Courtesy GoDeacs.com
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – The Wake Forest football team opened the 2021 season with a convincing 42-10 victory over Old Dominion on Friday night at Truist Field.
The Demon Deacons (1-0) put up six touchdowns en route to a 42-10 victory over the Monarchs (0-1), pushing their home winning streak to four games.
Quarterback Sam Hartman tossed three touchdowns and threw for 184 yards for the Deacs. Christian Beal-Smith led Wake Forest on the ground with 74 yards rushing and two touchdowns. Meanwhile, Jaquarii Roberson pulled in six receptions and one touchdown and A.T. Perry tallied 81 yards with four catches and a touchdown to lead Wake Forest in the air.
Defensive back Ja’Sir Taylor had a career night as he caught his fifth-career interception and returned his first ever kickoff 99 yards to the endzone. He is the first FBS player to return a kickoff for a touchdown this season.
Traveon Redd also picked off a pass in the second quarter. Jasheen Davis led the Demon Deacons up front as he tallied nine tackles. The true freshman registered his first collegiate sack and added 2.5 tackles for a loss in his first career start.
The Demon Deacons staunch defense held the Monarchs to just three completed passes for 10 yards in the first half as the Deacs held a commanding 28-3 lead heading into the locker room.
Wake Forest brought the Winston-Salem community together on Friday night as Winston-Salem State’s Red Sea of Sound performed at halftime with the Spirit of the Old Gold & Black.
Additionally, Friday marked President Susan R. Wente’s first football game of her tenure. Along with being the Opening the Gate honoree, Dr. Wente was given the game ball by Coach Dave Clawson after the team sung the alma mater with the marching band.
HOW IT HAPPENED
After the teams traded three-and-outs to open the game, the Wake Forest defense stuffed the Monarchs on a fourth-and-one from Wake Forest’s 44 yard-line.
Three plays later, Christian Beal-Smith scored the first touchdown of the season as the Winston-Salem, N.C. native marched 48-yards down the sideline to put Wake Forest up 7-0 with 8:57 left in the first quarter.
The Monarchs cut into the Demon Deacons’ advantage (7-3) with a 38-yard field goal, ending a six-play, 2:56 drive.
Just moments later, Ja’Sir Taylor returned the ensuing kickoff for a 99-yard touchdown to increase Wake Forest’s lead to 14-3 with 12 seconds left in the first period.
Taylor’s 99-yard kickoff return for a touchdown at the end of the first quarter is tied for the third-longest kickoff return in Demon Deacon history and the first kickoff return touchdown in Division I football during the 2021 season.
Wake Forest’s defense opened the second quarter with their first forced turnover of the season as Traevon Redd picked off his second pass of his career to give Wake Forest possession at Old Dominion’s 48-yard line.
Following a three-yard rush by Christain Turner and a six-yard completion to Taylor Morin from Sam Hartman, the Deacs increased their lead to 21-3 as Hartman found AT Perry for a 36-yard touchdown with 12:01 remaining in the first half.
Wake Forest found the end zone for the fourth time of the half as Hartman tossed his second touchdown of the game to Jaquarii Roberson, marking Roberson’s fifth-straight game with a receiving touchdown.
Ja’Sir Taylor capped off a stifling defensive performance through the air with Wake Forest’s second interception of the game just three plays later to keep their 28-3 lead into intermission.
The Deacs held the Monarchs to three completed passes for just 10 yards through the air in the first half.
Jasheen Davis finished the first 30 minutes of play with a career-high seven tackles to lead Wake Forest defensively.
The Deacs got the scoring going in the second half courtesy of another Beal-Smith rushing touchdown, increasing Wake Forest’s lead to 35-3.
The redshirt junior now has nine rushing touchdowns in his collegiate career.
Ke’Shawn Williams added a sixth touchdown for the Demon Deacons with 12:50 to go in the fourth quarter. Hartman lobbed a four yard pass to Williams for his first collegiate touchdown.
IN THE SPOTLIGHT
Christian Beal-Smith led the Wake Forest rushing attack in the season opener, finding the endzone twice for the second multi-score performance of his collegiate career.
On the defensive side of the ball, Ja’Sir Taylor capped off a memorable performance with a 99-yard kickoff return that he ran to the house for the Deacs second score of the game and the first interception of his senior campaign.
STAGGERING STATISTICS
In his 20th start, Sam Hartman threw three touchdowns to three different receivers for the first time in his career and moved into seventh place on the Wake Forest all-time passing list with 5,059 career yards following with a 19-yard pass to Jaquarii Roberson midway through the first quarter.
Christian Beal-Smith led Wake Forest’s rushing attack with 74 yards and two touchdowns, the second multi-score game of his career.
Ja’Sir Taylor’s 99-yard kickoff return for a touchdown at the end of the first quarter is tied for the third-longest kickoff return in Demon Deacon history. Additionally, Taylor’s touchdown became just the second kickoff return for a score since 2008 (Donovan Greene, Oct. 2, 2020)
After connecting on six extra points tonight, Nick Sciba needs just 32 points to break the Wake Forest record for career points currently held by Sam Swank with 337 career points.
Wake Forest is perfect 6-0 in nonconference season openers over the last seven years. With this victory, the Demon Deacons now move to 10-2 all time against Conference USA foes. Coach Dave Clawson remains undefeated against programs from the Commonwealth as Wake Forest has now earned five-straight wins against teams from Virginia inside Truist Field.
FROM COACH CLAWSON
“Our thoughts are with all the families at Mount Tabor High School and the Winston-Salem community members that have been affected by the horrific shooting that happened. When you drop your son or daughter off to school, you certainly never think something like that will happen. It’s tragic and we wanted to recognize Mount Tabor, we put the logo up and we want them to know that we’re thinking of them. Additionally, I want to thank our students, we had a great student crowd, it was overflowing and that is one of the best student crowds that I’ve seen at Wake Forest. Thank you for your support, energy and the group that stayed until the very end. It was nice to sing the fight song with them.”
UP NEXT
The Demon Deacons continue a three-game homestand on Saturday, Sept. 11 against Norfolk State at Noon on ACC Network Extra before welcoming Florida State for their conference opener on Saturday, Sept. 18 at 3:30 p.m. on ABC or ESPN.
