Like former Virginia Tech football teammate Pheldarius Payne, Norell Pollard was hoping to hear his name called in the later rounds of the 2024 NFL Draft on Saturday. Like Payne, his name was never called leaving the Hokies no players picked in their year’s draft.

As soon as the draft officially ended Saturday night, free agency opened for the players that went undrafted and Payne reportedly is signing with the AFC South champion Houston Texans. Pollard reportedly is going to the NFC East and not too far from the Virginia Tech campus in Blacksburg.

Justin Melo of The Draft Network reported Saturday night that Pollard was signing as an undrafted free agent with the Washington Commanders, joining first-year coach Dan Quinn’s roster.

Leading up to the draft after Virginia Tech’s Pro Day last month, Pollard met virtually and in person with other teams. One of the teams he met with was the Commanders. He also met with the Cleveland Browns, Los Angeles Rams, Tennessee Titans, New England Patriots, New York Jets, and Jacksonville Jaguars among some of the other teams.

Pollard sees himself as someone who is going to make an impact in the NFL and is full of confidence when he talked with The Draft Network.

“I’m going to make the best impact I can make. I’m going to be a great pass rusher at the next level. I can do that at a high level. I’m planning on being a great player. I’m somebody you want to have on your team.”

– Norell Pollard

It’s good to see Pollard get rewarded for all the hard work he has put in and hopefully, he gets to stick with the Commanders going into training camp over the summer.

The Ryley Music Show continued on a busy Saturday night of racing at Langley Speedway in Hampton, though DJ Valente and Rick Gdovic scored 30-lap Modified victories.

Music, one of the area’s best young drivers, made it look as easy as 1-2-3 on Mosquito Joe’s Night. He finished second and third in the Modified twin events and won the night’s longest race, a Virginia Racers 50-lapper.

Valente gained his second triumph of the young season, holding off Music by 0.343 of a second in a race with eight drivers. Gdovic, who placed sixth in the opener, bounced back in the nightcap as Peyton Ferree was the runner-up.

Virginia Racers: After almost 23 1/2 minutes, Music fended off Donovan Edwards by 1.057 seconds to emerge atop the field of 16 and score his second victory this season in the division.

Grand Stock: Longtime Langley competitor Paul Lubno made it 2 for 2 this year in getting to Victory Lane, beating Tim Wilson by 496-thousandths of a second over almost 27 minutes. Eight drivers started the 40 laps.

UCAR: Christian Keller remained in charge of the division, beating nine foes and winning his third race in as many tries. It came by a whopping 8.700 seconds over Thomas Fontaine in a 25-lap event that took Keller just less than eight minutes.

Enduro: Ryan Vinson led the field of 18 in a 30-lap race that took less than 10 1/2 minutes. He held off Zachary Herdlein by 1.096 seconds for his first victory of the year. Alex Floroff, who won the division’s first two races, was third, 1.435 seconds off the pace.

Legends: Tommy Jackson motored to his second victory in two tries, easing past Cody Carlton by 3.262 seconds in a 25-lap race that took more than 12 minutes and began with 11 drivers.

Bandolero: Bryson Nichols earned his second victory in two starts this year, overcoming Nevaeh Edwards by 253-thousandths of a second as they took just more than 8 1/2 minutes to complete 15 laps.

Saturday night’s results in Hampton (car numbers).

Modified 30 #1: (8 starters); 1. (18) DJ Valente; 2. (47) Ryley Music; 3. (3) Brad Adams; 4. (23) Peyton Ferree; 5. (11) Chris Roberts.

Modified 30 #2: (8 starters); 1. (64) Rick Gdovic; 2. (23) Peyton Ferree; 3. (47) Ryley Music; 4. (18) DJ Valente; 5. (3) Brad Adams.

Virginia Racers 50: (16 starters); 1. (47) Ryley Music; 2. (26) Donovan Edwards; 3. (9) Ayden Millette; 4. (45) Doug Warren; 5. (78) Atley Wiese.

Grand Stock 40: (8 starters); 1. (14) Paul Lubno; 2. (17) Tim Wilson; 3. (22) Bill Eaker; 4. (47) Nate Lundin; 5. (22) Mike Parker.

UCAR 25: (10 starters); 1. (6) Christian Keller; 2. (64) Thomas Fontaine; 3. (3c) Mikey Chinn; 4. (3) Michael Walters; 5. (7) Dwight Nikles.

Enduro 30: (18 starters); 1. (25) Ryan Vinson; 2. (32) Zachary Herdlein; 3. (17) Alex Floroff; 4. (11) Phil Nelson; 5. (12) Charles Jarvis.

Legends 25: (11 starters); 1. (87) Tommy Jackson; 2. (11) Cody Carlton; 3. (5b) Charlie Beals; 4. (7) Spencer Saunders; 5. (16) Ryan Mycka.

Bandolero 15: (12 starters); 1. (80) Bryson Nichols; 2. (02) Nevaeh Edwards; 3. (11) Addison Schumann; 4. (18) Tristan Burnelli; 5. (1) Tuggie Case.

Notre Dame keeps the crown.

The top-ranked and defending national champion Fighting Irish came into Charlottesville on Saturday afternoon to wrap up the regular season and handed the Cavaliers a third-consecutive loss for the first time in a decade.

No. 1 Notre Dame (10-1, 4-0 ACC) completed its undefeated 4-0 run through the ACC with an 11-9 victory over No. 6 Virginia (10-4, 1-3 ACC) on Saturday afternoon at Klockner Stadium.

The first half was a back-and-forth affair, with neither team leading by more than a goal until Virginia got goals from Jack Boyden and Payton Cormier to take a 6-4 lead into the halftime break. Cormier then scored again to start the third quarter to give UVA a 7-4 lead, but the Cavaliers would score only two more goals for the rest of the game in what was ultimately their quietest offensive performance of the season.

Notre Dame scored the next four goals, with each coming from a different goal scorer, to take an 8-7 lead. McCabe Millon found Cormier on a man-up opportunity to tie things up heading into the fourth quarter. After Shellenberger assisted on a Ryan Colsey goal to give UVA a 9-8 lead, the Cavaliers proceeded to go scoreless for the final 12 minutes and 52 seconds of game time. Notre Dame scored the final three goals of the game, including two from Devon McLane, and went on to win 11-9.

The story of the game comes down to sloppiness and mistakes, as the Cavaliers won the faceoff battle 13-10, but were still outshot by Notre Dame 42-30. The explanation for that statistical anomaly is that the Fighting Irish dominated the groundball battle 50-26 and had six fewer turnovers than Virginia, who had 27 turnovers and eight failed clears.

That sloppy play and inability to win the 50-50 balls gave Notre Dame a possession edge that was too much for the Cavaliers to overcome, as they suffered their third-consecutive loss for the first time since the 2014 season.

Payton Cormier had four goals on 10 shots and was the only Cavalier to score multiple goals in the game. Connor Shellenberger had one goal and two assists, but also turned the ball over six times.

Matthew Nunes made 10 saves and allowed 11 goals for a .476 save percentage.

Virginia concludes the regular season 10-4 overall and 1-3 in ACC play.

Up next is the ACC Tournament, which will be played next weekend for the first time since the 2019 season. UVA is the No. 4 seed in the tournament and will have a very quick rematch with No. 1 Notre Dame next Friday (time TBD) at American Legion Memorial Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina. The other semifinal will be No. 2 Syracuse and No. 3 Duke. The winners of the two semifinals will play for the 2024 ACC Men’s Lacrosse Championship on Sunday in Charlotte.