Deacons wear down Black Knights, 25-11

Maybe three-hour practices are the way to go, after all.

One week after yet another anemic offensive performance, the Wake Forest Demon Deacons survived a second-half scare on Saturday and rebounded to defeat the Army Black Knights 25-11 at historic Michie Stadium.

Army hung close for most of the game, eventually taking the lead on a Daniel Grochowski field goal with 3:44 remaining in the third quarter. The lead was short-lived, however, after Tanner Price hit tight end Spencer Bishop for a 39-yard gain to the Army 25. Two plays later, Josh Harris was standing in the end zone after the first of his 2 touchdowns on the day.

The Deacs appeared to put their 15-yard rushing performance against ULM firmly behind them, rushing for  228 yards on 45 carries. For his part, Harris finished with 96 yards and 2 touchdowns, finally establishing himself as the Deacs' number one back.

Senior flanker Michael Campanaro finished the game with 4 catches for 91 yards and a touchdown, the lone bright spot in a sloppy first half that ended with the Deacs clinging to a 10-5 lead. Passing yards were hard to come by in this highly physical contest, Price was 6-17 for 132 yards, a touchdown and an interception. Price also carried the ball 10 times, accounting for 66 yards.

Army quarterbacks Kelvin White, A.J. Schurr and Angel Santiago combined to go 10-18 for 86 yards, while junior tailback Terry Baggett carried the ball 16 times for 125 yards. The Army option attack rang up a total of 271 rushing yards on the afternoon, churning for an impressive 5 yards a carry.

Wake Forest's success on the ground Saturday was secondary to the play of Nikita Whitlock, however. The senior spent most of his afternoon as an uninvited guest in the Army backfield, tallying an astounding 14 tackles and causing a first half fumble that was recovered by the Deacons' Hunter Williams.

Stay tuned to BSD for more updates, including postgame quotes and reaction.