Sam Hartman passed for 184 yards and three touchdowns and Ja’Sir Taylor scored on a 99-yard kickoff return as Wake Forest overwhelmed visiting Old Dominion 42-10 on Friday in the season opener for both teams in Winston-Salem, N.C.
Christian Beal-Smith rushed for 74 yards and two touchdowns for Wake Forest (1-0), which opened the season with a win for the sixth time in the past seven years.
Old Dominion, which plays in Conference USA, played its first game since losing its final contest of the 2019 campaign to Charlotte on Nov. 30, 2019, a span of 643 days, after opting out of the 2020 season because of COVID-19.
Quarterback D.J Mack, a transfer from UCF making his first start for the Monarchs, connected on just 7 of 21 throws for 39 yards with two interceptions as Old Dominion struggled to move the ball consistently. Elijah Davis led the Monarchs’ rushing attack with 69 yards on 12 carries.
Wake Forest took the lead on a 48-yard TD run around left end by Beal-Smith at the 8:57 mark of the first quarter. Old Dominion answered with a 38-yard field goal by Nick Rice at the end of a six-play, 35-yard drive with 28 seconds to play in the quarter.
The Demon Deacons stuck again via a 99-yard touchdown on the ensuing kickoff return by Taylor to push their advantage to 14-3.
The second quarter belonged to Wake. Hartman added to the lead with a 36-yard TD pass to A.T. Perry three minutes into the quarter and then a 2-yard scoring strike to Jaquarii Roberson with 2:45 to play in the half.
Things could have been even worse for the Monarchs (0-1) but they stonewalled Beal-Smith short of the goal line on a 4th-and-1 run on the final snap of the half.
Beal-Smith scored his second TD on a 1-yard plunge with 8:44 to play in the third quarter. Hartman then hit Ke’Shawn Williams with a 4-yard touchdown pass early in the fourth on his final snap of the game.
Old Dominion backup quarterback Hayden Wolff connected with Isaiah Spencer on a 9-yard TD pass with 2:27 to play to cap the scoring.
–Field Level Media