WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — Robby Ashford threw for three touchdowns and ran for another as Wake Forest beat Delaware 52-14 for its third win in a row Saturday.

Jake Dickert became the winningest first-year football coach in Wake Forest history. The Demon Deacons (8-3) won for the sixth time in their last seven games.

For Dickert, it was all about challenging the Demon Deacons to be better.

“We changed the bar completely,” he said. “… It hasn’t always been easy. It hasn’t always been perfect.”

It was a special Senior Day for the Demon Deacons, with the coaching staff assembled about 11 months ago.

“To see it come all the way through is a big deal to me and to (our players),” Dickert said. “Just like we’ve done all year, we’ve got to grow from it.”

Carlos Hernandez made two touchdown catches, racking up 197 yards on five receptions. He had TD plays of 79 and 93 yards.

Ashford was 15-for-22 for 292 yards with an interception.

Three Wake Forest players rushed for more than 60 yards, led by Chris Barnes’ 78. Ty Clark III and Demond Claiborne ran for touchdowns. Connor Calvert kicked field goals of 44, 54 and 47 yards.

Nick Minicucci threw for 140 yards and a touchdown for Delaware (5-6), which will have to beat UTEP at home in a return to Conference USA play in order to be in line for a bowl bid. As a program in transition to the Bowl Subdivision, the Blue Hens only qualify for the postseason if there aren’t enough other teams reaching the six-win threshold.

Wake Forest hit a series of big plays.

“We didn’t keep them inside or in front on our defensive side,” Delaware coach Ryan Carty said. “We got to make sure those explosive plays don’t happen.”

Delaware’s Viron Ellison Jr. took a short pass and dodged tacklers for a 43-yard touchdown in the second quarter. That ended a string of nine consecutive quarters for Wake Forest’s defense without giving up a touchdown.

The Blue Hens scored with 1:59 left on backup Braden Streeter’s 25-yard pass to Max Patterson.

The Takeaway

Delaware: The Blue Hens gave up more than 30 points for the fifth time this season, allowing Wake Forest to reach that level in the first half. The Blue Hens ended up 1-5 in road games.

Wake Forest: The Demon Deacons secured their most-lopsided victory of the season and finished the non-conference portion of their schedule with a 4-0 record.

Barnes is back

The Demon Deacons welcomed Barnes, a speedster, back after missing a game with an injury. He amassed 97 all-purpose yards.

He’s return to action gave another element to the Wake Forest offense, which had 577 total yards.

“Chris is a dynamic player,” Dickert said.

Something to prove

The Blue Hens are relatively new at the FBS level. Carty said they should move on quickly from this result because there are still possibilities ahead.

“I guess we’ll find out,” Carty said. “That’s the challenge. We have to understand this is our season on the line next week. We’re either finishing with a losing record or go bowl eligible with six wins.”

Up Next

Delaware: Friday home vs. UTEP

Wake Forest: Saturday at Duke

DAGSBORO, Del. – Indian River football outlasted Lake Forest 14-7 in overtime on Friday night in Dagsboro in the DIAA 2A Semifinal.

They will play the winner of Howard and Red Lion on Saturday, November 29th at noon at Delaware State University.

What are journalists missing from the state of Delaware? What would you most like WHYY News to cover? Let us know.

Efforts by two tiny bucolic villages in northern Delaware to thwart Delmarva Power’s plan to replace high-voltage transmission lines have crumbled under a lawsuit filed by the state’s dominant electricity provider.

Ardentown and Ardencroft, whose roughly 500 residents live in a self-proclaimed
“forest ecosystem” of mature woodlands and open spaces known as “greens,” object to the looming replacement of seven tall metal towers, one more than 100 feet high, that were built a century ago on what was then farmland.

The existing towers traverse about a half-mile of mostly hilly terrain through the two towns, with some located between the backyard of homes in a Delmarva right-of-way. Their replacement with galvanized steel structures designed to withstand hurricane-force winds is part of Delmarva’s 4.5-mile upgrade that’s aimed at improving reliability service for 13,000 customers while reducing the frequency and duration of outages.

But the village’s governing assemblies contend the project will tarnish the lush enclave by clear-cutting trees and disrupting lead-contaminated soil beneath the towers. They want the project rerouted about a quarter-mile away, near railroad tracks where Delmarva already has some towers. WHYY News detailed the controversy in January.

In a bid to stymie Delmarva, Ardencroft banned new transmission lines and towers last year, and approved an annual impact fee for existing transmission infrastructure. In March, the town sent Delmarva a $12,833.17 impact fee bill for 2025.

Earlier this year, Ardentown formally entered the fray, prohibiting transmission towers and poles from exceeding 100 feet in height, with fines of $1,000 per day for violations. Ardentown also banned new transmission lines or tower infrastructure of 60 kilovolts or more within 100 feet of any home, with fines of $1,500 per day for violations.

Delmarva’s existing lines and towers, both Ardentown ordinances said, have “caused almost 100 years of unnecessary harm and avoidable risk to our village.”

In response to the villages’ laws and fees, Delmarva fired back on Oct. 31 against Ardentown — but not Ardencroft — in Delaware’s Chancery Court, which is recognized internationally for its ability to resolve business and corporate disputes.

Delmarva’s suit asked the court to invalidate Ardentown’s new laws and order the town to pay its legal bills. The 27-page filing accused the town of exceeding its legislative authority by violating the village’s 1926 contract with predecessor American Power Company that allows the lines, the Delaware Public Service Commission’s authority to regulate utilities and Delmarva’s constitutional property rights.

“The 1926 Ardentown Easement does not limit the height of the towers/poles located in the Ardentown Easement Area, nor does it limit the voltage carried by the transmission lines,” the lawsuit said.

The lawsuit added that the easement “gives Delmarva Power, among other things, the right to ‘repair and renew said poles, towers, structures, fixtures, and wires.’”

None of the current towers are higher than 100 feet, according to the lawsuit, but all of the proposed ones are, and the law was only enacted after Delmarva shared details of its “long-planned improvements” with town leaders.

“At their core, the ordinances are nothing more than a ‘not in my backyard’ attempt to force Delmarva Power to re-route its existing transmission line away from Ardentown and through other communities,” the lawsuit said.

Noting that the project’s completion deadline is the end of 2026, the lawsuit said that failing to finish by then “risks real-time operational reliability problems, including outages to a large number of customers or higher energy costs to customers.”