WATCH: Wake Forest's Essang Bassey Scoops Up Fumble And Scores 51-Yard TD
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (wakeforestsports.com) – The Wake Forest offense scored early and scored often Saturday (Sept. 29), as the Demon Deacons cruised past Rice, 56-24, on Family Weekend.
The Demon Deacon (3-2, 0-1 ACC) offense exploded in the opening 30 minutes of play, taking a 42-3 lead into the halftime break. The 42 points are a single-half record under head coach
Dave Clawson while the 21 points in the first quarter are tied for the second-most in a single quarter in the Clawson era.
Greg Dortch tied his own school record for touchdown receptions in a game (4) and finished the day with 163 receiving yards.
Cade Carney had his first multi-touchdown day since September 10, 2016, while
Matt Colburn II became the 12th player in program history to surpass 2,000 career rushing yards to pace the offense. Quarterback
Sam Hartman finished the day 15-of-17 for 241 yards and four touchdown passes. The freshman signal caller completed his final 12 attempts before yielding the quarterback duties to
Kendall Hinton in the second half.
Wake Forest recorded a pair of defensive touchdowns against Rice (1-4, 0-1 C-USA), returning two interceptions to the end zone. It marked the first game with two defensive scores for Wake Forest since Nov. 22, 2008 against Boston College.
Luke Mastersonfell one tackle shy of matching his career high with eight stops while
Justin Strnad and
Demetrius Kemp added seven tackles each.
The Deacs stormed out to a 28-0 lead as Dortch and Carney traded touchdowns through the first 17 minutes. After punting on their first drive, the Deacs scored touchdowns on their next six, sparked by a 54-yard pass from Hartman to Dortch less than five minutes into the game to make it 7-0 in favor of the Deacs. Carney rushed on six of Wake Forest's seven plays on the next drive for 31 yards, capped off by a 1-yard touchdown run as the lead grew to 14-0.
Hartman was the featured Deacon on the next drive, completing all four pass attempts on a seven-play, 61-yard drive, connecting with Dortch for a 10-yard touchdown to push the lead to 21-0. Masterson had the first interception of his career and returned it 43 yards, setting up a short field and an eventual 1-yard TD plunge from Carney.
Following a Rice field goal, Hartman and Dortch again connected, this time for a 38-yard touchdown to push the lead to 35-3 with 8:10 left in the second quarter. Wake Forest responded with another score when
Zeek Rodney forced a fumble and
Essang Bassey returned it 51 yards for a touchdown, extending the advantage to 42-3 at the break.
After trading punts to open the second half, Rice found the end zone for the first time Saturday afternoon as Shawn Stankavage connected with Austin Walter for an eight-yard touchdown pass.
Big plays by Dortch and Jack Freudethal set the Deacs up for their next scoring drive. Hartman found Dortch for a gain of 25 before hitting Freudenthal down the sideline for 42 yards on the very next play. Two plays later, Hartman connected with Dortch for the fourth time of the afternoon to extend the lead to 49-10.
The defense stepped up for its second score of the afternoon with Chuck Wade, Jr. intercepting Stankavage and returning it 60 yards to the end zone midway through the third quarter.
Rice added a pair of touchdowns on a 38-yard rush by Austin Walter and a 3-yard pass from Stankavage to Aaron Cephus to cap the scoring at 56-24 in favor of the Demon Deacons.