Wake Forest 77, Merrimack 0: Pizzella throws for 432 and the Deacons lead 49-0 at half

No. 16 Wake Forest settled this one before halftime. The Demon Deacons scored on seven first-half possessions, led 49-0 at the break and beat Merrimack 77-0 on Saturday at Allegacy Federal Credit Union Stadium.

Steele Pizzella did most of the work. He completed 23 of 28 passes for 432 yards and three touchdowns, and ran for another score. Wake Forest finished with 730 total yards, and its defense and special teams added two touchdowns of their own after the offense had made the result certain.

Wake Forest is 8-1. Merrimack falls to 4-6.

How it was won

Ty Clark III opened the scoring with a 1-yard run at 8:26 of the first quarter; the two-point try failed. Pizzella then found Carlos Hernandez for 38 yards and again for 9 yards before the quarter ended, making it 20-0.

The second quarter was more of the same. J. Searcy ran in from 3 yards, with C. Wingfield running in the two-point conversion. D. Dickmann scored on a 6-yard run, Pizzella hit K. Shanks for 30 yards, and Pizzella finished the half with a 13-yard touchdown run at 1:23. C. Calvert kicked every extra point after the opening drive.

The backups kept scoring. G. Jones threw an 87-yard touchdown pass to Dickmann late in the third quarter, and Shanks returned a 41-yard M. Ryan punt 79 yards for a touchdown at 1:23 to make it 63-0.

In the fourth, J. Patterson intercepted a C. Meehan pass and returned it 98 yards for a score. R. Henley's 1-yard run with 1:29 left closed it out.

The box score was lopsided almost everywhere:

• Total yards: Wake Forest 730, Merrimack 202
• Passing: 546 to 100
• Rushing: 184 to 102
• First downs: 31 to 11
• Turnovers: Merrimack 2, Wake Forest 0

Jack Foley led all receivers with 6 catches for 162 yards. Hernandez had 4 for 89 and the two scores. Kyndall McCaleb ran twice for 42 yards, and Pizzella added 63 yards on 7 carries.

Merrimack actually held the ball longer, 36:40 to 23:20, but converted only 3 of 19 third downs. AJ Hairston Jr went 11 of 27 for 80 yards with an interception. DeMarcus McElroy led the ground game with 26 yards on 9 carries, and Austin Palmer caught 5 passes for 48 yards.

Against the number

The market closed with Wake Forest favored by 46.5. A 77-point margin covered that comfortably; the Deacons were past the number by the third quarter.

The total closed at 55.5. Wake Forest alone went over it before halftime, and 77 points landed the over by 21.5. Price comparisons and closing figures are on the game page.

This was Wake Forest's third straight lopsided home result, following a 57-3 win over Stanford and a 51-7 win over Virginia. The only loss this season remains a 33-20 defeat at home to No. 5 Miami.

What's next

Wake Forest travels to SMU on Saturday, November 14. That trip should say far more about the Deacons than this one did. They are 4-0 away from home this season, with wins at Purdue, Louisville, NC State and Cal.

Merrimack sits at 4-6. Its next game was not part of the schedule information available for this recap.