Passionate, Energetic Crowd Witnesses Instant Classic Between Wake Forest & Virginia in ACC Opener

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. -- In the Atlantic Coast Conference opener for both programs, the Wake Forest Demon Deacons (1-1, 0-1 ACC) and Virginia Cavaliers (2-0, 1-0 ACC) battled on Saturday night inside Allegacy Federal Credit Union Stadium among a near-capacity crowd of 30,012 fans and over 4,000 Screamin' Demons as the Deacs dropped a heartbreaker to the Hoos, 31-30.

This game, which was sponsored by Allegacy Federal Credit Union and Strickland Brothers Oil Change, served as Wake Forest's 'Gold Rush Childhood Cancer Awareness Game' where fans had the opportunity to purchase a specific ticket package for $35 that included a game ticket, commemorative t-shirt, a $20 gift card to Strickland Brothers Oil Change, and a $15 donation to Atrium Health Levine Children's Brenner Children's Hospital. Additionally, Dr. Lindsay Thompson, who is professor and chair of pediatrics at Wake Forest University School of Medicine and co-leader of Atrium Health Levine Children's, served as the Open the Gate Honoree and Lane Patrick, who was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia when he was 5 years old, was the Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist coin toss kid prior to kickoff.

On the field, in his first career start for Wake Forest, quarterback Hank Bachmeier recorded a 400-yard passing performance, as he connected on 27-of-42 attempts with a three-yard touchdown completion to wide receiver Donovan Greene in the third quarter. Greene finished the night leading the Deacs with 11 receptions for 164 yards, while running back Demond Claiborne recorded two touchdown runs and 86 yards on 21 carries.

Defensively, tackle Kevin Pointer recorded two tackles, one sack and a third quarter interception while cornerback Jamare Glasker also nabbed his first career interception. Linebacker Branson Combs led the Deacs with 13 total tackles and seven solo tackles.

Wake Forest will return to Allegacy Stadium next week when No. 6 Ole Miss from the Southeastern Conference comes into Winston-Salem for a 6:30 p.m. kickoff that will be nationally televised on The CW. Next weekend is Homecoming for Wake Forest University and less than 100 tickets remain for this ACC-SEC clash.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Wake Forest won the opening coin toss and deferred to the second half. Following the opening kickoff that resulted in a touchback, the Demon Deacon defense forced a three-and-out on its first appearance of the night.
The Deacs would strike first, going 71 yards in five plays for a touchdown on the offense's first drive. Junior running back Demond Claiborne capped the drive with a 17-yard touchdown scamper while redshirt senior Hank Bachmeier connected on all three of his pass attempts for 53 yards.
Despite the Cavaliers having a 1st-and-goal from the 3-yard line, Wake Forest would stand strong at the goal line and forced Virginia into a 19-yard field goal with 5:39 remaining in the first quarter.
Wake Forest pushed its lead to 10-3 with 2:27 left in the first quarter, as the Deacs drove deep into Virginia territory before redshirt junior Matthew Dennis converted on a 21-yard field goal.
- On 3rd-and-5 from the Deacs' 40 yard line, Bachmeier found redshirt sophomore wideout Horatio Fields in stride for a 42-yard completion.
The Deacs generated their first turnover of the night, as redshirt defensive tackle Kevin Pointer intercepted Virginia quarterback Anthony Colandrea, returning his pick 32 yards to the Cavaliers' 9-yard line.
- Wake Forest would take advantage of the short field, with Claiborne rushing for his second touchdown of the evening.
Virginia generated its first touchdown in response, cutting Wake Forest's lead to 17-10 with a little more than 10 minutes left in the opening half.
The lead for the Old Gold & Black would go back to 10, as Dennis hit on a 38-yard field goal with 7:17 left on the clock in the second quarter.
Virginia drove 75 yards in eight plays to cut back into the Wake Forest advantage with a 24-yard touchdown pass.
Deacs redshirt freshman wide receiver Deuce Alexander blocked a Virginia punt in the waning seconds of the second quarter, as Wake Forest led 20-17 at halftime.
A methodical drive to start the third quarter milked more than seven minutes off the clock, as Bachmeier found redshirt junior wide receiver Donavon Greene for a three-yard touchdown to complete a 14-play, 75 yard drive to extend Wake Forest's lead to 27-17.
- The Deacs churned 26 yards on the ground while Bachmeier and Greene connected twice for 20 yards.
Wake Forest quickly stopped Virginia's first drive of the second half, as redshirt sophomore cornerback Jamare Glasker collected his first career interception.
The Deacs' lead grew to 30-17, as Dennis converted for the third time on the evening with a 26-yard field goal with a little more than two minutes remaining in the third frame.
- On the 10-play, 69-yard scoring drive, 34 of the yards came from a Bachmeier to Alexander completion.
Virginia struck back with a touchdown, which capped a 66-yard drive, to make the game 30-24 with 10:37 left in regulation.
The Cavaliers would then take their first lead of the night with 2:07 left at 31-30.
Wake Forest had two opportunities to regain the lead, however, Virginia would win by one point.

