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Deacs Crush Akron at Home in Opener
The Deacs scored early and often to put this one on ice by halftime with a 38-16 victory over the Zips. Gio Lopez, Ty Clark, Carlos Hernandez, and Connor Calvert all came up big tonight for the Demon Deacons. Wake Forest took a 31-3 lead into the fourth quarter, and two late TDs from the Zips when the game was well in hand made the final score a bit closer than the game itself was.
The 2026 season opener was more than just a game, it also featured a halftime performance by the WSSU Red Sea of Sound marching band. We were also treated to the annual Deacon Dash, the Wake Forest iteration of the freshman run. All in all, quite the night for the Demon Deacons.
I saw an awful lot of Gio Lopez playing quarterback last year while covering UNC. The player I saw tonight looked like a completely different player. There was confidence, pocket presence, pocket awareness, and at no point did anything look forced or panicked. Its really hard to put into words how much of a night and day change it is. It wasn’t that Lopez was necessarily doing anything different, it just felt like there was more purpose and intent behind everything.
Gio Lopez finished the day going 21/32 passing for 350 yards and 3 TDs through the air. Ty Clark had 105 yards on an absurd only 5 carries but was held out of the end zone. Carlos Hernandez had 6 catches on 9 targets for 165 yards and a touchdown. Connor Calvert went 3 for 4 on attempted field goals and was perfect on his extra point attempts. If i had to nitpick something tonight, it would be penalties. The Deacs managed to give up 100 yards in due to penalties. That will keep you from winning games in the ACC.
This was a pretty complete performance by Wake Forest tonight. This was the first game of the year, so there are obviously going to be plenty of things to work on, but Coach Dickert has the Demon Deacons improving already on the field in year 2. With a much tougher schedule than last season, the Deacs will have to be very tough physically to remain competitive with some tough road games on the schedule.
Up next, the Demon Deacons go on the road to West Lafayette to face the Purdue Boilermakers out of the Big 10. This will be the first power conference opponent of the season for the Demon Deacons, and the Boilermaker fans will be fired up for a non-conference matchup. Kickoff is at noon on Fox Sports 1.
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