Koontz gives Cavs boost against UNC

By JOHN GALINSKY
Daily Progress staff writer

DURHAM, N.C. — Early last week, a few days after Mark Koontz tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee, Virginia men’s lacrosse coach Dom Starsia asked his All-American defenseman whether he should put his name on the roster for the ACC tournament.
Koontz told him not to bother: “I said there’s no way, unless this gets miraculously better.”
For Koontz, the miracle of sorts came last Wednesday, when the team’s trainers outfitted him with a state-of-the-art knee brace. He ran with the brace, then made some sharp cuts. The knee felt stable. Koontz found his coach and said he could play. Starsia included him on the roster, which was due in the ACC office that day.
Still, no one was quite sure if Koontz would be able to play at all — much less play effectively — in Friday’s semifinal game against North Carolina. He did not practice all week. He planned to test the knee during the team’s shootaround Friday morning at Koskinen Stadium, but the bus would not start, stranding the Cavaliers at the hotel.
Whether Koontz would start that night then became an issue. Starsia told him he would begin the game on the bench. An hour later, the coach called Koontz’s room and said he had earned the right to decide whether he should start. The answer: Heck, yes.
Koontz said he was intent on playing Friday for two reasons. One, it was a postseason game. Two, he had read a quote in the Baltimore Sun from North Carolina attackman Steven Will guaranteeing a victory. Koontz had shadowed Will two weeks earlier and limited him to one assist.
“I really wanted to guard him again because when I guarded him last time he didn’t do anything,” Koontz said. “That was motivation.”
Early in the game, the Tar Heels ran several plays isolating Will on Koontz. Each time, Koontz stayed with his assignment and checked him away from the goal. Will did not even attempt a shot.
“They definitely wanted to attack me, test my knee and see if it would hold up,” Koontz said. “I really wasn’t sure how it would hold up either, but I got more confident as the game went on. After the first quarter, I felt great. I got more aggressive and felt I could go full bore. They stopped attacking me after the first quarter.”
As it turned out, Koontz played a major role in Virginia’s best defensive game of the season — and one of its best ever. The 10-3 victory matched the fewest goals UVa has allowed in 70 postseason games (ACC and NCAA tournaments). It also marked the fewest goals North Carolina has scored in any game in 18 years and the fewest it had scored against Virginia in 31 years.
Koontz held Will without a point, but he never mentioned the guarantee during the game.
“I didn’t want to talk trash to him because I didn’t want him to dive into my knee,” Koontz said. “I kept my mouth shut, but a lot of other guys were talking to him.”
Koontz’s teammates also picked up the slack in other ways. Brett Hughes and Ned Bowen, the other starting close defensemen, shut down their men; no UNC attackman scored a goal. Sophomore goalie Tillman Johnson was outstanding with 13 saves.
“I told Brett Hughes and Ned Bowen before the game they might have to support me a little more,” Koontz said. “They were all over the field making plays. A couple times when I needed a little help they made shuts on my guy. They had my back all day. And Tillman was awesome, too. He bailed us out on more than one occasion.”
Koontz’s teammates and coaches said they were inspired by his presence and performance.
“We all respect Mark,” Johnson said. “Seeing him injured and playing like that, it was awesome. It got everyone fired up.”
Said Starsia: “On the defensive end, I think everyone elevated their play. Mark coming back lifted the whole team.”
Now Koontz has one good arm and one good leg. He has played all season with a fiberglass cast on his broken left wrist. The cast made it difficult for Koontz to use crutches after he injured the knee against Duke last Saturday. But doctors told him there was little risk of doing more damage if he tried to play since the ACL was completely torn. That’s all Koontz needed to hear.
“I didn’t think there was any way I’d be able to play until [Wednesday] when I got this brace,” he said. “It’s incredible. It totally supports my knee on both sides and it doesn’t really limit my movement much.”
So Koontz plans to be back on the field today at Koskinen when the top-seeded Cavaliers (9-1) take on second-seeded Duke (6-5) for the ACC championship. At this point, it’s hard to imagine what could stop him.
“He’s got to be one of the toughest kids I’ve ever played with,” said senior attackman Conor Gill, the team’s co-captain along with Koontz. “He’s got a broken wrist and a torn ACL and it doesn’t seem to affect him at all. I mean, that’s unbelievable.”

