Skinner Era ends with rousing win over Duke

DURHAM

The most unforgettable quarterback in school history left Wake Forest one more performance to remember him by in yesterday's season-closing 45-34 victory over Duke in front of 21,420 at Wallace Wade Stadium.

Saving his best statistical game for last, senior Riley Skinner completed 28 of 38 passes for 372 yards, five touchdowns and no interceptions as the Deacons weathered an early barrage and put the victory away with Jimmy Newman's fourth-quarter field goal followed by Alex Frye's interception return for a touchdown.

The five touchdown passes set a school record and the yardage was Skinner's personal best. He also set Wake Forest season records with 3,160 yards and 26 touchdown passes, and tied the school record with 264 completions.

"We're going to miss him a lot -- a lot," Coach Jim Grobe said. "He's a pretty special guy and a guy that's special in so many ways other than just being a good player."

To snap his team's five-game losing streak that cost the Deacons a fourth-straight bowl bid, Skinner had to outduel one of the best quarterbacks in Duke history. Thaddeus Lewis, another senior playing his final game, completed 28 of 48 passes for 387 yards and three touchdowns to become the only ACC quarterback other than Philip Rivers -- who played for N.C. State from 2000 through 2003 -- to pass for more than 10,000 yards in a career (10,065).

But Lewis also threw the game's only interception, picked off by Frye and returned 37 yards for a touchdown and a 45-27 led with 3½ minutes remaining.

"It feels a lot better than anybody outside our locker room could imagine, just what we've gone through this year and the kind of games we've had," Skinner said. "The fact we were able to come out after a week off, on Thanksgiving -- it's two teams that weren't going to a bowl -- I was really impressed everybody came out playing the way they did.

"Our coaches told us this is one of those games you will remember the rest of your life. No matter how big the stage is, it's the last game of your college career. And it's a pretty cool one to go out on, especially for me and our offense and the way we were able to throw the ball.

"It was just a fun win,"

The Deacons' defense appeared rusty from its week off when Lewis threw a 56-yard touchdown pass to Donovan Varner and a 62-yard touchdown pass to Austin Kelly in his team's first six offensive plays. Less than four minutes into the game, Lewis had completed four of five passes for 130 yards and two touchdowns.

"When we came out I just think everybody needed to settle down, and eventually we did," defensive tackle John Russell said. "They're going to make their plays, and they did. Thad Lewis showed what a great player he was, along with some of their young receivers.

"But once everybody got settled down I thought we started playing pretty good."

Not to be outdone, the Deacons also drove for touchdowns on their first two possessions with Skinner throwing a 28-yard scoring strike to Devon Brown and a 54-yard touchdown pass to Chris Givens. They took the lead for good by driving 55 yards on their fourth possessions for Skinner's 8-yard touchdown pass to Brown.

Wake Forest (5-7, 3-5) extended the lead to 28-17 on Skinner's 13-yard touchdown pass to Kevin Harris. Duke (5-7, 3-5) answered with a 33-yard field goal from Will Snyderwine that was his 17th of the season, a school record. But Wake Forest responded immediately when Skinner hit Marshall Williams with a 51-yard touchdown pass and a 35-20 lead with six minutes left in the third quarter.

Marshall bobbled and dropped the ball after the catch and was originally credited for recovering a fumble in the end zone before the scoring was changed and Skinner was credited with his fifth touchdown pass.

Wake Forest had a chance to all but salt the game away but Jimmy Newman, a freshman kicker, missed a 37-yard field goal with 13:46 left in the fourth quarter.

Duke kept the pressure on by driving 80 yards for a 1-yard touchdown run by Lewis that pared the lead to 35-27. When the next Wake Forest drive stalled inside the Duke 30, Grobe sent Newman back out for a 44-yard attempt. This time he nailed the field goal for a 38-27 lead.

The victory gave the 22 Wake Forest seniors their 33rd victory, the most of any class in school history.

"Unfortunately we had to wait this long for it, but it's worth it," Skinner said. "To have that record, to have that said about you as a class, it's pretty neat.

"It's been an honor and so much fun for me to play with those guys. This is a pretty tight-knit group of seniors and I'm definitely going to miss the heck out of them."

dcollins@wsjournal.com.
727-7323

Wake Forest 14 7 14 10 -- 45
Duke 14 3 3 14 -- 34

First Quarter

Duke--Varner 56 pass from Lewis (Snyderwine kick), 13:56.

WFU--Brown 28 pass from Skinner (Newman kick), 12:21.

Duke--Kelly 62 pass from Lewis (Snyderwine kick), 11:10.

WFU--Givens 54 pass from Skinner (Newman kick), 7:21.

Second Quarter

WFU--Brown 8 pass from Skinner (Newman kick), 10:50.

Duke--FG Snyderwine 51, 5:21.

Third Quarter

WFU--K.Harris 13 pass from Skinner (Newman kick), 9:46.

Duke--FG Snyderwine 33, 7:10.

WFU--Ma.Williams 1 pass from Skinner (Newman kick), 5:51.

Fourth Quarter

Duke--Lewis 1 run (Snyderwine kick), 9:45.

WFU--FG Newman 44, 4:30.

WFU--Frye 37 interception return (Newman kick), 3:26.

Duke--Varner 21 pass from Lewis (Snyderwine kick), 2:31.

A--21,420.

TEAM STATISTICS

WFU Duke

First downs 26 19

Rushes-yards 34-127 19-68

Passing 372 387

Comp-Att-Int 28-38-0 28-48-1

Return Yards 40 (-3)

Punts-Avg. 3-46.0 5-37.4

Fumbles-Lost 3-0 1-0

Penalties-Yards 5-68 4-57

Time of Possession 34:15 25:45

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING--Wake Forest, Adams 7-42, K.Harris 8-32, Pendergrass 7-30, Givens 1-16, Brown 3-9, Bohanon 2-8, Skinner 3-(minus 5), Team 3-(minus 5). Duke, D.Scott 10-41, Hollingsworth 6-19, Moore 0-5, Boyette 1-2, Lewis 1-1, Team 1-0.

PASSING--Wake Forest, Skinner 28-38-0-372. Duke, Lewis 28-48-1-387.

RECEIVING--Wake Forest, Ma.Williams 8-119, Brown 8-82, Givens 5-78, Parker 2-28, Pendergrass 2-7, Rinfrette 1-37, K.Harris 1-13, Bohanon 1-8. Duke, Varner 11-174, Vernon 8-93, Kelly 3-93, Huffman 2-8, D.Scott 2-7, B.King 1-7, Williams 1-5.