CHAPEL HILL — Ronald Curry had to wait until his senior season to get his first football victory against Virginia.
A fellow Virginia native helped Curry get that first win while the North Carolina quarterback was stuck watching the second half from the sideline.
Curry, who verbally committed to Virginia while at Hampton High School, led two first-half scoring drives, and Norfolk’s Dexter Reid returned a fourth-quarter interception for a touchdown to lift North Carolina to a 30-24 win against the Cavaliers on Saturday.
With the Tar Heels leading 23-17, Reid picked off Cavalier quarterback Matt Schaub and raced down the left sideline untouched for a 67-yard touchdown. The pass glanced off the hands of tight end Kase Luzar to Reid, who bobbled the ball with his left hand before gaining control.
“I had the tight end, and I was just closing in for the tackle,”Reid said. “The quarterback had to make a bad throw, he threw it behind the tight end a little bit.”
Reid’s big defensive play came on a day when both offenses moved the ball at will.
The Tar Heels (4-3, 3-1 in the ACC) outgained the Cavaliers 477-405 in total yards while again rotating Curry and Darian Durant at quarterback.
Curry tossed a 66-yard touchdown pass to Sam Aiken in the second quarter and ran for 39 yards on UNC’s next series to set up a field goal that put the Tar Heels ahead 17-7.
Curry suffered a inflamed left achilles on the long run and didn’t play the rest of the game. He finished the half 3-of-5 passing for 81 yards.
“My achilles was a little sore with the long third quarter,”said Curry of his injury, which was not on the same heel he hurt as a sophomore.
“It was my time in the fourth quarter, but it was still a little tight. I felt like I could have went back out there, maybe I could, maybe I couldn’t. I didn’t want to chance it.”
Curry did a day’s worth of work in his short stint on the field and even earned some bragging rights to take back home to Hampton, Va.
Aiken won a jump ball with Virginia’s Almondo Curry — Ronald’s cousin — on the long touchdown pass. Ronald ran down the field after the play and exchanged a few words with his cousin before making it to the end zone.
“My cousin, he’s a talker, that’s all he does is talk,”Curry said. “When I got sacked, he ran over me to let me know he was coming all game. When we scored, I ran down to let him know we were coming all game.
“There was a lot of talking going on, I ain’t got nothing but love for him. He talks enough for the whole family.”
The talking continued shortly after the game, which came down to the wire thanks to Billy McMullen’s touchdown catch for Virginia (3-3, 2-2) with 1:01 left.
Almondo Curry and UNC’s Kevin Knight fought for the ball on the ensuing onside kick, and the referees took a long time to sort through the play. They awarded the ball to the Tar Heels even though the Cavalier cousin, nicknamed “Muffin,” emerged with the ball.
“Muffin” met up with UNC’s Curry and Knight after the game for a good-spirited discussion.
“I had the ball, you dropped it,” he said to Knight.
“Yo, Ron, I had that,” he added as he walked to the Virginia locker room.
The Tar Heels walked away from the game with their fourth consecutive win. They also received key contributions from kicker Jeff Reed and tailback André Williams during the contest.
Reed made all three of his field-goal attempts and improved to 7-of-10 on the year.
“I always expect to get 20 attempts a game, and I have to make all of them,” Reed said. “Three’s a lot, people say, but you have to make them.”
Williams, a bruiser who likes to work in the trenches, had success on the outside and set a career high with 147 yards on 28 carries.
He put the Tar Heels on the board first with a 7-yard run and almost cost them the game with a fumble with 1:57 left.
UNC coach John Bunting wasn’t happy about the fumble, but he praised his running back after the game.
“We felt like we could get some on the perimeter, even though that’s not his strong suit,”Bunting said. “He’s a bullish type of runner that tries to go up the middle.”
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NOTES:Julius Peppers recorded two sacks to reach 8.5 on the season and 29.5 for his career. His trails UNC career record holder Greg Ellis by three sacks. ... At Midnight Madness for the UNC hoops team last night, head coach Matt Doherty read a note from Peppers to the fans intimating that Peppers might not be done with basketball just yet. After Saturday’s win, Peppers sported a Joseph Forte jersey. When asked about it, a somewhat agitated Bunting said, “All I’m going to say is that we’re in the middle of a football season. A very, very important football season. I’m extremely excited that Julius Peppers is playing on our football team. I’m not going to say anything else.”
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Contact Bret Strelow at 707-797-4258 or bstrelow@salisburypost.com
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