RALEIGH, N.C. – NC State scored four touchdowns in the final six minutes of the second quarter to grab the lead, and went on to defeat Syracuse 41-17 at Carter-Finley Stadium. The Wolfpack (8-3, 5-2 ACC) also scored a touchdown in all three phases of the game: offense, defense and special teams.
Neither team moved the ball much in the first quarter, as the teams combined for just 68 yards and neither team scored. The game was scoreless over the first 24 minutes, then the two teams combined for 35 points over the final six minutes of the first half.
The scoring opened up late in the second quarter with a total of five touchdowns. The Pack got a pair of offensive TDs and also one defensive and then special teams TD to grab a 28-7 halftime lead.
NC State started the scoring with a Ricky Person, Jr. 15-yard TD run midway through the quater. Only two plays later, MLB Drake Thomas picked off a Syracuse pass and returned it 38 yards for the score, the Pack’s first defensive TD of the season.
The Orange cut the lead in half on its next drive with a 55-yard TD run.
On the ensuing kickoff, Zonovan Knight took the kickoff back 97 yards, the second straight week Knight has returned a kickoff for a touchdown. The Pack struck again just eight seconds before halftime, going 80 yards in just five plays capped by a Devin Leary to Christopher Toudle 14-yard score.
The team’s traded field goals on each of their opening possessions of the second half, Christopher Dunn for 37 yards followed by Syracuse’s for 45.
A second Thomas brother scored a TD, this on the offensive end, as Thayer Thomas caught an 8-yard pass to put the Pack up 38-10 going into the fourth quarter.
In the fourth, Syracuse added another long rushing TD (48 yards) and Dunn connected on a 21-yard field goal for his second of the game.
STAT LEADERS
• QB Devin Leary
17-of-24 for 303 yards, 2 TDs
• Ricky Person, Jr.
12 rushes for 50 yards, 1 TD
• WR Thayer Thomas
5 catches for 80 yards, 1 TD
• LB Drake Thomas
8 tackles, 2 sacks, 1 INT returned for a TD
NOTABLES
• NC State won its ninth straight game at Carter-Finley Stadium dating back to last season.
• NC State scored an offensive, defensive and special teams touchdown all in the same game for the first time since against Vanderbilt in the 2016 Independence Bowl.
• Zonovan Knight is the first Pack player with a pair of kickoff returns to go for a touchdown in the same season since Tobais Palmer also had two in 2012. Knight is also the 1st player in school history with three career kickoff returns for a TD.
• Drake (INT return) and Thayer (reception) Thomas both had TDs today, they are the first pair of brothers to both score a TD in the same season since Dave and Don Buckey in 1975.
• QB Devin Leary had over 300 yards passing for the fifth straight game, the most in a single season since Russell Wilson also had five straight in 2010.
UP NEXT
The Pack will close out the regular season next Friday, hosting North Carolina at 7 p.m.
