Logan Thomas only had 44 seconds to keep Virginia Tech’s ACC title hopes from possibly being extinguished in the season opener.
After struggling most of the night, Thomas drove the Hokies into field-goal range in the waning moments. Cody Journell, who had missed a 38-yarder earlier in the game, was perfect on the try from 41 yards to send the game to overtime, where another Journell field goal, this one from 18 yards, proved the difference in a 20-17 win over Georgia Tech Monday night.
“I told my football team how proud I was, and to come back and win that football game after the way it looked at times … it just says so much about the players believing and making plays when they had to. I like the potential of this football team,” Virginia Tech coach Frank Beamer said.
The game looked all but lost after Georgia Tech scored on a 10-yard pass from Tevin Washington to Deion Hill with 44 seconds left to take a 17-14 lead.
The score capped a 13-play, 72-yard drive that ate up more than seven minutes of game clock and didn’t leave the Hokies any margin for error.
The game-tying drive tipped on a fourth-down completion from Thomas to Corey Fuller that took Virginia Tech from near midfield into field-goal range for Journell, whose career long coming in had been 42 yards.
“When I missed the first one, just having the support of my teammates and my coaches, they were telling me, Hey, keep your head in the game. We need you out there. So I just let everything go and did what I needed to do. I knew what I did the first time, so I just made sure I didn’t repeat my mistake,” Journell said.
Kyle Fuller intercepted a Washington third-down pass to end Georgia Tech’s overtime possession. Virginia Tech drove to the Georgia Tech 1 to set up the chip-shot field goal from Journell that ended it.
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