This is what is supposed to happen when you schedule Delaware in week 11 of the season. A good Wake Forest team took the Blue Hens apart like a Thanksgiving turkey, winning 52-14 before a few thousand people at Allegacy Stadium Saturday afternoon. The Deacs are now 8-3 on the season and 4-3 in the ACC, with the regular season finale at Duke next week. Wake can expect its postseason fortunes to go up this week.
Wake Forest Does What It Was Supposed To Do
Close For a Few Minutes
The game was close for about the first half of the first quarter. Then it took on varying degrees of ugliness. On its first drive of the game, Wake marched 84 yards downfield. That included head coach Jake Dickert opting to go for it on fourth and four, even that early in the game. The end result was a one-yard push up the middle by Demond Claiborne for the 7-0 lead.
In no world would a Wake Forest fan think Claiborne rushed for 37 yards on 12 carries and Wake won by 45 points. The Deacs wound up with 263 rushing yards. And that was with receiver Chris Barnes being the leading rusher with 78 yards on one carry. It was that kind of weirdness that goes with these misfit week 11 games.
Wake scored again in the first quarter on a nine-play, 59-yard drive. Dickert went for it on fourth down again, this time fourth and two near midfield. Running Back Ty Clark burst up the middle from 13 yards out for the score. Dickert opted to go for the two-point conversation. Receiver Sawyer Racanelli took the snap and ran it in for the 15-0 lead.
Dickert Goes Big Early
Delaware got its first of two touchdowns in the second quarter. Quarterback Nick Minicucci connected with Viron Ellison, Jr., with no Wake defender within five yards of the receiver. Ellison easily cruised 43 yards for the touchdown to narrow the Wake lead to 15-7. That was as good as it got for Delaware all afternoon.
Wake added a Connor Calvert 44-yard field goal to cap a drive that included a 43-yard run by quarterback Robby Ashford.
The Wake lead grew to 25-7 on a broken play. Ashford had to tuck and run, scrambling to the right from six yards out to cap an 88-yard drive and put the Deacs up 25-7.
Delaware fumbled the ensuing kickoff, and Wake recovered at the Blue Hens 25 25-yard line. And then they went backward. Ashford ran a play where he took the snap and sprinted to the line of scrimmage, only to throw a lateral to an unsuspecting Barnes. As the ball rolled backward four yards, Barnes was at least alert enough to fall on top of it to maintain possession. Wake’s drive was five plays for minus-eight yards. And yet they got a 54-yard Calvert field goal to extend the lead to 28-7. “He won’t do that again,” Dickert said with a chuckle of Ashford’s play.
Putting It Away In First Half
If Dickert was not trying to make a point in the closing minutes of the first half, he sure gave the impression that he was.
With Delaware’s offense struggling and Wake already up by three touchdowns, Dickert was using his timeouts on defense to stop the clock and try to get the ball back. It worked. Sort of. Delaware went three and out and had to punt. But Ashford threw an interception to give the Blue Hens the ball back. Delaware promptly returned the favor, fumbling at Wake’s 21-yard line.
Already up 28-7, Wake went large. Ashford went deep downfield to Carlos Hernandez, who had three steps on the defensive back. He made the catch at the Delaware 37 and cruised in the rest of the way for the 79-yard touchdown. It was a one-play drive that took 10 seconds off the clock and gave Wake a 35-7 lead going into the half.
After the game, Dickert spoke with certainty that he was not trying to run up the score or make a statement with the last play. “We were going to play that situation aggressively, thinking get a field goal,” the coach said. “And we felt very comfortable taking that shot against their corners’ coverage. We worked on it all week.”
More of the Same in the Second Half
The second half was just about finishing what they started. “Our guys were not going to be denied,” Dickert said after the game. And he said with the big lead he had room to give plenty of snaps to the reserves. “That’s what I love about that fourth quarter. Get some of those young guys some evaluations and some time in real games.”
In the second half, it was more of the same for Wake’s offense. On third and eight from the Delaware 19-yard line, Ashford threw a fade to the left side of the end zone. The defender never turned to find the ball. Sterling Berkhalter slammed on the brakes. The defender went right by him, and Berkhalter was all by himself for the touchdown catch and the 42-7 Wake lead.
On a team that has lacked explosive plays on offense for much of the season, Wake had yet another up its sleeve on this day. Nearing the end of the third quarter, Ashford rolled to his right at his own seven-yard line. There was a streaking Hernandez along the right sideline. The pass caught him in stride at the Wake 23-yard line, and Hernandez did the rest of the work, finishing off a 93-yard scoring play, for a 49-7 lead.
Wake Forest added a 47-yard field goal, and Delaware got a touchdown in what was essentially garbage time.
The Deacs finished with 577 yards of total offense while holding Delaware to 300. Ashford was 15 of 22 for 292 yards, three touchdowns, and one interception.
Next
“We didn’t need to make a statement today,” Dickert said. “It was just about preparing our guys for situational football. We’re going to need that the last two games.” That would be Duke next week and a bowl game in December.
Last Word will have more post-game coverage of the win over Delaware on Sunday
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