Demon Deacons Earn Road Win at Virginia Tech, 30-23

BLACKSBURG, VA. – For the ninth time in the last 10 seasons, the Wake Forest football team (3-2, 1-2 ACC) won its first road game of the season, defeating Virginia Tech (2-4, 1-1 ACC), 30-23, on Saturday afternoon inside Lane Stadium.

Additionally, the Demon Deacons now have a record of 8-2 in the last 10 games played against schools from the state of Virginia. This includes at least one win in five of the last six seasons, dating back to the 2020 season. The win also marks the first victory for the Demon Deacons inside Lane Stadium since the 1983 season.

The Demon Deacons recorded nearly 350 yards of total offense, as senior running back Demond Claiborne had a touchdown score for the fourth-straight game while redshirt senior quarterback Robby Ashford completed 24 passes for 256 yards and a touchdown. Seven different Demon Deacons recorded a catch, led by senior Sawyer Racnelli, who hauled in three passes for 88 yards.

In addition, redshirt senior tight end Eni Falayi added five catches for 50 yards, including an 11-yard touchdown reception, his first as a Demon Deacon. Sophomore tailback Ty Clark added his first career touchdown as the Nashville native ran for 22 yards on four attempts.

Defensively, Wake Forest was led by a standout effort from redshirt sophomore Davaughn Patterson, who notched eight tackles with three solo efforts and a tackle-for-loss. Senior defensive back Nick Andersen also added seven tackles with two solo efforts, half a tackle for loss, and the game sealing pass breakup on fourth down with less than two minutes to play.

In total, the Demon Deacons defense limited the Hokies offense to 263 yards, including only 111 passing yards. The Deacs also came away with a takeaway in the first quarter, as junior Dallas Afalava recorded his first career interception, becoming the first Wake Forest defensive tackle to record an interception since Kevin Pointer did so against Virginia last season.

The Deacs will continue their road trip swing next weekend when Wake Forest travels to Corvallis, Ore. to face Oregon State on Saturday, Oct. 11 for a 3:30 p.m. ET kickoff on The CW. This will be the first ever game for the Demon Deacons in the state of Oregon.

HOW IT HAPPENED

The Demon Deacons received the opening kickoff.
Wake Forest forced the first turnover of the game as Afalava notched his first career interception on the Hokies' opening drive.
- The Deacs capitalized off the turnover as Calvert connected on a 33-yard field goal to make it 3-0.
Virginia Tech took a 7-3 lead with 2:30 left in the first quarter.
The Deacs reclaimed the lead at the beginning of the second quarter as Claiborne powered his way into the endzone from 11-yards out.
- The second quarter score marked the Aylett, Va., native's seventh rushing touchdown of the season.
The Hokies took a 14-10 lead on their next possession.
Wake Forest took the lead once again off of a three yard rushing touchdown from Clark, making it 17-14.
- This marked the first touchdown of Clark's career.
The Demon Deacons extended their lead to 24-14 with 10 seconds left in the first half as Ashford connected with Falayi on an 11-yard strike.
- Asfhord went 4-for-5 for 36 yards on the drive, including a 17-yard pitch and catch with Mays to set the Deacs up in the red zone.
Virginia Tech tacked on a field goal on the opening drive of the second half to make it 24-17.
- The Hokies added another field goal on their following drive to cut the Wake Forest lead down to four.
Calvert added his second field goal of the game with 4:41 left in the third quarter to give the Demon Deacons a seven point advantage.
- Racanelli recorded a 62-yard reception to set the Demon Deacons up deep in Hokie territory.
After an Ashford interception, the Wake Forest defense stood tall with three goalline stops to force a Hokie field goal.
The Demon Deacon defense held on once again, forcing a missed Virginia Tech field goal with 8:44 left to maintain their 27-23 lead.
- Gatkouth recorded a pivotal sack on third down to force the Hokies to kick.
Calvert tacked on another field goal to make it 30-23 with 2:14 remaining.
The Wake Forest defense came up with a fourth down stop to secure the 30-23 win.

IN THE SPOTLIGHT

Quarterback Robby Ashford completed 24-of-39 passes for 256 yards and a touchdown, as well as 22 yards on the ground.
- The Hoover, Ala., native connected on two passes of 25 yards or more against the Hokies:
  - 26 Yard Reception by Eni Falayi, 2nd Quarter
  - 62 Yard Reception by Sawyer Racanelli, 3rd Quarter

STAGGERING STATISTICS

With the win on Saturday, Wake Forest has now won eight of the last 10 games when facing a team from the state of Virginia:
- This includes at least one win in five of the last six seasons:
  - Oct. 4, 2025 vs. Virginia Tech W, 30-23
  - Sept. 7, 2024 vs. Virginia L, 31-20
  - Oct. 14, 2023 at Virginia Tech L, 30-13
  - Sept. 16, 2023 at Old Dominion W, 27-24
  - Sept. 17, 2022 vs. Liberty W, 37-36
  - Sept. 24, 2021 at Virginia W, 37-17
  - Sept. 11, 2021 vs. Norfolk State W, 41-16
  - Sept. 3, 2021 vs. Old Dominion W, 42-10
  - Oct. 24, 2020 vs. No. 19 Virginia Tech W, 23-16
  - Oct. 17, 2020 vs. Virginia W, 40-23
    - Over this span, the Demon Deacons have outscored Virginia teams 320-226.
This marks the ninth time in the last 10 years that the Demon Deacons have won their first road game of the season:
- Oct. 4, 2025 at Virginia Tech W, 30-23
- Oct. 5, 2024 at NC State W, 34-30
- Sept. 16, 2023 at Old Dominion W, 27-24
- Sept. 10, 2022 at Vanderbilt W, 45-25
- Sept. 24, 2021 at Virginia W, 37-17
- Sept. 19, 2020 at NC State L, 42-45
- Sept. 6, 2019 at Rice W, 41-21
- Aug. 31, 2018 at Tulane W, 23-17 (OT)
- Sept. 9, 2017 at Boston College W, 34-10
- Sept. 10, 2016 at Duke W, 24-14

FROM COACH DICKERT
"What a hard fought game. I give a lot of credit to Virginia Tech. They just kept swinging and punching. That locker room is ecstatic. I'm so proud of these guys. Last week, they took it from us. This week, we went out and we earned it. I saw it all week. That was a response. It wasn't pretty and it wasn't easy. I'm just so proud of our football team to come into this environment and show who we are. We had a lot of gutsy performances. We did whatever it took. It took all of us that made this trip. I'm so proud of this team. Defense played lights out and we made the big plays that we needed. They could have been saying, 'Here we go again,' but they didn't. They just grinded it out and found a way to win a big football game. It was also a heck of a game from Connor Calvert. He was the better kicker today. I couldn't be prouder of our team."

UP NEXT
The Demon Deacons will continue their road swing next week when Wake Forest travels to Corvallis, Ore. to face Oregon State on Saturday, Oct. 11 for a 3:30 p.m. ET kickoff on the CW. This will be the first ever game for the Demon Deacons in the state of Oregon.

Next Event

Team Stats

Robby Ashford

Deshawn Purdie

Players Mentioned

Dallas Afalava

Nick Andersen

Robby Ashford

Connor Calvert

Demond Claiborne

Eni Falayi

Davaughn Patterson

Kevin Pointer

Sawyer Racanelli

Wake Forest Athletics