Steele Pizzella Throws for 400+ Yards in First Half of Dominant Performance
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Wake Forest leads Merrimack at halftime 49-0.
In Steele Pizzella's first career start as a Demon Deacon, he accumulated 432 passing yards and 63 rushing yards. The offense absolutely shined, and there was nothing Merrimack could do to slow them down. Let's go through the highlights:
1st Quarter Highlights
Steele Pizzella came out firing. On the first drive, he completed four passes that went for 38 yards and worked all the way down to the Merrimack 11-yard line. Unfortunately, the Deacs could not convert on a fourth-down-and-one, giving the ball to Merrimack.
The following Demon Deacon possession did not take long to get the ball into the end zone. A seven-play, 56-yard drive took just two minutes off the clock and ended with a one-yard touchdown run by Ty Clark III. Pizzella and Clark did most of the heavy lifting, moving the ball up the field in the run game.
After Wake stopped Merrimack on a fourth-down attempt around midfield, the Deacs pushed the ball straight up the field, and a 38-yard pass from Pizzella to Carlos Hernandez resulted in another Demon Deacon touchdown and the first passing touchdown of Steele Pizzella's career.
On the Deacs next drive, it was more of the same. Steele Pizzella hit Antonio Meeks on a huge third-down conversion play over the middle to help kick the drive into gear despite some early penalties. The drive ended with a short pass from Steele Pizzella to Carlos Hernandez, the second score of the day for both of them. Meeks was also critical throughout the drive in helping to keep the sticks moving.
All Deacs through 15 👏 pic.twitter.com/s7hV3yYp44
— Wake Forest Football (@WakeFB) November 7, 2026
2nd Quarter Highlights
Steele Pizzella kept things going for Wake Forest in the second quarter. A Gabe Kirschke sack forced another Merrimack punt that the Deacs were able to capitalize on. Jamar Searcy had a huge catch-and-run earlier in the drive, and then ran it in for the three-yard score. The two-point conversion put the Deacs up by four touchdowns with plenty of time left in the second quarter.
The Deacs continued to show no mercy. After getting the ball back, they marched it up the field again, due in large part to big throws from Steele Pizzella, hitting Meeks and Hernandez during the drive. Drayden Dickmann capped it off by running it in from six yards on a jet sweep for the score. Nothing seemed to be slowing down the Demon Deacon offense.
The following Wake drive, Pizzella found Kam Shanks running open and hit him for a 30-yard touchdown. This marked the third passing touchdown of the day for Steele and took him over the 350-yard passing mark.
On the preceding possession, the defense got their first turnover of the game. Rushaun Tongue read a pass play perfectly in the secondary and was able to come down with an interception.
To end the half, Pizzella ran it in from 13 yards out to put the icing on the cake and close out a phenomenal first half in his first-ever start.
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Justin is a student at Wake Forest University. He is from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and aspiring finance major interested everything sports. In his freshman year, Justin completed an internship with the Wake Forest Ticketing Department where he gained some valuable insight into the sales and operations aspects of collegiate athletics. Before working with Wake Forest On SI, Justin was a contributing writer for Wake Forest’s student publication The Old Gold and Black. Currently, Justin serves as a student manager on the Wake Forest Men’s Tennis team. In his free time Justin enjoys spending time with his family and friends on the golf course and traveling.