Wake Forest Cougars continue winning formula, down Leesville Road football
Wake Forest continued its winning formula Friday night, using a smothering defense and big-play offense to stay undefeated with a 38-6 road victory over Leesville Road.
The Cougars (9-0, 5-0 Cap-8 4A) held the Pride to 125 total yards, giving up only 15 yards and one first down in the first half.
“We can’t do much without our defense playing well, especially in a game like this,” Wake Forest coach Reggie Lucas said. “If our defense is not playing well, it’s a tight ballgame. But obviously, our defense played really well in the first half, and I thought overall did a great job.”
The Cougars had three running backs go over 100 yards, led by sophomore Devon Lawrence, who carried 19 times for 145 yards and two touchdowns. He scored on runs of 36 and 33 yards, while Tyri Beard (10 carries, 113 yards) had a 31-yard TD run. Shy’heem Mitchell ran for 112 yards as Wake Forest amassed 354 rushing yards.
The Pride (4-5, 3-2) couldn’t generate enough offense against a tough Cougar front seven, despite some second-half adjustments.
“You play the No. 1 team (with) all the hype – I’m not saying it’s not deserved, because it is – but I asked them to compete, and I thought we did,” Leesville coach Brad Wilson said.
Turning point
Leesville scored on its first second-half possession – an 18-yard throw from Cooper Eason-Riddle to Patrick Rice – to cut the lead to 22-6 and then forced a Cougar punt. But after stopping the Pride, Wake Forest faced a fourth-and-1 from the Leesville 33. Lawrence ran up the middle, made a cut to the right and ran 33 yards for the score and a 28-6 lead.
They said it
“I feel blessed,” Lucas said of being unbeaten. “These guys respond every week. We’ll see how they respond next week. They’ve got to keep playing; it’s only going to get tougher.”
Three who mattered
Jake Campbell, Wake Forest: The junior middle linebacker helped anchor a defense that had four sacks, forced two turnovers and had a safety.
Cole Westberry, Wake Forest: The senior kicked made three field goals, including one of 47 yards.
Bobby Haggerty, Leesville Road: The junior punter was a weapon, getting the Pride out of poor field position. He averaged 42.4 yards on seven punts and had two 56-yard punts.
By the numbers
7: First-half possessions for Leesville. But they had five punts, one interception and one safety.
10: Number of plays for negative yards for Leesville.
10: Number of completions for Wake Forest, including one by Ki’Mon Small on a fake punt.
6: Number of players who caught passes for the Cougars, as quarterback Chris James spread the ball around.
This story was originally published October 23, 2015 at 10:31 PM with the headline "Wake Forest Cougars continue winning formula, down Leesville Road football."