BLACKSBURG — Wake Forest was in desperate need of an ACC win on Saturday at Lane Stadium.
Virginia Tech did its part to push the Demon Deacons over the line.
The Hokies surrendered two touchdowns in the last 3 minutes of the first half and failed to muster enough offense the rest of the way, falling 30-23. It was the first conference loss of the season for Virginia Tech and also its first loss since former head coach Brent Pry was dismissed after an 0-3 start.
“Disappointing and frustrating,” said interim head coach Philip Montgomery, who had led the Hokies to wins in his first two games in charge. “But I was proud of our guys for how hard they were playing.”
Playing hard or not, Virginia Tech’s setbacks could easily be linked to untimely errors and avoidable mistakes, such as four 15-yard penalties that either kept Deacon drives alive or caused promising Hokies drives to stall.
And while Virginia Tech (2-4, 1-1 ACC) managed to hold Wake to just three points in the second half and close in on a two-touchdown halftime deficit, potential TD drives were constantly reduced to just field-goal opportunities. Nine points was not enough.
“Our penalties were costly, but those guys are playing really, really hard,” said Montgomery of his team, which was flagged six times for 74 yards. “Those are things we can clean up. Those are things we can get better at. But I don’t question, ever question, how hard they’re playing.”
Virginia Tech’s best scoring chance in the second half came late in third quarter, when cornerback Isaiah Brown-Murray first downed a punt on Wake Forest’s own 2-yard line and then picked off a Robby Ashford pass that was tipped by Hokies defensive lineman Jaden Keller.
Brown-Murray returned the ball to the 4-yard line, but the Hokies went backward from there due to a personal foul penalty and settled for three points.
“It was unfortunate we couldn’t get it in,” Brown-Murray said. “But our offense is playing hard. (The defense) made some mistakes, too.”
Wake (3-2, 1-2), which had opened its ACC schedule giving up halftime leads and losing to North Carolina State and Georgia Tech, forced the first turnover of the game on Virginia Tech’s first drive, when its blitzing defense forced the pocket around quarterback Kyron Drones to collapse almost immediately. It led to a loose football, which was ruled an interception by the Deacons’ Dallas Afalava on the Hokies’ 13-yard line.
The defense was up for the challenge following the turnover, forcing the Deacons to settle for a 33-yard field goal by Connor Calvert.
Drones and the rest of the offense made up for that early mistake later in the first quarter, taking advantage of a poor punt by Wake’s Cal Joseph. Virginia Tech used its running game, going 43 yards on eight plays — almost exclusively on the ground — and taking its first lead on a 3-yard run by Marcellous Hawkins.
Wake responded with an assist from the Hokies’ defense. Early in the second quarter, Ashford was hurried by the Virginia Tech pass rush and overthrew his intended receiver, but a late hit penalty on defensive lineman Ben Bell gave the Deacons a first down and led to an 11-yard touchdown run by King William graduate Demond Claiborne.
The Hokies worked their way back into the lead, wrapping up a 75-yard, six-play drive sparked by a 43-yard run by Terion Stewart and Drones finding Takaye Heath for a 9-yard TD pass to go up 14-10. However, mistakes would cost them in the final minutes of the half.
Virginia Tech’s defense once again made a third-down stop with 3:59 to play in the half, but a late-hit penalty called on Kaleb Spencer gave the Deacons a new set of downs on the Hokies’ 14-yard line. Three plays later, a Ty Clark 3-yard run put Wake back into the lead at 17-14.
The Deacons regained possession and good field position with under 2 minutes to play following a 23-yard shank of a punt by Nick Veltsistas and went 44 yards on seven plays to score their third touchdown of the half on an 11-yard pass from Ashford to Eni Falayi.
Wake’s offense dominated time of possession in the first half while racking up 209 yards of total offense.
