Wake Forest football suffered a devastating defeat to Tobacco Road rival North Carolina on Saturday night, falling to the Tar Heels, 31-24.
Demond Claiborne continued to be the brightest spot in the Demon Deacons’ offense, rushing for 95 yards and two touchdowns. The multi-rushing touchdown performance represents his fourth time this season with two or more rushing touchdowns.
“Whenever he’s out there, we try to feed him the ball as much as possible,” Wake Forest Head Coach Dave Clawson said postgame.
North Carolina ran their offense through star running back Omarion Hampton. Going into the day, the Demon Deacons held opponents to just 143.3 rushing yards per game, yet Hampton’s 244 rushing yards represented his eighth-straight 100+ yard game, a UNC record. Hampton surpassed that mark in just the first quarter alone, entering the second quarter with exactly 100 rushing yards to his name. He finished with a late touchdown, as well.
“Sometimes, great players are still going to make things happen,” defensive end Jasheen Davis said. “That’s a credit to him.”
The game was within reach for the Demon Deacons throughout the entirety of the first three quarters. Wake Forest’s defense, despite allowing the rushing yards from Hampton, held the Tar Heels to 10 points entering halftime. Jacolby Criswell (132 pass yds, 2 combined TDs) scored the lone touchdown of the first half.
The Demon Deacons suffered an injury scare early on in the second half, when starting quarterback Hank Bachmeier went down with a left shoulder injury early on. The quarterback had tried to scramble through his offensive line, but didn’t go unscathed, getting hit by a North Carolina defender and remaining down afterwards.
“[Bachmeier] could’ve gone back into the game,” Clawson said. “We just thought [that] with the game plan and what they were doing, we would have to continue to run the quarterback.”
In Bachmeier’s stead, backup quarterback Michael Kern struggled at points in his first appearance since the teams’ loss against Clemson. After leading the Demon Deacons to a touchdown on his first drive, Kern struggled throughout the rest of the night, including a pick-six courtesy of Tar Heel linebacker Power Echols.
“There’s opportunities this year where we have momentum, and we just let it go,” Clawson said. “Those turnovers were absolute killers.”
North Carolina was not absolved of self-inflicted mistakes, either. On a later drive whilst up 14 points, Criswell dropped back to throw a pass but lost control of the ball, which was recovered by Wake Forest’s B.J. Williams.
Claiborne carried a touchdown in to bring their deficit to within one score; however, on the ensuing Wake Forest drive, Kern rolled right and tried to find receiver Horatio Fields, only to be intercepted again, this time by UNC’s Marcus Allen.
“I just miscommunicated with [Fields],” Kern said postgame. “I shouldn’t have tried to force it.”
The Tar Heels scored with Hampton and increased their lead to 14 points. The Demon Deacons earned a touchdown back late on, but the ensuing onside kick attempt was unsuccessful, dooming the Demon Deacons to a 31-24 loss.
“I feel like two weeks in a row, we’ve beaten ourselves,” Clawson said. “‘We’ve had a lot of one-score games this year, and this time, we came up short again.”
Wake Forest will take on the No. 12 Miami Hurricanes next Saturday in Miami Gardens, Florida. The 12 p.m. kickoff at Hard Rock Stadium will be broadcast on ESPN.
