Wake Forest University
7-4 , 3-4
Syracuse
6-5 , 3-4
Demon Deacons Capture Senior Night Win Over Syracuse at Truist Field
11/20/2022 12:40:00 AM | Football
Saturday capped a record-setting home season for Wake Forest where Truist Field hosted an average of 3,378 students per game this fall.
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Behind standout performances from redshirt junior quarterback Sam Hartman and wideout A.T. Perry on Senior Night where Wake Forest honored 22 students prior to the game on Saturday and members of the Spirit of the Old Gold & Black (15), Spirit Squads (15) and student staffers (six) were recognized at halftime, Wake Forest defeated Syracuse, 45-35.
The victory was the Deacs' (7-4, 3-4 ACC) third-straight over the Orange (6-5, 3-4 ACC). Additionally, Wake Forest has now won seven games in a season for just the 18th time in the 115-year history of the program with six of those seasons coming in the Clawson era.
Truist Field hosted a total of 210,350 fans across the Deacs seven home contests this fall and an average of 3,378 students per game. These record crowds, which included three sellouts this fall, have helped spur the Deacs to a stellar 20-4 record since 2019.
Saturday's contest between Wake Forest and Syracuse featured a record-breaking performance from Perry, as now holds the school record for career touchdown receptions. The Lake Worth, Fla. native now has 27 touchdown receptions and he passed Wake Forest's 2022 ACC Legend, Ricky Proehl (25).
Additionally, Perry's three touchdown catches in the first half matched his career high set last year at Syracuse and marked the redshirt junior's fourth career multi-touchdown performance. Overall, Perry caught 10 passes for 119 yards, his fourth 100-yard performance of the season as well as the 11th 100-yard performance of his career.
Meanwhile, not to be outdone, Hartman's four-touchdown performance on Saturday night brought him within three touchdown passes of Clemson's Tajh Boyd's ACC record (107). Overall in his final home game at Truist Field, the Charlotte, N.C. native completed 30 passes for a total of 331 yards.
The Demon Deacons aforementioned senior class was led defensively by linebacker Ryan Smenda, Jr. The Orange Park, Fla. product had five tackles, including 0.5 for loss. He now has 334 career tackles, which is the most by any Demon Deacon since 2000 and ranks ninth in all-time Wake Forest history.
Also on defense, redshirt junior defensive back Brendon Harris returned an interception 36 yards for a touchdown. This marked the first INT of his career and the second pick-six for the Demon Deacons this season.
Wake Forest closes out the regular season on the road next week at Duke on Saturday, Nov. 26. The contest will kickoff at 3:30 p.m. and will be broadcast on either ESPN2 or ACC Network.
HOW IT HAPPENED
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Wake Forest won the toss and deferred to the second half as Syracuse opened the game with the ball.
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Syracuse took a 7-0 lead following a 11-play, 75-yard scoring drive on its opening offensive possession.
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The Deacs responded with a scoring drive of its own as Matthew Dennis capped off a 14-play, 60-yard drive with a 33-yard field goal. Syracuse got the ball back with 6:03 remaining in the first.
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The Demon Deacon defense shut down the Orange on its next drive, forcing a punt. Wake Forest took over at its own one-yard line after a 44-yard punt.
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After a Wake Forest punt, the Deacs forced a three-and-out thanks to big plays from Kobie Turner and Tyler Williams.
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A 17-yard punt gave Wake Forest great field possession as the Deacs took over at Syracuse's own 35.
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The Deacs took its first lead (10-7) of the game as Sam Hartman connected with A.T. Perry on a 12-yard touchdown through the air.
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With the score, Perry tied Ricky Proehl (1986-89) for the program record in career receiving touchdowns with 25.
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A two-yard touchdown rush pushed the Orange back ahead of the Deacs (14-10) with 11:34 left in the second half.
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Big pass plays from Hartman to Ke'Shawn Williams (16 yards) and Jahmal Banks (36 yards) set Wake Forest up in the red zone. On 4th and 1, a fumble by the Demon Deacons gave Syracuse the ball back.
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Syracuse extended its advantage to 21-10 with a 33-yard touchdown pass with just less than seven minutes remaining in the second.
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Hartman connected once again with Perry on a passing touchdown as the Deacs cut Syracuse's lead to 21-17.
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The 29-yard touchdown reception helped Perry break the program record in career touchdown receptions.
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Sack on back-to-back plays from Jasheen Davis, Kendron Wayman and AJ Williams forced a missed field goal from 42 yards out.
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Taylor Morin took the short field goal and returned it 20 yards to Wake Forest's own 20-yard line.
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The Deacs took advantage of the big defensive stops, marching down the field to regain the lead (24-21) again before the halftime break. Hartman found Perry for the duo's third touchdown pass of the opening 30 minutes.
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Wake Forest went 80 yards in just 2:25, its longest drive of the first half. On the scoring drive, Hartman completed 7-of-8 attempts for 62 yards.
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After the teams traded punts on the first two drives of the second half, the Deacs extended its lead (31-21) to double digits as Hartman tossed a jump ball to Williams in the end zone.
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Wake Forest manufactured a 12-play, 70-yard drive that took over four minutes of game time.
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Highlighted by a 3rd down sack by Chelen Garnes, Wake Forest's defense continued to swarm the Orange to open the second half.
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Quinton Cooley powered his way into the end zone from four yards out to extend Wake Forest's lead to 38-21 with 13:14 left in the fourth quarter.
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Two plays later, Brendon Harris extended Wake Forest's lead to 45-21 with a pick six as the redshirt junior made his way into the end zone from 36 yards out.
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Syracuse responded with a 41-yard touchdown pass with 10 minutes remaining in the game, trimming the Wake Forest lead to 45-28.
