53 to play to make it 17-10.

Players stormed the field at the final whistle, raising their arms and displaying their white helmets emblazoned with the “VT” logo, validating for at least a night Athletic Director Whit Babcock’s decision to bring back Fuente even after two losing seasons over the past three.

Fuente enters this pivotal season having given a ringing endorsement to starting quarterback Braxton Burmeister. The Oregon transfer validated Fuente’s confidence by amassing 211 total yards and two touchdowns, both of which came on first-half drives.

“I’m awfully proud of this football team,” Fuente said. “How they prepared all through fall camp for a game nobody thought we could win.”

Virginia Tech limited the Tar Heels to 2 for 10 on third down and possessed the ball for 10 more minutes, keeping one of the most potent offenses in the county last season on the sideline for extended stretches. North Carolina, which has back its entire starting offensive line, led the ACC in total offense (537.3) last year and was second in scoring offense (41.7).

Conner led the charge with eight tackles, and cornerback Jermaine Waller, a District native, had seven tackles and an interception. Garbutt added two sacks and five tackles for a defense that surrendered its fewest points since Nov. 16, 2019, in a 45-0 win against Georgia Tech.

Last season, the Hokies finished 12th out of 15 teams in the ACC in total defense (447.5 yards) and never allowed fewer than 14 points.

“It meant a lot,” Waller said of the defense’s performance. “We’ve been going through a lot of stuff since last year. Just all the work we put in, it just meant a lot. Everybody did their job. Everybody stuck together. It wasn’t easy. You’ve just got to be the tougher team.”

The Tar Heels drew within 14-7 late in the third quarter when Howell completed a 37-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Josh Downs on a tunnel screen. It marked the 69th career touchdown pass for the junior widely regarded as one of the top players at his position in the country.

But Virginia Tech answered with a career-long 48-yard field goal from John Parker Romo with 14:18 remaining, pushing the margin to 17-7.

Burmeister had summoned poise, accuracy and arm strength during the Hokies’ second touchdown drive, which ended with an 11-yard strike on third and goal to tight end James Mitchell in the back of the end zone. Mitchell adjusted his route when Burmeister encountered pressure and got behind cornerback Kyle McMichael.

Burmeister delivered the throw across his body while on the move to the right, fitting the ball into a tight window, to cap a 12-play, 80-yard possession with 3:07 left in the first half. The drive featured three third-down conversions, the first on an 18-yard pass from Burmeister to Raheem Blackshear on third and 13.

Later in the drive, on second and 14, Burmeister completed a pass to Tre Turner for 34 yards to the right sideline, deftly dropping the ball into the junior’s hands and millimeters beyond the outstretched arm of McMichael, who had tight coverage.

The Hokies opened the scoring with Burmeister’s 4-yard touchdown run on second and goal five minutes into the first quarter. Burmeister scampered untouched through the middle of the line of scrimmage for the sixth rushing touchdown of his career and third with Virginia Tech.

“I just think we need to go 1-0 each week, and I’m happy we got this win,” Burmeister said.

Published : September 04, 2021

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At the U.S. Open, teenage upstarts oust third seeds Stefanos Tsitsipas, Naomi Osaka in succession

NEW YORK – Serving to wrap up a straight-sets victory, defending U.S. Open champion Naomi Osaka lost her form, then her composure, and never got it back Friday night against 18-year-old Leylah Fernandez of Canada.

The result was a stunning upset on Arthur Ashe Stadium, where Osaka has claimed two of her four Grand Slam titles, with Fernandez ousting the tournament’s third seed, 5-7, 7-6 (7-2), 6-4. It was also the second upset authored by a teen on the main stadium court in the span of just a few hours, coming on the heels of Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz, 18, knocking off men’s No. 3 seed Stefanos Tsitsipas in a five-set thriller.

“I just wanted to put on a show for everybody here,” Fernandez told the crowd during her post-match victory.

Osaka, 23, had collected her rackets and walked off court by that point, flashing a peace sign to the crowd.

The match – which was Osaka’s second Grand Slam contest since she withdrew from the French Open on May 31 for mental-health reasons – showed an uncharacteristic side of the soft-spoken champion, whose on-court comportment has been impeccable, regardless of the pressure.

