CHARLOTTESVILLE — Virginia seventh-year safety Antonio Clary held court with reporters in a hallway under Scott Stadium on Saturday night, a veteran relishing the trappings of a monumental 27-7 victory over nemesis Virginia Tech that clinched a berth in the ACC championship game.
Draped across his left shoulder was a custom professional wrestling-style championship belt that celebrated the Cavaliers’ status as “Undisputed State Champs.” A fan gave him the golden accessory on the field after the game.
Safety Antonio Clary is in his seventh season with Virginia’s football program. UVA ATHLETICS
“It was special,” he said. “All the blood, sweat and tears that I put onto that field, all the injuries I had to deal with — being able to leave that field victorious today in my last time at Scott Stadium, that’s huge, man. It’s bittersweet, to be honest with you. I tried to hold back some tears today, but you know, it ended the right way.”
Virginia, 18th in the most recent College Football Playoff rankings and 17th in the Associated Press Top 25, was emphatic in its toppling of its in-state rival. The Cavaliers won the yardage battle 380-197, held a 25-6 advantage in first downs and didn’t let the Hokies sniff the end zone until a big scoring play late in the fourth quarter against mostly reserve defenders.
UVA (10-2, 7-1) clinched only the second 10-win season in school history. It also matched its record for ACC victories and secured its second appearance in the ACC title game, where it will face Duke on Saturday night at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte. A win over the Blue Devils, a team the Cavaliers throttled 34-17 on the road Nov. 15, would almost certainly send Virginia to the College Football Playoff.
“We’ve got a great culture here, got great people throughout the entire building, and it’s very awesome to see those people and everyone in there have this opportunity,” said Cavaliers quarterback Chandler Morris, who racked up 207 total yards and a rushing score against the Hokies (3-9, 2-6).
Much of UVA’s success this year is owed to a robust transfer class that includes the likes of running back J’Mari Taylor, who rushed for 80 yards and a score and also tossed a touchdown pass, Morris and linebacker Maddox Marcellus (team-high nine tackles, interception and a tackle for loss).
But it was returning players like Clary who laid the foundation for what the program accomplished this season. The 6-foot, 204-pound Florida native has been a playmaker and unquestioned leader throughout a career marked by devastating injury and heartbreak on and off the field.
Four of his seasons have been cut short by maladies. He thrived, nonetheless.
In 2022, he finished fourth on the team with 56 tackles in eight games and also tallied his first college interception. After missing all of 2023 with an ankle injury, Clary posted 48 tackles and a pick in six contests last season. This year, he sat for the first three games while working his way back from offseason knee surgery and has recorded 19 tackles and two interceptions in a reserve role since his return.
He posted four stops and a critical fourth-quarter interception in a 17-16 overtime win at North Carolina on Oct. 25 and three tackles and a pick against the Hokies.
“My drive and love for football is super-high, and every time I go out there, I just play with passion and love for the game,” Clary said. “And like I said early in the season, I’m going to go until the wheels fall off. Being able to come back for another year and end it this way is huge and special for me, for sure.”
When reminded he’s the only UVA player in at least the last 20 years to experience two wins over Virginia Tech — he was injured when the Cavaliers pulled off their 39-30 triumph in Charlottesville in 2019 — Clary let out a “Heyyyyyyy!”
“It means everything,” Clary said. “You know all the talk, all the bragging rights for 365 days. Obviously, I beat them my first year, and then being able to beat them my last year here is special, and I’m going to hold this moment forever.”
Clary ended his home career in style. Because of his jersey #0, he was the first of more than 50 players introduced during a Senior Day ceremony prior to kickoff. It was an appropriate gesture for a player who has sacrificed much for the program.
He put an exclamation point on the win over the Hokies with a fourth-quarter interception to set up Will Bettridge’s 32-yard field goal that put the Cavaliers ahead 27-0 with 6:24 remaining.
Virginia’s senior class also includes sixth-year defensive tackle Jahmeer Carter (three tackles), fifth-year offensive linemen Noah Josey and Jack Witmer and fifth-year linebacker James Jackson (five tackles), all of whom were in the program before Elliott took over as head coach in 2021.
“It’s so awesome when you get to see quote-unquote forefathers — that’s what I called Clary in the locker room — they’re the forefathers of the program, but a lot of times they don’t get to see the promised land,” Elliott said.
“They see the vision, but they never get to experience it, so to see Josey and (Carter) and (linebacker Stevie) Bracey, and I even count the (recruits) who came in and were committed to the previous staff. It’s just a confirmation that they made the right decision to stay. The easy thing would have been to leave and go somewhere else to find quote-unquote greener grass, but now they’re getting to experience the green grass at least this season.”
Fans streamed onto the Scott Stadium greenery after Virginia recorded only its second win over Virginia Tech in their last 21 meetings. A graphic appeared on the video board that read “State Champions.”
The Cavaliers were bold in their championship aspirations this year.
During the ACC Kickoff in Charlotte in July, Morris boasted about his team’s objective of playing for championships this year, a tall task for a group that logged losing records in each of Elliott’s first four seasons.
They’ve scratched a state championship off their list and now shift their focus to their ACC title quest this week.
“That wasn’t just for show, for talk,” Morris said of his preseason proclamation. “The whole building believed in it. Just so proud of everybody involved in that building. It’s a great opportunity that we have. I’ve very humbled for this opportunity and just excited.”
The Cavaliers will make their second appearance in the championship game. The first came in Clary’s maiden season in 2019. Elliott was the offensive coordinator of the Clemson team that toppled UVA that year in Charlotte.
UVA seeks only its second outright ACC championship in school history — the first came in 1989 — and first since the conference adopted the championship-game format in 2005.
The Cavaliers were steadfast in their quest for championships this season, even after being picked to finish 14th out of 17 ACC teams in a preseason media poll.
“We believed in (Elliott’s) vision, and we stuck to the plan, and now it’s coming true,” Clary said. “All the people who laughed at us at the beginning of the season are sitting back and watching us play right now.”
