DURHAM, N.C. – Despite three touchdown passes from Sam Hartman, Wake Forest dropped a hard-fought contest at Duke on Saturday in both teams’ regular season finale, 34-31.
This was the first time since 2017 that the Demon Deacons (7-5, 3-5 ACC) fell to Duke (8-4, 5-3 ACC). Saturday’s contest marked the 102nd meeting in this historic rivalry and Wake Forest still holds a decisive 16-6 advantage in the series against the Blue Devils since the turn of the century.
Offensively, Hartman paced the Deacs as he went 26-of-42 passing for 347 yards and three touchdown passes. His go-to target on Saturday in Durham was A.T. Perry (eight catches for 87 yards and a touchdown), but Taylor Morin and Donavon Greene each caught a touchdown pass.
In his final regular season game of his career, Hartman’s three touchdown passes Saturday afternoon moved him to the top of the Atlantic Coast Conference record book as the Charlotte, N.C. native is now tied with Clemson’s Tajh Boyd for the most career touchdown passes (107) in league history.
Defensively, Jermal Martin, Jr. intercepted the first pass of his Wake Forest career in the fourth quarter. Additionally, in his final regular season game, linebacker Ryan Smenda, Jr. had a team-high 10 tackles, his sixth double-digit tackle performance . He now has 344 career tackles, which is the most by any Demon Deacon since 2000 and ranks ninth in all-time Wake Forest history.
Next up, the Demon Deacons will await to learn their bowl destination on Sunday, Dec. 4. Fans are encouraged to visit Wake Forest’s Bowl Central webpage and order tickets for the games you want to attend.
If fans have previously ordered tickets and know their account login, head to My Account at GoDeacs.com/Tickets and click on “Ticket Applications” to reserve bowl tickets now. If fans do not have an existing account, please fill out Wake Forest’s bowl interest form and the Demon Deacons staff will follow up with those specific fans with more information.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Wake Forest won the toss and deferred to the second half as Duke received the ball to open the game.
- Duke took a 3-0 lead after connecting on a 42-yard field goal on its opening offensive possession.
- After the Blue Devils drove the ball to Wake Forest’s…
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