Home Virginia Tech, with two big stops late, tops Liberty, 23-22, snaps seven-game losing streak
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Virginia Tech, with two big stops late, tops Liberty, 23-22, snaps seven-game losing streak

Roger Gonzalez
virginia tech men's basketball
Photo: Virginia Tech Athletics

The Virginia Tech football team’s seven-game skid is over after the Hokies went to Lynchburg and beat Liberty on Saturday, 23-22.

The Hokies (3-8) got two big stops late, and Jalen Holston rushed for 99 yards and a career-high three touchdowns. Tech forced a fumble late on with a one-point lead to turn the game on its head.

Holston picked up a final down in the final moments to allow Brent Pry’s team to run out the clock and pick up a significant win to build momentum.

Grant Wells went 14-for-20 on the day 148 yards, and Keyshawn King added 78 more yards on the ground in a complete, much-needed performance.

Liberty (8-3) used two quarterbacks in the game but could not get much momentum going on offense in this one.
Holston, who scored the winning touchdown late in the game, scored his second touchdown to put Tech up 17-7. But a kick return by Shedo Louis on the ensuing kickoff meant the game would be close the rest of the way.

Holston’s 1-yard score in the fourth quarter capped a 13-play, 64-yard drive that took 5:31 off the clock, putting Tech ahead for good.

It was a game that the Hokies needed after so many poor performances and blown leads. Tech managed to just commit four penalties, and the Hokies did not turn the ball over, forcing two fumbles and having 36:19 of possession compared to Liberty’s 23:41.

Next, Tech is set to finish the season next week against rival Virginia, though it remains unclear if that game will be played following the killings of three Cavalier football players in a shooting on campus last week. Virginia’s game on Saturday against Coastal Carolina was called off.

Roger Gonzalez

Roger Gonzalez

Roger Gonzalez is freelancer for Augusta Free Press. A native of Connecticut that grew up in Charlottesville, he is a graduate of Virginia Tech. He currently is a sportswriter with CBS Sports and has written for The Daily Progress, The Roanoke Times and other newspapers before getting into the digital sports journalism world.