After failing to serve out the match in the second set, Osaka piled one error atop another in the tiebreaker that followed. As her game unraveled, so did Osaka’s emotions.

In uncharacteristic fashion, she struck her racket frame on the court. After another error, she tossed her racket, then bashed it. The chair umpire chose not to issue a warning, which would have been expected under the rule book.

After Fernandez claimed the tiebreaker to force a third set, Osaka left the court for a permissible break. She returned a few minutes later with a towel over her head and shrouding most of her face. She apologized for her behavior to the chair umpire, according to ESPN’s Mary Joe Fernandez, who was courtside.

Although she played better in the third set, Osaka failed to slow Fernandez’s momentum or shake the teenager’s belief.

Fernandez’s heroics on Arthur Ashe Stadium followed those of another teen – Alcaraz, who topped third-seeded Tsitsipas in a five-set thriller in Friday’s afternoon session.

At 18, the 55th-ranked Alcaraz became the youngest man to beat a top-three player at the U.S. Open since ATP rankings were first kept in 1973.

And he fell flat on his back, overcome with awe and relief, when his final shot – a forehand blast to an open court – sealed the tiebreaker that clinched the 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (7-2), 0-6, 7-6 (7-5) victory.

“Without the crowd, I haven’t the possibility to win the match,” Alcaraz told the crowd, which fell deliriously in love with the young Spaniard over the course of a 4 hour, 7 minute physical contest. “Thank you to the crowd for pushing me up.”

Alcaraz claimed the biggest victory of his young career not by catching the 23-year-old Tsitsipas on an off day. He won the match on merits – with courage, dazzling backhand winners, devilish drop shots and grit.

If some tennis fans see in Alcaraz the next Rafael Nadal, it is understandable.

But the label of “the next Nadal” is not something that is embraced or endorsed by Alcaraz’s coach, former world No. 1 Juan Carlos Ferrero, who has said it is unnecessary baggage for the teen to shoulder.

Moreover, the right-handed Alcaraz plays his own brand of tennis – more attack-oriented than that of the left-handed Nadal, Spain’s most famous athlete and currently tied with Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic for a men’s record 20 Grand Slam titles.

Against the 6-foot-4 Tsitsipas, who boasts a variety of strokes and tactics, Alcaraz displayed even greater range and bolder tactics.

Alcaraz hugged the baseline during rallies, rather than lurked well behind it, to better dictate points. He blasted Tsitsipas’s second serves with fury. He deftly disguised his drops shots. And time and again, he painted lines with backhand winners and blitzed cross-court passing shots to make Tsitsipas, fit and quick, look a step slow.

Alcaraz wasn’t Tsitsipas’s only foe.

From the start, the bellicose crowd was against him. And his own father, Apostolos, who is also his coach, did Tsitsipas no favors, either, drawing a warning from the chair umpire for improper coaching (via apparent hand signals) during the third-set tiebreaker.

The defeat represented a dramatic reversal of fortune for Tsitsipas, often spotlighted as the face of the sport’s next generation.

But in recent months, Tsitsipas has drawn criticism from fellow players for taking extended breaks at critical junctures in his matches – leaving the court for overly long, yet permissible bathroom breaks. Three-time Grand Slam champion Andy Murray called it “rubbish” after Tsitsipas did exactly th

at during their first-round match on Monday.

On Wednesday, U.S. Open fans booed Tsitsipas when he took another long break during his second-round match against Adrian Mannarino. And they were in no mood for a reprise Friday – particular not against a teenager who was pouring his heart into every shot. So they booed when Tsitsipas called for the trainer early in the proceedings to evaluate his feet, then changed his socks and shoes.

Their animus gained steam as the match ground on. The crowed cheered Tsitsipas’s faults and miss-hits and cheered each ball Alcaraz struck.

The partisanship was laid bare after the fourth set, when Tsitsipas, his clothes drenched in sweat, headed off court for a bathroom break. He was booed mercilessly. But when Alcaraz decided to take a break, too, he was cheered as he followed Tsitsipas off court.