UVa offense tops defense

By JERRY RATCLIFFE
Daily Progress sports editor

Only an act of God prevented Virginia’s offense from scoring more than 100 points in Saturday’s conclusion to spring football drills. But before you get too carried away, understand that modified scoring rules awarded points as frequently as Daniel Snyder changes football coaches.
For the record, the Cavaliers’ offense scored 76 points before an approaching thunderstorm caused an abrupt end to the show. Keep in mind the defense scored 70.
This wasn’t your ordinary spring game. In fact, it wasn’t a game at all. Due to the lack of numbers, coach Al Groh decided to run a situational scrimmage, which allowed the team to perform in the Red Zone (inside the 20), third-down situations, place-kicking and other phases of the game.
Points were given for pass completions, first downs, certain runs and passes, deflected passes, sacks, interceptions, and a number of other categories that sent the Scott Stadium scoreboard into astronomical gyrations.
But Virginia’s spring game wasn’t as much about points as it was opportunity. With one of the nation’s top-10 recruiting classes set to report in late July, Groh emphasized to the players on hand this spring that they would never have an opportunity to catch the coaching staff’s collective eyes than now.
Some players took heed. Players like wide receiver Michael McGrew, cornerback Art Thomas, linebacker Raymond Mann, all recipients of the Rock Weir awards as the most improved players. Others such as corner Jamaine Winborne (who moved ahead of the oft-injured Jay Hardy on the depth chart), tailbacks Marquis Weeks and Brad Durbin, offensive lineman Brian Barthelmes, nose tackle Melvin Massey and defensive end Brennan Schmidt, all made an impact.
“Our team is very much evolving,” said Groh. “We’re going to have 25 new players on the team on July 26. A lot of those players will probably be out there [on the field] on Aug. 22. Their indoctrination into the system is going to determine the answer to a lot of questions because we’re going to rework the formula. What I could say about a position or a unit right now might be significantly different well into August.”
Purists might have been disappointed in that there wasn’t enough plays from scrimmage for players to pile up the normal statistics that a true game format would have produced. Still, the healthy number of onlookers that showed up to the “fan friendly” festival, got a good look at the more familiar names on the roster.
Quarterback Matt Schaub completed 7 of 16 passes for 89 yards and a touchdown, while backup Marquis Hagans, who has peaked the curiosity of Wahoo fans with stories of his performance as scout team QB last fall, was 8 of 15 for 49 yards and two scores.
Both quarterbacks threw interceptions that obviously annoyed Groh, who noted, “there was some game management there, that if this was a real game, they would have put us at a disadvantage.”
On the other hand, one of the interceptions had to give the coach a glow. Thomas, a converted running back who struggled with his confidence at cornerback until late last season, picked up exactly where he left off … making a big play.
The rising junior darted in front of Schaub’s pass to wide receiver Michael McGrew and returned it 41 yards for a touchdown. Shades of last November, when Thomas picked up a fumble and returned it 92 yards for a touchdown that shifted momentum in UVa’s upset of Penn State.
“Today’s interception was kind of a flashback,” said Thomas, who said his confidence has grown ever since the big play against the Nittany Lions.
The team’s leading returning rusher, tailback Alvin Pearman rushed eight times for 31 yards and a touchdown, while Weeks carried 12 times for 90 yards and a TD. Durbin, a walk-on, had 41 yards and a score on nine attempts.
With so many blue-chip running backs signing with Virginia last February, if any current players felt a sense of urgency to make an impression, it had to be the tailbacks.
“I think that with the talent level that’s going to be at this position for quite some time, there’s going to be ongoing competition for playing time and carries,” Groh said, while noting that Weeks has been more consistent this spring.
UVa’s leading receiver in the game was sophomore Ottawa Anderson, who had four catches for 44 yards. Several players had two catches, while All-American candidate Billy McMullen was held to a single catch for 12 yards.

Spring notes. Groh estimated there were more than 130 high school players at Saturday’s workout, some part of the incoming class, but mostly prospects who wanted to get a closer look at the program. … The losing team won the Orange & Blue Hydrant, the new trophy that goes to the loser of the spring drills. … Place-kicker Kurt Smith connected on 4 of 6 field-goal attempts, making his three longest attempts. … The Cavs didn’t conduct any live punting due to the fact that the only consistent punter in the spring, Sean Johnson, will leave the team to go on a Mormon mission this fall. … Groh made it clear that incoming freshman Tom Hagan of Roanoke will go into August training camp as the team’s starting punter.

CHARLOTTESVILLE, April 20 -- Asked to summarize the Virginia Cavaliers' defensive struggles last season, inside linebacker Angelo Crowell recalled a third-and-long play deep in Virginia territory during a 41-21 loss at Maryland.

"The secondary was pointing to roll the coverage one way and I was pointing to roll the coverage another way," Crowell said. "With the miscommunication and not really knowing the defense, we rolled the coverage the wrong way and they completed it" for a first down.

The confusion was not uncommon for a defense that spent much of the season adjusting to new coach Al Groh's 3-4 system. The Cavaliers yielded 27.6 points and 430.6 yards per game.

"Last year, some people were on one coverage and some were on another," safety Jerton Evans said. "Everybody was on different pages."

Today the defense lost to the offense in the annual intrasquad scrimmage -- a complicated scoring system made the final tally 76-70 -- but Virginia's defenders said they finally are comfortable after a year of Groh's schemes.

"We have tremendous confidence in what to expect out of it," said cornerback Art Thomas, who returned an interception 41 yards for a touchdown today. "We understand it pretty well right now and we play with more confidence each time we go out there."

Confidence alone, however, will not enable Virginia to replace five members of last season's starting front seven, including all three starting linemen.

"I don't think you can announce improvement after 15 days [of practice] against yourself," Groh said. "Until you're improved against actual competition, you're just working at it."

That evolution will continue when Groh's highly touted recruiting class joins the team in late July. Several of the 25 incoming freshmen -- including linebackers Ahmad Brooks and Kai Parham, cornerback Marcus Hamilton and defensive linemen Kwakou Robinson and Keenan Carter -- are expected to play significant roles.

"A major issue for us will be to integrate the new players with the veterans on the team so that we have a smooth, cohesive operation," Groh said. "A lot of those [new] players will probably be out there [for the season opener] on Aug. 22."

Cavaliers Notes: Incoming freshman Tom Hagan will enter training camp as the starting punter, Groh said. Sean Johnson's upcoming Mormon mission leaves rising junior Bryce Coffee as Hagan's only competition for the job vacated by graduating senior Mike Abrams.