100% Cotten
11/9/1999 12:00:00 AM | Football
Nov. 9, 1999
by Stan Cotten
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Wake Forest receiver Jammie Deese looked around Kenan Stadium following the Demon Deacons' 19-3 win over North Carolina and smiled. Victory had finally happened. For the first time in his career, and in his last chance to experience a win over the Tar Heels, Wake Forest used a rock solid defense and kicker Matt Burdick to get the job done.
Winning was especially sweet for the Laurinburg native who had offered up some bulletin board material for the Tar Heels earlier in the week with comments about his dislike for Carolina. The Tar Heels were waiting for him.
"No doubt," smiled Deese after the game. "They had seen or heard about my comments and were going after me."
"But it's a team effort. My comments were as an individual. I knew as a team we would come out, fight and scratch and give 'em all we could."
"I didn't expect anything less from Carolina, though," Deese added. "To their credit they played hard, aggressive, physical football. It was a great game, and we'll take it anyway we can get it. We had a lot of guys step up and make plays today."
For sure. Rhamen Love-Lane scored the game's only touchdown on the first and only catch of his career. Matthew Burdick was 4-4 on field goal attempts. And the Deacon defenders were nearly flawless in allowing the Tar Heels only 131 total yards, the fewest by a Wake opponent in almost 40 years. Deese didn't care how it happened, just that it did.
"It's such a great feeling to be 5-4," said the Deacon senior. "He (Burdick) stepped up and nailed 'em for us. Whenever we're creating distance between our score and their's, that's positive and keeps momentum going our way."
Entering the season Deese was in sight of becoming the ACC's all-time leading receiver and eclipsing the standard set by former teammate Desmond Clark. With the Deacs' revamped offense and focus on the running game, Deese has seen much fewer balls in the air. He won't break tha t record. But following the win over Carolina, he didn't seem to care.
"I knew coming into the season we were going to run the ball more," Deese confessed. "I'm not disappointed. I mean I'd like to get the ball more, but we're 5-4 and it feels great. If we don't throw the ball any more and finish 7-4, I'll be the happiest guy on the team."
The road to 7-4 starts with 6-4 and a win over Duke. Deese knows that won't be an easy task. Wake visits Durham this weekend for a 1:30 start against the Blue Devils.
"Duke is an improving team," says Deese. "They're gonna scrap and fight. We've got to step up to the next level."
"We're 5-4, but we've been there before and not taken the next step to get over the hump. We're going to have to go in there and take one away because they're hungry."
The Deacons have a bad taste in their mouth from last year's tilt with the Devils. Wake had a 13-9 lead going into the final quarter at Groves Stadium. But Sims Lenhardt's fourth field goal of the game inside the two minute mark provided the final margin of victory as Duke won a close one, 19-16.
But with a chance to secure a winning season, Wake should need no other motivation. Remember what Deese said, "It feels great to be 5-4."
Think how much better 6-4 would feel. See you Saturday on the radio.