Asked afterward how he interpreted the boos, Tsitsipas said: “Look, I’m not pretending that everyone loves me . . . My intentions are not to be loved by everyone.”

Published : September 04, 2021

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Nationals growing pains endure in extra-innings defeat

WASHINGTON – There are unavoidable realities for these Washington Nationals, a team stripped down to two everyday major leaguers – Juan Soto and Josh Bell – surrounded by rookies, recent rookies and veterans hanging on.

One reality is that most late-game matchups will favor a contending club such as the New York Mets, who are visiting for five games at Nationals Park between Friday and Monday. Another is that growing pains will be far more frequent than wins, shown on the mound, at the plate, on defense and the base paths, night after night.

But for a moment Friday, in a nod to September games of the past, that was lost on those watching the Nationals erase a two-run deficit in the ninth inning. Then the feelings returned when, in the 10th, the Mets buried Washington with four runs and three hits off Austin Voth. The final was a 6-2 loss for the Nationals, delayed by a quick-passing spark. The Nationals couldn’t even score their automatic runner in the bottom half.

Before the ninth, and well before Voth struggled in extras, the Nationals (55-78) put the rough side of their rebuild on display. Dropping games is one thing, an expected side effect of trading eight veterans at the deadline. But repeated mental mistakes, while part of that process, too, are both grating for the fan base, coaching staff and front office and avoidable for inexperienced players. Their sixth straight defeat, half of them to the Mets, brought a few examples.

In the first inning, Lane Thomas, a 26-year-old center fielder, poked a leadoff single off Mets starter Rich Hill to stir the offense. A batter later, Alcides Escobar lifted a liner to the right-center gap and Thomas sprinted past second, thinking it would drop. When it didn’t, Thomas, a speedy runner, made it back to first without a throw. But he didn’t retouch second on his way back, leading to a double play. Thomas did later redeem himself with a highlight-reel sliding catch in the left-center gap.

In the top of the third, Pete Alonso skied a flyball to right field and Soto chased it. Soto, 22, dropped his head and dug through the grass, bearing toward a spot by the foul line. But his route was indirect and a triple fell just out of his reach, helping the Mets to their second run

In the bottom of the third, Luis García, 21, ripped a double to right to begin the inning. Nationals starter Sean Nolin attempted a sacrifice bunt and popped it right to a charging-in Hill. Then García leaked away from second, perhaps thinking steal, while Hill spun and picked him off, erasing a runner in scoring position.

Earlier Friday, the Nationals placed Kyle McGowin on the 10-day injured list with a sprained ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow. The move made room for closer Kyle Finnegan to return from the paternity list. But the diagnosis is troubling for McGowin, who missed parts of July and August with elbow inflammation. Full and partial tears of the UCL often lead to Tommy John surgery. The Nationals have sent McGowin’s results to a specialist for a second opinion.

As the bullpen kept churning, Nolin threw 102 pitches in five innings, yielding two runs on five hits. Reliever Patrick Murphy worked two scoreless behind him, striking out five. Sam Clay and Ryne Harper kept it tight with a spotless eighth and ninth, respectively. And the offense, stunted by itself early on, did briefly click before the rest slipped away.

Soto crushed a 97-mph fastball, the first pitch of the ninth inning, to the first row inside the left field foul pole. Diaz recovered, if only for a moment, striking out Bell before walking Ryan Zimmerman on four pitches. Andrew Stevenson subbed in to run for Zimmerman. Adams followed with an RBI double, reaching for the fourth time, made possible by Brandon Nimmo diving in right-center instead of blocking the ball. Stevenson touched the plat after colliding with Chance Sisco, the Mets’ catcher, while the home crowd roared.

But the energy was fleeting. It was, coincidentally, the two-year anniversary of the Nationals staging a six-run, ninth-inning comeback to beat Diaz and the Mets. You may remember Kurt Suzuki crushing a three-run, walk-off homer and throwing his hands in the air. You may also remember the World Series title that followed about two months later. This time, though, the Nationals revived a lost game, making a few peeps of noise, before Voth was all too hittable.

Published : September 04, 2021