100% Cotten
11/24/1999 12:00:00 AM | Football
Nov. 24, 1999
by Stan Cotten
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Wake Forest quarterback Ben Sankey sat perched atop the north endzone goalpost like a king on a throne. He looked down on a celebration that had been seven years in the making. His Demon Deacons had just defeated 12th ranked Georgia Tech to get to 6-5 and lock down a sure trip to a bowl game.
?It sure does feel good,? shouted fellow senior receiver Jammie Deese. ?We finally got over the hump.?
Wake Forest had not been bowl eligible since the 1992 team went to the Independence Bowl and beat Oregon. 26 seniors, most of them 5th year players, had attacked Georgia Tech like life itself depended on victory. For their pride and the program, perhaps it did.
?We had our backs against the wall,? Deese added. ?We, as seniors, had talked all season about having to step up. We knew everyone had counted us out, but we knew we could steal one here in our home place. It happened to be the last game of the season against the 12th ranked team in the country.?
With the celebration intensifying and the goalpost that once held Ben Sankey coming down, running Morgan Kane stood amazed.
?I?ve never been through something like this,? he said. ?It?s a great experience.?
It was Kane?s great performance that helped send the Deacs bowling. For the second time this season, Kane had eclipsed the 200-yard plateau. He rushed for 224 yards on 39 carries, both career highs. He didn?t seem that surprised.
?There was no doubt in our minds,? Kane said. ?These seniors, we were out to prove something today. We wanted to turn Wake Forest football around. No-one was going to deny us on our day.?
There was no denying the herculean effort. Entering the game, Georgia Tech had the nation?s best offense, scoring 42 points a game and piling up 511 yards per outing in the process. Wake Forest held the Yellow Jackets to 65 yards less than their average, but more importantly limited Tech to just 23 points, its lowest output of the season.
Wake?s offense was nearly flawless in the first half. Two touchdown marches totaled 79 and 70 yards. Matt Burdick?s two field goals (he would add two second half 3- pointers for a perfect 4-4 effort) got the Demon Deacons to a 20-0 lead at intermission. You could smell upset in the air.
It was only fitting that the defense was on the field as time expired on the Yellow Jackets with quarterback Joe Hamilton in the arms of Wake tackle Fred Robbins. The defense had set the tone all season. And now, with Hamilton in the sack, the Deacs had more football to play. Coach Jim Caldwell saw the big picture.
?You just can?t totally measure what this means,? said Caldwell after hist postgame talk with his players. ?The immediate benefit, though, is another twenty or so practices. That?s like having another spring practice. For a guy like C.J. Leak and our young players, we get more practice time, and that?s very important.?
?In terms of recruiting, now we?ll have practices on the weekend when we have young people coming to look at our program. It makes a huge difference in that regard. When your labeled as a winner, you can attract more quality people.?
Winner. Has a nice ring to it, doesn?t it?
