Steele Pizzella made the most of his turn in the spotlight on Saturday, throwing for 432 yards and three touchdowns in the first half alone as No. 14 Wake Forest demolished Merrimack 77-0, setting a school scoring record while extending its winning streak to six games.
Pizzella was filling in for injured starter Gio Lopez, and the backup quarterback accounted for 495 yards while playing only the first 30 minutes. He added 63 yards rushing, highlighted by a 13-yard touchdown run late in the second quarter that pushed the Demon Deacons into halftime with a 49-0 lead.
Wake Forest (8-1) scored 11 touchdowns in all, breaking the school scoring mark established in a 70-58 win over Army on Oct. 23, 2021. Pizzella's outing was the program's first 400-yard passing performance since Hank Bachmaier threw for 403 yards against Virginia in 2024, and the Demon Deacons finished with 546 yards through the air, topping the record set in that Virginia game. Jack Foley led the receiving corps with six catches for 162 yards.
The offense piled up 730 total yards, falling just 4 yards short of the school record set against Syracuse on Nov. 11, 2017.
"What I told myself today, and what I told myself out of pregame warmup, was we just need to elevate each other. And my whole focus was just elevating the guys around me and really operating," Pizzella said. "And so, being able to do that at a high level with the guys means a lot to me, and everyone having confidence in each other is such a big thing."
The start may be a one-week cameo for Pizzella, a redshirt freshman who has mostly appeared in mop-up duty this season. Lopez hurt his right knee in last week's win over Virginia and hopes to be back when Wake Forest opens a stretch of three Atlantic Coast Conference games next Saturday at SMU. The Demon Deacons sit a half-game behind top-ranked Miami in the ACC standings; the Hurricanes beat them 33-20 on Sept. 18.
"Everything's right in front of us," coach Jake Dickert said. "I've got a lot of respect for SMU and what they're doing, and we got to go to their place. So, our best is going to be required this week in everything that we do, and we can't miss a moment."
Lopez was not in uniform but was hard to miss on the sideline in gold shoes. Dickert praised his replacement, calling Pizzella "dynamic," "smart" and "infectious to be around every day," adding that it was "really awesome from a coaching perspective to see him go out there and have a lot of success."
Pizzella connected with Carlos Hernandez for a pair of first-quarter touchdown passes after Ty Clark III opened the scoring with a 1-yard run on Wake Forest's second possession; the second scoring strike to Hernandez capped a 96-yard drive. The Demon Deacons added a 79-yard punt return touchdown and a 98-yard interception return touchdown in the second half, and the defense delivered the program's first shutout since a 3-0 win over Boston College 11 years ago. It was the eighth time in nine games Wake Forest has reached 30 points.
Merrimack (4-6), which plays at Monmouth next Saturday, managed just 102 rushing yards and 100 passing yards, converted only 3 of 18 third downs and was penalized eight times for 74 yards. The Warriors' best scoring chance came midway through the third quarter, when they failed to reach the end zone on four plays from the Wake Forest 9, including a fourth-and-goal at the 1. Wake Forest, which was flagged 11 times for 120 yards itself, visits SMU next Saturday.
