Blacksburg, Va. ? A year after West Virginia dashed Virginia Tech’s national title aspirations, the Hokies returned the favor.

Brandon Pace kicked four field goals to atone for last week’s late miss, and Virginia Tech played superb defense to beat No. 6 West Virginia, 19-13, Saturday, paying back the Mountaineers for that 2003 shocker.

Vincent Fuller intercepted Rasheed Marshall’s pass with 18 seconds left to seal the victory for Virginia Tech (3-2), which held on after taking a 16-0 lead in the second half.

“They embarrassed us last year,” said Tech defensive end Jim Davis, who blocked a WVU field-goal attempt in the second quarter. “All the coaches kept reminding us how they just gave it to us last year. So, they came to our house, and we had to give it back.”

The Mountaineers (4-1) might have been starting to think about going undefeated, because all their remaining opponents are unranked. Last year, the Hokies’ national title aspirations were dashed by a 28-7 loss at West Virginia.

“It’s a long season,” West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez said. “There will be very few teams that are undefeated.”

The win ended WVU’s streak of 11 in the regular season. The last time the Mountaineers had dropped a regular-season game was a 22-20 loss to Miami on Oct. 2, 2003.

“I’m glad to win a close one,” Virginia Tech coach Frank Beamer said. “I think we could have done some things earlier to put the game away, but we kind of like to make them hard, I guess.”

On the visitors’ last possession, Marshall pitched the ball to Charles Hales, a backup quarterback who lined up in the backfield on the play and completed a 32-yard pass to Eddie Jackson. With a 15-yard penalty for roughing the passer tacked on, WVU had the ball at Tech’s 41.

Virginia Tech's Vincent Fuller (8) is swarmed by teammates after an interception in the final minutes of their game against West Virginia. The Hokies stunned the sixth-ranked Mountaineers, 19-13, Saturday at Lane Stadium in Blacksburg, Va.

But on the very next play, Fuller ended the Mountaineers’ hopes by picking off a pass at the 22.

Pace made field goals of 29, 30, 35 and a career-long 46 yards, making up for a 43-yard miss as time expired in a 17-16 loss to N.C. State a week ago.

Tech’s Mike Imoh gained 115 yards on the ground in his first career start, and stymied the Mountaineers in the final minutes with six carries for 20 yards to force WVU to exhaust its timeouts.

“Coaches told us on the sidelines, you need two to three first downs to end the game,” Imoh said. “We were able to get a couple and were able to kill that clock out.”

Tech, which used to be in the Big East with WVU, is now in the Atlantic Coast Conference. The Hokies and Mountaineers are scheduled to meet only once more, next season at Morgantown.