AP

The University of Virginia has canceled its game against rival Virginia Tech scheduled for Saturday following the slaying of three football players on campus just over a week ago. The university made the announcement Monday, two days after a nearly two-hour memorial service to remember Lavel Davis Jr., Devin Chandler and D’Sean Perry. The three were fatally shot after a field trip to see a play in Washington. Two others were wounded. Former Virginia football player Christopher Darnell Jones Jr. faces three counts of second-degree murder and other charges. The Cavaliers also canceled their game slated for last weekend against No. 23 Coastal Carolina.

Image: LU Athletics Facebook

LYNCHBURG, Va. (AP) – Jalen Holston rushed for 99 yards and a career-high three touchdowns and Virginia Tech snapped a seven-game losing streak by surprising Liberty 23-22 on Saturday.

The Hokies’ defense, maligned during the lengthy losing skid, came up with two big stops in the final minutes to preserve the one-point lead. They forced an incomplete pass by Liberty quarterback Kaidon Salter to get the ball back near midfield, then forced Johnathan Bennett to lose a fumble on the Flames’ next possession.

Holston picked up a key first down that allowed the Hokies (3-8) to salt the final minute away. Virginia Tech quarterback Grant Wells completed 14 of 20 passes for 148 yards. Liberty (8-3) rotated two quarterbacks – Bennett and Salter – with mixed results. Bennett led the only offensive touchdown drive on his 15-yard touchdown run, and Salter threw for 119 yards on 12-of-18 passing.

Holston’s second touchdown run gave the Hokies a 17-7 lead that lasted for 14 seconds. Shedro Louis, playing one week after attending his father’s funeral in Immokalee, Florida, returned the ensuing kickoff 97 yards for a touchdown. Nick Brown converted on a 47-yard field goal before halftime to tie the game at 17. Holston converted on his third rushing touchdown with 7:46 remaining that gave the Hokies the game-winning score.

Virginia Tech: Wraps up the regular season Saturday against Virginia in Blacksburg.

Liberty: Completes a two-game homestand with its regular-season finale Saturday against New Mexico State. Both teams are joining Conference USA in 2023.

Lavel Davis Jr. (left), D’Sean Perry (center), Devin Chandler (right)

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Armaan Franklin scored a career-high 26 points, and No. 16 Virginia used a big second-half run to knock off No. 5 Baylor 86-79 on Friday night in the team’s first game since three Cavaliers football players were killed in a campus shooting.

Virginia’s players wore sweatshirts during warmups that honored the victims from Sunday’s shooting, which led to the cancellation of the Cavaliers’ scheduled home game a day later.

Virginia (3-0) went on a 21-2 run in the second half and twice went ahead by 22 points. Baylor (3-1) chipped away and twice got within six points late, but the Cavaliers held on. Keyonte George scored 20 points for Baylor and LJ Cryer had 19.

Kadin Shedrick added 17 points for the Cavaliers, who will play No. 19 Illinois in Sunday’s championship game of the Continental Tire Main Event. The Bears will face No. 8 UCLA in the consolation game.

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) — M.J. Devonshire and Marquis Williams returned interceptions for touchdowns on the first two plays from scrimmage and Pittsburgh reached bowl eligibility with a 37-7 victory at Virginia on Saturday.

Devonshire’s interception of Brennan Armstrong and 29-yard return gave the Panthers (6-4, 3-3 Atlantic Coast Conference) a 7-0 lead after just 5 seconds. After a touchback, Armstrong tried to throw deeper, but Williams intercepted and went 39 yard for the TD.

“We thought they’d possibly come out and do what they did on that first play and we had a great defense called for it,” Panthers coach Pat Narduzzi said of Devonshire’s interception. “And, you know, I think it made Armstrong think a little bit, at least for the first half and maybe even the third quarter.”

The Cavaliers (3-6, 1-6), who needed a victory to remain in contention for a bowl berth, trailed 28-0 by the end of the first quarter. Many in the sparse crowd that booed them as they left the field at halftime then seemingly also left on a sunny, warm fall afternoon.

 

“Obviously, not results any of us want, not the start any of us wanted,” offensive coordinator Des Kitchings said. “We got a group of kids in there hurting, coaches are hurting because we’ve been making progress and today just took a step back with the start of that game.”

Israel Abanikanda added to his nation-leading touchdown total with a 1-yard run on Pitts’ first offensive possession, and Kedon Slovis hit Jared Wayne with a 31-yard scoring pass on the next, putting the Panthers ahead 28-0 with 2:33 left in the opening quarter.

Ben Sauls kicked three second-half field goals and the outcome was never in doubt as Pitt won for the sixth time in the last seven meetings with the Cavaliers. The Panthers outgained Virginia 397-144 and held the home team to minus 8 rushing yards.

