Wake Forest Football came up short Saturday evening in Durham as they fell to the Duke Blue Devils in a frustrating final ACC matchup. The Demon Deacons were plagued by self-inflicted wounds, as they turned the ball over four times and committed 97 yards worth of penalties.
The game began with the Duke offense meeting little resistance, as the Blue Devils drove down the field on eight plays and 75 yards, capped off by a Nate Sheppard five-yard touchdown run. After the Deacs’ opening drive resulted in a Connor Calvert 42-yard field goal, Duke once again marched down the field, this time in ten plays, culminating in a Darian Mensah QB keeper touchdown to end the first quarter. Wake Forest’s defense committed four penalties in their first two drives for 58 yards.
The Demon Deacon offense punched back to start the second quarter with chunk plays from Demond Claiborne, Chris Barnes, and Carlos Hernandez, before Robby Ashford found senior wideout Sawyer Racanelli over the shoulder for a 22-yard touchdown to make it 14-10 Duke.
Wake Forest then forced their first three-and-out of the game, and the offense got well into Blue Devil territory before Claiborne fumbled on first down. The next Wake drive also ended in a turnover, this one on downs as Ashford was ruled short of the line to gain on third down (a call that, to the shock of Demon Deacon fans, was upheld after review), and Wake made the very aggressive decision to go for it on fourth down.
It was a keeper for Ashford on fourth and short, and it looked as if he would have had it if he had gone up the middle, but instead he chose to cut to the outside, where he was taken down for a loss, and the Blue Devils got the football inside the Deacon 35-yard line.
With a short field, it should not have taken much for Duke to find the end zone again. Nonetheless, the Wake defense came close to a stop twice, but Mensah found open receivers both times on third down, including a strike to Que’Sean Brown to the 1-yard line, allowing tailback Anderson Castle to score on the following play.
Faced with a diminishing clock, Wake’s downfield passing attack continued, with quick chunk plays to Hernandez and Racanelli to get deep into Duke territory. Ashford then found senior wideout Karate Brenson in the south end zone for Brenson’s first Wake Forest touchdown, making it 21-17, which held into the half.
The Deacons got the ball to start the second half, but were quickly smothered into a three-and-out by the Duke defense. The teams traded punts, but Wake’s boot midway through the third quarter was badly shanked, allowing the Devils to start at the Deacon 35-yard line.
Mensah then almost immediately connected with Sahmir Hagans for a 30-yard touchdown. A few plays later, Ashford was intercepted, and more Deacon penalties allowed Duke deep into Wake territory again. Once again, Anderson Castle punched it in to make it a 35-17 game.
Ashford was able to march the offense down the field and keep it himself for a touchdown to end the third quarter, but Hagans returned the kickoff 80 yards, and Sheppard broke free for a 13-yard score to retain a two-score lead at 42-25.
Wake’s offense continued to find success, with another quick drive through the air setting up a Ty Clark rushing touchdown, but turnovers reared their ugly head to take away any chance of a comeback. The defense got some stops, but between another Claiborne fumble (this one inside the Duke 30), a successful Duke fake punt, and a Ma’Khi Jones strip sack of Ashford, there simply wasn’t enough time on the clock, as another Mensah passing touchdown in the final minute cemented a 49-32 defeat.
After the game, Head Coach Jake Dickert kept it simple: “They beat us decisively in every area”. Regarding self-inflicted wounds, he said, “We were just never able to get back into it. Just when I thought we had a little momentum, we couldn’t sustain it, despite probably our best day throwing the football.”
Focus now turns to selection on Sunday, Dec. 7, when the Deacs will find out their bowl assignment and opponent.