IN THE SPOTLIGHT

With redshirt senior Hank Bachmeier recording his first-career start at quarterback on Saturday for the Demon Deacons, he became the eighth starting QB in the Dave Clawson era. First-time starting quarterbacks at Wake Forest are now 5-4 since 2014. Specifically on Bachmeier, the Murrieta, Calif. native threw for 400 yards and one touchdown as he went 27-of-43 against Virginia inside Allegacy Stadium. For the season through two weeks, Bachmeier has now tallied 666 yards of passing with four touchdown passes to zero interceptions.
Below is a complete list of first-time starting quarterbacks in the Dave Clawson era prior to today's game:

Michael Kern - Nov. 18, 2023 at Notre Dame:
- Kern threw for 81 yards as he went 11-of-20 against the Fighting Irish at Notre Dame Stadium. One week later in his second start at Syracuse on Nov. 25, 2023, the Orlando, Fla. native threw for 263 yards and three touchdowns on 18-of-24 passing.
Santino Marucci - Oct. 21, 2023 vs. Pitt:
- Marucci threw for 151 yards as he went 12-of-21 with one touchdown pass against Pitt inside Allegacy Stadium hitting redshirt junior Cameron Hite with just seven seconds remaining to earn a comeback 21-17 victory over Pitt to garner its first ACC win of the season on Homecoming Weekend.
Mitch Griffis - Sept. 1, 2022 vs. VMI:
- In Week 1 of the 2022 season, Griffis went 21-of-29 for 288 yards and three touchdowns against VMI. His 72.4 percent in a first career start is the second-best in school history and the best mark since 2006. Also, Griffis' three touchdown passes against VMI were the second most by a Wake Forest quarterback in his first career start.
Jamie Newman - Nov. 8, 2018 at No. 14 NC State:
- Newman led the Deacons to a come-from-behind 27-23 win with a game-winning 2-minute drill at No. 14 NC State. He hit TE Jack Freudenthal with a 32-yard pass with 30 seconds left to secure the win for Wake Forest. Overall, Newman completed 22-of-33 passes for 297 yards and three touchdowns and became the third QB in school history to throw three TD passes in their first career start, joining Keith West vs Vanderbilt (1990) and Norm Snead vs. Maryland (1958).
Sam Hartman - Aug. 30, 2018 at Tulane:
- Hartman had the best statistical debut in school history when he completed 31-of-51 passes for 378 yards (.608 completion percentage) and two touchdowns in an overtime win at Tulane in 2018 the season-opener. Hartman became the first Wake true freshman QB to win a season-opener. All his passing marks were school-bests for a true freshman in their first career start.
Kendall Hinton - Sept. 26, 2015 at Indiana:
- As a freshman, Hinton made his first career start vs. Indiana and had 245 passing yards and completed 19 passes with one touchdown. Hinton also rushed 22 times for 57 yards with two touchdowns.
John Wolford - Aug. 28, 2014 at ULM:
- Wolford became the first true freshman quarterback to start a season-opener in program history and he finished with 97 passing yards, five away from Solomon Everett's 1974 record of 102 for a true freshman in a debut. Wolford also became the first true freshman to complete better than 50 percent of his passes (12-of-22) in his first start.

STAGGERING STATISTICS
Wide receiver Donovan Greene had a career night with 11 receptions for 164 yards. Additionally, with his eight-yard reception in the first quarter, he extended his consecutive games with a catch streak to 27 games, which ranks tied for 10th in the country.

FROM COACH CLAWSON
"Congratulations to the UVA team. That was just a great football game. And, you know, they just kept coming and kept coming. They made a few more plays than us. Our guys competed really hard, and we're proud of the effort, but we didn't make enough plays. Obviously, the turnover at the end of the game was a critical one, and we had a chance to recover that we didn't. So again, it's one game. This one stings, but we've got another one in a week."

UP NEXT
Wake Forest continues its home stand when the Demon Deacons welcome No. 6 Ole Miss to Allegacy Stadium for Homecoming Weekend and a 6:30 p.m. kickoff on The CW. Overall, Coach Clawson is 4-0 against SEC opponents while at Wake Forest, including multiple wins over Vanderbilt and bowl wins over Texas A&M (Belk, 2017) and Missouri (Gasparilla, 2022).

This matchup between the Deacs and Rebels has been highly anticipated all offseason as less than 100 tickets remain for this seismic ACC-SEC clash. Once the game is sold out, fans interested in standing room only tickets for Saturday's Ole Miss - Wake Forest game can call the Wake Forest Ticket Office at 336-758-3322 for more information. Additionally once the game is sold out, tickets for the contest can be purchased on the secondary market as well thanks to Wake Forest's partner, SeatGeek.

Coach Dave Clawson's squad is an astounding 24-8 inside Allegacy Stadium since the start of the 2019 season and plays its next two games in Winston-Salem. Beyond the Deacs-Rebels matchup, multiple sellouts are expected for the rest of this season. Fans can purchase tickets now Louisiana (Sept. 28), Clemson (Oct. 12), Cal (Nov. 8) and Duke (Nov. 30).

For questions or assistance, please contact the Wake Forest Ticket Office at 336-758-3322 ext. 1 or tix@wfu.edu. Regular office hours are Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

Passionate, Energetic Crowd Witnesses Instant Classic Between Wake Forest & Virginia in ACC Opener

Next Event

Team Stats

Hank Bachmeier

Taylor Morin

Players Mentioned

Deuce Alexander

Hank Bachmeier

Demond Claiborne

Branson Combs

Matthew Dennis

Horatio Fields

Jamare Glasker

Donavon Greene

Mitch Griffis

Cameron Hite

Michael Kern

Santino Marucci

Kevin Pointer

Wake Forest Athletics

Passionate, Energetic Crowd Witnesses Instant Classic Between Wake Forest & Virginia in ACC Opener

Related News

Next Event

Team Stats

Game Leaders

Hank Bachmeier

Taylor Morin

Players Mentioned

Deuce Alexander

Hank Bachmeier

Demond Claiborne

Branson Combs

Matthew Dennis

Horatio Fields

Jamare Glasker

Donavon Greene

Mitch Griffis

Cameron Hite

Michael Kern

Santino Marucci

Kevin Pointer

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