Armstrong, playing without his top three receivers for the second week in a row, hit Malachi Fields from nine yards for the Cavaliers’ lone score late in the third quarter.

THE TAKEAWAY

Pitt: The Panthers not only hurt Armstrong with the interceptions, but also kept Virginia’s leading rusher bottled up in the backfield. He was sacked eight times for minus 69 yards and had just a pair of positive runs totaling 23 yards.

“I think the first two plays bothered him a lot. But, you know, our guys did a good job. We got a pretty good D-line and the linebackers are doing their job,” Narduzzi said.

Virginia: Armstrong’s decision to return after a huge junior season was cause for celebration at Virginia. He threw for 4,449 yards last season with 31 touchdowns and 10 interceptions. This season, a more balanced offense with less opportunity for freelancing hasn’t gone as well. His TD pass was his seventh against 12 interceptions this season.

UP NEXT

The Panthers return home to face Duke next Saturday.

The Cavaliers wrap up their four-game homestand against Coastal Carolina.

The NFL’s Washington Commanders could soon be for sale, after owners Dan and Tanya Snyder said they have hired Bank of America Securities to “consider potential transactions.”

That could mean a full sale amid mounting pressure and multiple ongoing investigations — Snyder has said many times he would never sell the team — or bringing on new investors more than 18 months after the Snyders bought out the previous minority owners.

BofA Securities has handled other sales of professional sports teams, including Steve Ballmer buying the NBA’s Los Angeles Clippers in 2014. A message sent to the firm seeking additional comment was not immediately returned.

The Commanders are worth an estimated $5.6 billion, according to Forbes. That ranks sixth among the league’s 32 teams and would be more than the $4.65 billion Walmart heir Rob Walton paid for the Denver Broncos earlier this year.

In the statement announcing the decision, the team said, “The Snyders remain committed to the team, all of its employees and its countless fans to putting the best product on the field and continuing the work to set the gold standard for workplaces in the NFL.”

Snyder’s ownership in Washington has come under increased criticism after an investigation found a toxic workplace culture and prompted a $10 million fine and additional reviews that are ongoing. The league office and Congress are currently investigating various organizational improprieties, including allegations of sexual harassment and potential financial improprieties.

Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay said at the most recent league meeting there was “merit” to removing Snyder, who has been accused of sexual harassment and of overseeing a workplace in which women were frequently harassed and demeaned.

It would take 24 of the other 31 owners to vote to remove Snyder, unless he voluntarily chose to sell the team that was renamed the Commanders earlier this year. The day of Irsay’s comments, a team spokesperson said the Snyders wouldn’t consider selling the franchise.

Snyder bought the team in 1999 for a then-record $800 million, and it has won just two playoff games since.

The Snyder family took full control of the team in March 2021 after buying out the 40.5% stake of Washington Football Inc. owned by Fred Smith, Dwight Schar and Bob Rothman.

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (AP) — A Virginia pastor who is running for a City Council seat is being investigated by local authorities for allegedly campaigning and soliciting donations during church services.

The Daily Press reports that a video surfaced recently showing Willard Maxwell Jr., pastor of New Beech Grove Baptist Church and a candidate for the North District Seat B on the Newport News City Council, asking for donations and encouraging audience members during a church service to put up signs on his behalf.

“We have signs out there if you want to take a sign to your house, that would be great,” he said in the video. He added later, “Anytime you want to donate $5, $25 — it doesn’t matter, or get other people to donate, I would really appreciate it.”

A woman who identified herself as Sharon Richardson forwarded the video to the Commonwealth’s Attorney and Voter Registrar’s Office, as well as the Daily Press.

According to the IRS, religious organizations are prohibited from campaigning on behalf of — or in opposition to — any political candidate for elective public office. Churches that violate this provision are at risk of losing tax-exempt status.

Commonwealth’s Attorney Howard Gwynn emailed Richardson on Oct. 17, saying, “The video that you sent is very disturbing. Please be assured that this matter is under investigation and is being taken very seriously.”

Maxwell told the newspaper he has done nothing wrong, as he has let numerous candidates speak at his church during services for years — including his opponent for City Council, Curtis Bethany.

CLIFTON, Va. (AP) — Robert F. Horan Jr., who secured a murder conviction of D.C. sniper Lee Boyd Malvo during his four-decade tenure as the top prosecutor in Virginia’s largest county, died on Friday at his home. He was 90.

The cause of Horan’s death at his home in Clifton, Virginia, wasn’t immediately determined, but he had been in hospice care, his wife, Monica Horan, said on Sunday.

Horan served as Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney for 40 years before retiring in 2007. He continued going into the county prosecutor’s office for years after his retirement because he loved practicing law and being a public servant, his wife said.

