Wake Forest stops, starts, laps Western Carolina
It was worth the wait for Wake Forest.
Both in terms of getting Demond Claiborne running and Saturday’s game against Western Carolina, which was twice delayed by weather.
By the time the game ended — roughly six hours after it started — the Deacons had a 42-10 win against the Catamounts at Allegacy Stadium.
“It’s been a marathon day,” coach Jake Dickert said on Wake’s radio call.
His star running back playing more than four snaps helped the Deacons (2-0) coast to the finish line of this marathon.
Claiborne, having played only four snaps in last week’s season opener, had 10 carries for 193 yards — a career high for the senior. He scored on runs of 33 and 27 yards in a 12-second span of the first quarter. In between, Zamari Stevenson had an interception.
Claiborne broke off an 85-yard touchdown in the third quarter and his day/night ended shortly after.
“Was a fun one, for sure,” Claiborne said on the radio call. “We did a great job of creating vertical seams. The O-line played their ass off.”
The first delay hit on the first possession of the game and lasted 2 hours, 18 minutes. Soon after halftime started, there was another announced delay. It meant halftime lasted an additional 42 minutes from its scheduled restart.
Both teams agreed to shorten the fourth quarter to 10 minutes.
Wake’s first touchdown was a 41-yard run by quarterback Robby Ashford. The sixth-year quarterback threw a 51-yard touchdown to Sterling Berkhalter in the second half, his first passing touchdown as a Deacon.
Ashford completed 13 of 22 passes for 227 yards. He also rushed for 66 yards on seven attempts.
Chris Barnes was Wake’s leading receiver with 149 yards on six catches. The Deacons’ last touchdown came on a 27-yard pass from Deshawn Purdie to Jeremiah Melvin.
Wake Forest outgained Western Carolina (0-2) by a 542-238 margin. The yards-per-play difference was 9.5 to 3.1.
EXTRA POINTS: Claiborne is up to 1,904 career rushing yards, which is 15th all-time for the Deacons. In this game alone, he passed Brian Piccolo (1,735), Mark Young (1,811), Brandon Pendergrass (1,865), Christian Beal-Smith (1,871) and Justice Ellison (1,901). … Wake Forest had five sacks, with 2½ of them by Langston Hardy. … Davaughn Patterson had seven tackles and three passes broken-up. … Western Carolina quarterback Taron Dickens did not play for the second straight game.
