Deacs Rally to Down No. 14 NC State 27-23

By Wake Forest Athletic Communications (@WakeFB)

RALEIGH, N.C. – Wake Forest completed a fourth quarter comeback with a touchdown pass from Jamie Newman to Jack Freudenthal in the final minute to upset No. 14 NC State 27-23 Thursday night at Carter-Finley Stadium. The Demon Deacons (5-5, 2-4 ACC) erased a 10-point deficit in the final period as they posted their first ranked road win since 2008.

The comeback marked the first time since 2007 that Wake Forest rallied from down double digits in the fourth quarter to win. The victory was also the Deacs' first win in Raleigh since 2006 and their first over a ranked foe on the road since a 12-3 victory at No. 24 Florida State in 2008.

Newman, making his first career start, went 22-of-33 for 297 yards and three touchdowns, including two in the fourth quarter comeback. Sage Surratt made eight catches for 109 yards and Greg Dortch had six catches for 75 yards to lead the wide receiver corps. Cade Carney led the rushing attack with 68 yards on 12 carries.

The Wake Forest defense was led by Amari Henderson, who recorded a career-high 14 tackles to go with two pass breakups. Cameron Glenn had 11 tackles, including a career-high four tackles for loss and his first career sack.

NC State (6-3, 3-3) capitalized off an early Wake Forest miscue, as Dortch muffed a punt deep in Deacon territory. The Wake Forest defense held the Wolfpack to a field goal to minimize the damage as NC State took a 3-0 lead. Late in the first quarter, the Wake Forest defense again held the Pack to a field goal after a drive into the red zone, as NC State led 6-0 after the opening period.

The Demon Deacons cut the lead in half when Nick Sciba connected on a career-long 47-yard field goal in the second quarter. NC State pushed the lead to 13-3 on the ensuing possession as Ryan Finley capped the drive with a 2-yard touchdown run. The Wolfpack took that 10-point edge to the break.

Wake Forest received the second half kickoff and drove down the field for a 34-yard field goal by Sciba to cut the deficit to 13-6. After a NC State field goal pushed the lead to 16-6, the Deacons scored on a 38-yard pass from Newman to Alex Bachman to make the score 16-13 after three quarters.

On the first play of the fourth quarter, Emeka Emezie scored on a 35-yard touchdown pass to push the Wolfpack lead to 23-13. Midway through the quarter, the Wake Forest defense forced a turnover on downs and the offense converted with a 9-play, 61-yard drive capped by a 19-yard touchdown pass to Dortch to bring the Deacons to within three at 23-20 with 6:07 left. On the ensuing drive, NC State went for it on 4th-and-5 from the Deacs' 20-yard line, but an incompletion gave Wake Forest the ball back with 1:39 to play.

On the game-winning drive, three quick completions got the ball into Pack territory with under a minute to play. On a 2nd-and-10 play at the NC State 32-yard-line, Newman found Freudenthal in the middle of the field, who broke free and ran to the end zone to give the Deacs their first lead of the night with 30 seconds to play.

On NC State's hail mary attempt on the last play of the game, wide receiver Scotty Washington, in the game to defend, caught his first career interception to seal the win.

The victory gives Wake Forest a ranked win for the third consecutive season, tying the longest such streak in school history. The Demon Deacons also defeated ranked teams three straight years from 2006-08.

Wake Forest concludes its home schedule next Saturday, Nov. 17, against Pitt. Game time at BB&T Field is noon.

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Team Stats

Newman J

Players Mentioned

Alex Bachman

Cade Carney

Greg Dortch

Jack Freudenthal

Cameron Glenn

Amari Henderson

Jamie Newman

Nick Sciba

Sage Surratt

Scotty Washington