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The Orange got their fifth touchdown of the night with 5:13 left in the fourth quarter, capping off a five-play, 80-yard drive that lasted just 66 seconds.
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Syracuse missed a 34-yard field goal attempt with four seconds left before Wake Forest closed out the game in victory formation.
IN THE SPOTLIGHT
Wake Forest Athletics honored 22 football players, 15 members of the Spirit of the Old Gold & Black, 15 Deacs from the Spirit Squads and six student staffers on Saturday evening at Truist Field. Several football student-athletes that were honored on Saturday have remaining eligibility and following this season will assess the potential of returning for the 2023 season.
The Demon Deacons senior class were led on the field on Saturday night by A.T. Perry, Sam Hartman and Ryan Smenda.
Perry now holds the school record for career touchdown receptions with a career-high tying three touchdown catches on Saturday night. The Lake Worth, Fla. native now has 27 touchdown receptions and he passed Wake Forest's 2022 ACC Legend, Ricky Proehl (25).
Additionally, Perry's three touchdown catches in the first half matched his career high set last year at Syracuse and marked the redshirt junior's fourth career multi-touchdown performance. Overall, Perry caught 10 passes for 119 yards, his fourth 100-yard performance of the season as well as the 11th 100-yard performance of his career
Meanwhile, not to be outdone, Hartman's four-touchdown performance on Saturday night brought him within three touchdown passes of Clemson's Tajh Boyd's ACC record (107). Overall in his final home game at Truist Field, the Charlotte, N.C. native completed 30 passes for a total of 331 yards.
The Demon Deacons aforementioned senior class was led defensively by linebacker Ryan Smenda, Jr. The Orange Park, Fla. product had five tackles including 0.5 for loss. He now has 334 career tackles, which is the most by any Demon Deacon since 2000 and ranks ninth in all-time Wake Forest history.
STANDOUT STATS
Truist Field hosted a total of 210,350 fans across the Deacs seven home contests this fall and an average of 3,378 students per game. These record crowds, which included three sellouts this fall, have helped spur the Deacs to a stellar 20-4 record since 2019.
With three touchdown catches on Saturday, redshirt junior wide receiver A.T. Perry has recorded 27 career touchdown receptions, the most by a Demon Deacon wideout in program history.
Perry tied Ricky Proehl's (1986-89) previous program record in the first quarter before rewriting the record book with 5:07 remaining in the first half on a 29-yard touchdown pass from Sam Hartman. Perry snagged another touchdown grab late in the first half to give Wake Forest a 24-21 lead.
Additionally, Perry's career touchdown reception total ranks tied for ninth in ACC history.
FROM COACH CLAWSON
"I'm just proud of our football team. The last couple of weeks have been tough, but we kept working, kept preparing and I'm glad we can send our seniors out with a win. I don't feel like it was clean football. It was really, in a lot of cases, very sloppy football. We had a bunch of drops in the first half. We tried the quarterback sneak and couldn't handle the snap. Then defensively, we gave up some big plays. We made more plays than them and the offense really got humming. In the second and third quarter there to me, that was the offense that I kind of expected to see all year and it was exciting to see us humming along like that. I give Syracuse credit for coming back. They played to the very end and made plays and had me feeling a little nervous there in the fourth quarter. It's hard to win. When you look through college football in Week 11, there's a lot of crazy games. Our guys showed up and made plays. We got win No. 7 in the books, so now we're getting ready for in-state rival Duke next week."
UP NEXT
Wake Forest closes out the regular season on the road next week at Duke on Saturday, Nov. 26. The contest will kickoff at 3:30 p.m. and will be broadcast on either ESPN2 or ACC Network.
Team Stats
SYR 7, WFU 0
SYR - Tucker,Sean 9 yd run (Szmyt,Andre kick), 11 plays, 75 yards, TOP 04:47
SYR 7, WFU 3
WFU - Dennis,Matthew 33 yd field goal 14 plays, 60 yards, TOP 04:10
SYR 7, WFU 10
WFU - Perry,A.T. 12 yd pass from Hartman,Sam (Dennis,Matthew kick) 6 plays, 35 yards, TOP 01:33
SYR 14, WFU 10
SYR - Tucker,Sean 2 yd run (Szmyt,Andre kick), 5 plays, 75 yards, TOP 02:07
SYR 21, WFU 10
SYR - Cooper,Devaughn 33 yd pass from Allen,LeQuint (Szmyt,Andre kick) 4 plays, 94 yards, TOP 01:47
SYR 21, WFU 17
WFU - Perry,A.T. 29 yd pass from Hartman,Sam (Dennis,Matthew kick) 6 plays, 75 yards, TOP 01:46
SYR 21, WFU 24
WFU - Perry,A.T. 10 yd pass from Hartman,Sam (Dennis,Matthew kick) 11 plays, 80 yards, TOP 02:13
SYR 21, WFU 31
WFU - Williams,Ke'Shawn 17 yd pass from Hartman,Sam (Dennis,Matthew kick) 12 plays, 70 yards, TOP 04:43
SYR 21, WFU 38
WFU - Cooley,Quinton 4 yd run (Dennis,Matthew kick), 11 plays, 55 yards, TOP 04:38
SYR 21, WFU 45
WFU - Harris,Brendon 36 yd interception (Dennis,Matthew kick)
SYR 28, WFU 45
SYR - Allen,LeQuint 41 yd pass from Shrader,Garrett (Szmyt,Andre kick) 5 plays, 75 yards, TOP 02:29
SYR 35, WFU 45
SYR - Shrader,Garrett 8 yd run (Szmyt,Andre kick), 5 plays, 80 yards, TOP 01:06
