Sports > September 11, 2008

By Matt Six | Staff writer

Things looked bleak for the Deacs near the end of the game against Ole Miss, who just scored a touchdown and converted the go-ahead extra point to go up 28-27 with only 1:01 remaining in the game. “I was really down, my heart kind of sunk,” Head Coach Jim Grobe remarked about relinquishing the lead late in the game.

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Junior Kevin Harris catches a pass from junior quarterback Riley Skinner to score the Deacon’s first six points of the game in the 30-28 win over Ole Miss. (Mary Kate Wagner/Old Gold & Black)

Things looked bleak for the Deacs near the end of the game against Ole Miss, who just scored a touchdown and converted the go-ahead extra point to go up 28-27 with only 1:01 remaining in the game.

“I was really down, my heart kind of sunk,” Head Coach Jim Grobe remarked about relinquishing the lead late in the game.

“And then I turned around at Number 11, and I thought ‘maybe we do have a chance.’”

The Deacs did indeed have a chance with junior Riley Skinner at the helm, and Skinner orchestrated an impressive nine play, 57-yard drive with less than a minute remaining.

The drive culminated with a field goal from fifth-year senior Sam Swank, propelling Wake to a nail-biting victory over Ole Miss 30-28 in front of 31,986 spectators on Sept. 6.

The win marks the 400th win for the Wake Forest football program.

Swank’s game-winning 41-yard field goal was his third of the game. Combined with three extra points, Swank boosted his career point total to 309.

He trails former Maryland kicker and all-time ACC point leader Nick Novak by 84 points. With 10 games remaining, Swank must average 8.4 points to break Novak’s record. Add in a bowl game, and the average falls to 7.64 points per game.

Offensively, Skinner and fifth-year senior DJ Boldin both broke personal records that they set against Baylor the previous week.

Skinner completed a career-high 32 passes on 43 attempts. He accumulated 267 yards, just four yards shy of tying his career best.

Boldin caught a career-high 11 passes for 123 yards. He had a pivotal 22-yard catch over the middle on the final drive.

Sophomore Josh Adams amassed 43 yards on 12 carries, and Brandon Pendergrass gained 50 yards on eight carries. Pendergrass had three impressive carries on a fourth quarter drive, the third carry resulting in a 12-yard TD off the right side behind a well-executed block by Russell Nenon.

The Pendergrass touchdown put Wake up 27-21 with 11:37 remaining in the game. Grobe decided to kick the extra point as opposed to attempting the two-point conversion.

“Any time we feel like we have time offensively to go back down and answer, we don’t want to take points off the board and take a chance on a momentum swing,” Grobe said.

The Wake defense got off to a slow start. Ole Miss quarterback Jevan Snean was a pest for the Wake defenders, going 20-for-31 with four touchdowns and one interception.

“We gave (Snead) a lot of looks,” Grobe said. “We tried to pressure him, but he did a nice job moving around the pocket. He reminded me of Riley a little bit with his athleticism. For his second college start, he was really, really good.”

Defensively, Wake came out hungry in the second half. Fifth-year senior Kevin Patterson started the third quarter with an interception, and junior Brandon Ghee followed up with an interception of his own on the next Ole Miss possession. Ghee’s interception came off the “Wild Rebel” formation, with Dexter McCluster throwing the interception. Ghee’s snag was a difficult one, and his teammates noticed.

Fifth-year senior Alphonso Smith has a group that he calls the “Can’t Catch Crew.” The crew consists of Ghee, and fifth-year seniors Kerry Major and Chip Vaughn. Smith decided to tweak the crew after Saturday’s game.

“Ghee just graduated from that crew,” Smith joked.

Smith is one of a group of Wake players facing nagging injuries entering the match-up against FSU. He sprained his neck against Baylor, and he couldn’t turn his head for three-to-four days prior to the injury.

“When you have 100 guys depending on you, you can’t lay down,” Smith said. “It wasn’t enough pain for me to go on the sideline and quit, and I wasn’t going to quit on my team. I had to play through it.”

Other nicked-up players include juniors Boo Robinson and Ben Wooster. Robinson had a high ankle sprain and was limited during the game. Wooster has some minor bumps and bruises, according to Grobe. All three of these players will benefit from the bye week leading up to the game against Florida State in Doak Campbell Stadium.

The Deacs enter the work week on a vibrant 2-0 tone rather than on a somber 1-1 tone. Similarly, Swank entered the game on a vibrant note with the game in his hands. He ran onto the field with a big grin on his face.

“I was (smiling) because I knew I was going to make it,” Swank said. “I was confident and that’s how you have to be going out to make a game-winning field goal. You can’t have any negative thoughts. Just go out there and execute.

“And Grobe was smiling too. He kind of made me smile.”

And thanks to Swank’s kick, Wake fans are smiling too.