“He thought the community deserved to have someone who was looking after their interests, as well as the victim’s interests,” Monica Horan said. “And he felt that people who did evil things deserved to pay for the evil things they did.”

Malvo was 17 when he and John Allen Muhammad shot and killed 10 people in the Washington area over a three-week span in October 2002. Malvo was sentenced to life in prison without parole after a jury convicted him of capital murder but declined to impose the death penalty. Muhammad was executed in Virginia in 2009.

Former Prince William County Commonwealth’s Attorney Paul Ebert worked with Horan on the sniper case, with Ebert prosecuting Muhammad and Horan prosecuting Malvo.

“He was the best trial lawyer I ever saw,” Ebert told the Washington Post.

NORFOLK, Virginia (AP) — The U.S. Coast Guard, a crew of scientists and others launched an air and sea mission to rescue 13 people, including a child, from a fishing vessel just moments before it sank in darkness early Friday in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Virginia, authorities said.

The 115-foot Tremont fishing vessel collided with the 1000-foot Panamanian-flagged container vessel MSC Rita, about 60 miles (100 kilometers) from shore, the Coast Guard said in a statement.

The Tremont sent out a mayday call that it was taking on water and sinking with 13 people aboard that was received by watchstanders with Coast Guard Sector Virginia, officials said. That call was also heard by Atlantis, a 274-foot (84-meter) ship operated by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Falmouth, Massachusetts, at about 1:45 a.m., WHOI said in an email to The Associated Press.

The captain of the Atlantis contacted the Coast Guard and motored eight miles (13 kilometers) west to the fishing vessel.

 

The Coast Guard launched an MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew and an HC-130 Hercules airplane crew from its air station in Elizabeth City, North Carolina, the Coast Guard said. It also dispatched a motor lifeboat crew from its station in Chincoteague, on Virginia’s Eastern Shore, and diverted the Coast Guard Cutter Rollin Fritch to assist.

The Tremont’s 12 passengers boarded a life raft, while the captain stayed on his ship, according to WHOI.

The Atlantis launched an inflatable boat that towed the life raft to another fishing vessel, the New Jersey-based Dyrsten, which took on the 12 passengers.

The Coast Guard helicopter hoisted the captain to safety in a basket.

“Moments later, according to witnesses, the Tremont sank,” WHOI said in its email.

No one was injured in the collision or rescue, the Coast Guard said. The cause of the collision is being investigated.

“Safety of life at sea is the Coast Guard’s top priority,” Capt. Jennifer Stockwell, commander of Sector Virginia, said in a statement.

“These are the life-saving missions for which we train each and every day,” Stockwell said. “While this morning’s events were unfortunate, 13 people were rescued from an extremely perilous situation. The combined efforts of good Samaritans and Coast Guard response assets demonstrates a selfless commitment to others.”

The Atlantis happened to be nearby as it was on a three-week mission conducting research dives on seeps of methane gas from the ocean floor, WHOI said. And it was using Alvin, the institution’s famed human-operated submersible, which is probably best known for exploring the wreck site of the Titanic ocean liner.

CENTREVILLE, Va. (AP) — A bus driver for an elementary school in the nation’s capital has been charged with driving while intoxicated after his bus veered into a ditch while returning from a field trip to a farm in northern Virginia.

Nine children were treated at the scene for minor injuries, Fairfax County Police said.

The bus was carrying 44 children and four adults back Thursday to Murch Elementary School in Washington, D.C., after a field trip to Cox Farms in Centreville, Virginia — a popular field trip destination in the region.

Police said the bus hit a rock and veered into a ditch off a road in the northern Virginia county.

The 48-year-old driver from Suitland, Maryland, was charged after police say he failed a field sobriety test and had a blood-alcohol content of .20, more than double the legal limit of .08.

Police say the driver’s license had already been revoked in Virginia from a prior drunken driving conviction.

Officers also said they found a combined 18 safety violations on the two buses carrying children to the field trip and that none of the operators were properly licensed to operate a school bus.

D.C. Public Schools said in a statement that it plans to undertake a review of the transportation vendors it uses for field trips and other extracurricular activities.

DINWIDDIE, Va. (AP) — Three students and a teacher were taken to hospitals Wednesday after a fire broke out during a demonstration in a Virginia high school chemistry classroom, officials said.

When the fire broke out in the classroom at Dinwiddie High School, the fire alarm was pulled and all students were evacuated from the building, Dinwiddie County Public Schools officials said in a statement.

A teacher was taken to a local hospital and three students were taken to VCU Medical Center, officials said. Officials didn’t release details of their conditions. One student was treated at the scene and released.

The cause of the fire is under investigation, officials said.

Students were dismissed early and Thursday will be an asynchronous learning day, officials said.