SYRACUSE, N.Y. — The Wake Forest football team captured an overtime road victory over Syracuse, 40-37, Saturday afternoon at the Carrier Dome.
The Demon Deacons (6-0, 4-0 ACC) were led by a three-touchdown performance from redshirt sophomore wide receiver A.T. Perry. He scored on all three catches he had in the game and finished the day with a career-best 137 yards.
The final reception lifted the Deacs past the Orange (3-3, 0-2 ACC) as he grabbed a 22-yard pass from quarterback Sam Hartman in the left side of the end zone in overtime. It was his seventh touchdown of the season, the most of any Wake Forest player and it ranks among the top three in the conference.
Hartman finished the afternoon with season-best 330 yards and he has now increased his passing totals in each game this season. Additionally, this is his second-straight 300-yard passing game and his third three-touchdown game of the season.
The game-winning drive was set up by a defensive stand on the first drive of overtime. The Deacs defense limited the Orange to just three points and allowed Wake Forest to win the game with a touchdown.
HOW IT HAPPENED
After receiving the ball on the opening possession of the game, the Demon Deacons methodically drove the field before a 42-yard connection from Sam Hartman to Jaquarii Roberson put Wake Forest in position to score first.
The Deacs got the ball down to the Syracuse 5-yard line where they settled for a Nick Sciba 22-yard field goal. It was the 23rd consecutive made field goal for the junior from Clover, S.C., giving Wake Forest a 3-0 advantage at 12:02 in the first quarter.
The Orange answered on their first possession of the game to take the lead, 7-3. The 78-yard drive was capped off by a six-yard run from Syracuse running back Sean Tucker.
Both teams traded possessions throughout the remainder of the quarter with neither team in position to score.
Two plays into the second quarter Syracuse moved its lead to 14-3 as Garrett Shrader connected with Anthony Queeley on a 24-yard touchdown pass.
Undaunted, Wake Forest answered on its next possession with a 46-yard touchdown pass from Hartman to A.T. Perry to close the gap to 14-10 with 11:53 left in the first half.
The Orange answered on their next possession to take their lead to 21-10 with the help of a 10-play, 71-yard drive.
On the next drive, Sam Hartman took a deep shot to the endzone that was tipped and intercepted.
The Demon Deacon defense held the Orange within their own 5-yard line. The three-and-out forced a Syracuse punt that gave Wake Forest excellent field position inside of Orange territory.
A 25-yard reception from Jaquarii Roberson on a 3rd-and-23 helped move the drive inside the Orange 20-yard line.
Five plays later, Hartman punched it in from one-yard out to make it a one score game.
At halftime, the Demon Deacons trailed 21-17, which marked their first halftime deficit of the season.
After forcing a three-and-out from Syracuse to start the second half, the Demon Deacons cashed in on the next possession.
Nick Sciba hit his second field goal of the game to extend his nation-leading streak to 24 consecutive field goals made.
The junior connected from 40 yards out to make it a 21-20 game in favor of Syracuse.
The Deacs took their first lead of the game on a 69-yard touchdown pass from Hartman to Perry.
The longest play of Atorian Perry’s career put the Demon Deacons up 26-21 with 4:32 remaining in the third as the Deacs were unable to convert a two-point conversion.
Syracuse regained the lead (27-26) a few minutes later with a five-play, 75 yard drive, capped off by a 14-yard touchdown rush by Shrader.
The Demon Demons denied the Orange’s two-point try.
Wake Forest answered as Christian Beal-Smith found the end zone from 10 yards out to give the Deacons a 34-27 advantage with 3:28 left in the game.
The Deacs went for two as Sam Hartman found a streaking Jaquarii Roberson in the right corner of the endzone to push the Wake Forest edge to seven points.
The Demon Deacons regained possession at Syracuse’s 37-yard line just three plays later as Ja’Sir Taylor recovered a fumble forced by Traveon Redd.
After a three-and-out from the Wake Forest offense, Syracuse tied the game at 34 with a 28-yard rushing touchdown from Tucker to force overtime.
Wake Forest won the toss and elected to start on defense. After gaining a first down, the Demon Deacon defense held tough, forcing the Orange to settle for a field goal.
The Deacs got the ball on the 25-yard line, needing a touchdown to win the game.
After a three-yard run from Christian Beal-Smith on the opening play of the drive, Sam Hartman took a shot to the endzone, finding a diving A.T. Perry for the game-winning catch.
Wake Forest captured its second consecutive victory at Syracuse, winning 40-37 in overtime.
IN THE SPOTLIGHT
A.T. Perry finished the game with a career-high 137 yards on three catches. All three catches were touchdowns including the game winner in overtime.
Through six games this season, he leads the Demon Deacons with seven touchdown catches. Additionally, his second catch of the game that went for a 69-yard touchdown was the longest play of his career and the longest offensive play for the Demon Deacons this season.
STAGGERING STATISTICS
Wake Forest has now started its season 6-0 for the second time in program history (1944). Additionally, the Demon Deacons are off to a 4-0 start in ACC play for the first time in program history.
Wake Forest is the only undefeated team in the ACC and one of 17 teams still unbeaten entering Saturday.
The Demon Deacons became the first program in the Atlantic Coast Conference to become bowl eligible with its win over Syracuse. Wake Forest has now extended the conference’s third-longest bowl streak to six consecutive seasons.
FROM COACH CLAWSON – “What a great college football game. I am really proud of our team. I just thought that we were resilient. Today, I did not feel like we necessarily had our fastball, but we just kept hanging in there and making plays.
“I give a lot of credit to Syracuse. I think that Dino (Babers) has done a great job. They are a much improved football team and their crowd does a great job as it was a loud and difficult environment. We made some adjustments in the second half trying to take away the quarterback run.
“Sam (Hartman) did not play his best game, but he played with a ton of courage, toughness and resilience. We made plays on the outside, whether it was by A.T. (Perry), Jaquarii (Roberson) or Taylor (Morin).
“We had two chances to put that game away. When we have a turnover (in the fourth quarter) and we just need one first down, then we pin them inside the 10-yard line and we don’t get a stop on a two-minute drill. It was just deja vu all over again from 2019 when we went to overtime.
“We got a stop on defense and Atorian (Perry) made an unbelievable catch. It was a magical day for our football team.”
UP NEXT
The Demon Deacons enter their bye week and are back on the field again on Saturday, Oct. 23 when the Deacs travel to West Point, N.Y. for a matchup with Army. Wake Forest is 11-5 against Army all-time.
Kickoff is scheduled for 12:00 p.m. on CBS Sports Net.
