Virginia football cancels game vs Coastal Carolina after shooting left 3 players dead

Virginia football has announced that the Nov. 19 game against Coastal Carolina has been canceled in the wake of the deaths of three players in on-campus shooting. 

The University of Virginia football team has been mourning the deaths of three teammates — D’Sean Perry, Lavel Davis Jr. and Devin Chandler — and the injury two other students, including one additional player, in an on-campus shooting carried out by another student and a former walk-on for the football team.

In the wake of the tragedy, football has always seemed secondary. Three young men lost their lives due to senseless violence, something that has shaken not just the UVA football team but the university, the student body, and the city of Charlottesville.

However, the Cavaliers were scheduled to play on Saturday, Nov. 19 against Coastal Carolina and it head coach Tony Elliott had not been able to say whether that contest would be played. On Wednesday morning, the university offered clarity as they announced that the game had been canceled.

Virginia football cancels Nov. 19 game vs Coastal Carolina after tragedy

Virginia athletics also canceled the basketball teams game on Monday, the day after the night that the tragic shooting took place, prior to this decision regarding the football game.

The Cavaliers also have one game remaining, a rivalry matchup against Virginia Tech, on Saturday, Nov. 26. It currently remains undecided whether or not the Virginia football team will play that game or make the decision to, in essence, cancel the remainder of the season.

Elliott held a press conference on Tuesday night, the first from the program since the deaths of Perry, Davis and Chandler. It was highly moving as the first-year head coach shared his memories of the young men and players who lost their lives on Sunday night.

Whatever the Virginia football program decides about Virginia Tech will be wholly understandable. It’s unfathomable the sorrow and grief this team is feeling in the wake of this tragedy and, truly, it goes beyond the sport of football that we love.

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