Jackets beat Virginia for fourth win in a row
ATLANTA — Wesley Wells kicked his fourth field goal of the game, a 40-yarder in overtime, and Georgia Tech secured its fourth straight win when Virginia’s Brian Delaney missed his attempt from 35 yards to give the Yellow Jackets a 30-27 victory Saturday.
Wells booted the longest field goal of his collegiate career from 48 yards to push Tech to a 27-24 lead with 1:04 remaining in regulation. But the Cavaliers drove for the tying field goal, with Delaney connecting from 31 yards on a do-over with one second left after Virginia was flagged for a false start on his first attempt.
The Jackets (7-4, 5-3 Atlantic Coast Conference) clinched a winning season, quite a comeback from a 1-3 start. Virginia (7-4, 4-3) had already been eliminated from the ACC Coastal Division race before the game when Pittsburgh won at Wake Forest, and Tech only compounded the Cavaliers’ misery by relying on an unlikely formula for a run-oriented team that struggled to find a reliable kicker at the beginning of the season.
Brad Stewart made a brilliant diving catch for Georgia Tech’s only completion of the game, a 37-yard play that set up Wells’ go-ahead kick. Then Wells won it in overtime — not bad for a walk-on who only took over the No. 1 job after two other kickers flubbed their chances.
Delaney badly hooked his try that would have forced a second overtime.