Virginia snatched defeat from the jaws of victory against Virginia Tech

Virginia is no stranger to losing to Virginia Tech but the Cavaliers found a new way to lose to the rival Hokies on Friday night in Blacksburg.

There are losses and then there are losses.

The loss suffered by Virginia at the hands of in-state rival Virginia Tech qualifies as one of the latter varieties.

Virginia had Tech right where they wanted them and then they let them off the hook. The Cavaliers led by seven late. It looked like the 14-game losing streak was going to be snapped. But then, the improbable happened and the Hokies made one eye-popping play after another.

The Hokies picked up 45 yards on a highlight-reel catch from Dalton Keene that will be on SportsCenter all weekend. The catch made the comeback effort within reach.

The chaos would continue.

Seconds later, Hezekiah Grimsley recovered his teammate’s fumble in the end zone, after a Virginia defender was seemingly in position for the easy recovery to end the game, but the Hokies recovered in the end zone for the score. The extra point followed to tie the game and the game went to overtime.

Prior to the game-tying drive, a score of Hokies fans headed for the exits as they tried to get a jump on traffic headed out of Lane Stadium. Too bad they were in the parking lot and didn’t see what happened next.

Virginia Tech booted a field goal on the opening possession in overtime. All Virginia had to do was score a touchdown and they’ll get their first win over their rival in 15 tries.

They couldn’t do it.

Virginia Tech’s Rayshard Ashby forced a fumble by Virginia quarterback Bryce Perkins that was recovered by the Hokies in a scrum that ended the game in triumphant fashion for them and sent the road team packing with a loss for the 15th straight time.

There are more brutal ways to lose games, but it’s hard to think of any in the immediate aftermath after seeing the collapse by the Cavaliers vs. the Hokies.