Football Holds Off Wake Forest, 12-3

Oct. 30, 1999

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (AP) – Brandon Streeter, idle for the last month with a broken collarbone, came off the bench in the fourth quarter to rally Clemson to a 12-3 victory over Wake Forest on Saturday.

The Tigers (4-4, 4-2 Atlantic Coast Conference) remained in bowl contention by beating the Demon Deacons (4-4, 1-4) for the 20th time in the last 23 meetings. Clemson also surpassed last year’s victory total under first-year coach Tommy Bowden.

Clemson’s Woodrow Dantzler completed 22 of 32 passes for 201 yards, but the starting quarterback couldn’t get the club into the end zone and was replaced by Streeter with 9:49 left.

Streeter, playing for the first time since being injured against North Carolina on Oct. 2, almost had his first pass intercepted deep in Clemson territory. But he rebounded to complete passes of 33 and 31 yards to move the Tigers into field goal range.

Tony Lazzara, who missed a 41-yarder a week ago that could have sent the Tigers into overtime with No. 1 Florida State, nailed a 19-yarder this time to give the Tigers the lead for good at 5-3.

Dextra Polite intercepted Ben Sankey’s pass on Wake Forest’s first offensive play after Lazzara’s go-ahead field goal. The Tigers then put the game away with 1:18 remaining on Streeter’s 1-yard keeper.

Wake Forest took a 3-2 lead with one second left in the third quarter after capitalizing on Mel Lawyer’s fumble of a punt that was recovered by David Moore near midfield.

Matthew Burdick’s 23-yard field goal was the 38th of his career, a Wake Forest record.

Earlier in the quarter, Wake Forest drove to the Clemson 14, but reserve back Chris McCoy lost a fumble on his first carry of the day.

A game of field position turned wacky midway through the second quarter.

Dantzler completed six straight passes to drive the Tigers into scoring position and set up what appeared to be a 20-yard field goal attempt by Lazzara. A fake by Clemson was foiled when DaLawn Parrish stopped Vince Ciurciu for no gain after the running back had taken a shovel pass from holder Tucker Hamrick.

After holding the Demon Deacons on downs, backup long snapper Jamie Deese, the team’s star wide receiver, snapped the ball five yards over the head of punter Matt Brennie for a safety. Regular snapper Brad Smith is sidelined with a thumb injury.

Clemson then drove the ball to the Wake Forest 20 after the free kick, but Dantzler was stopped on fourth-and-3 and the Tigers had to settle for an unusual 2-0 halftime lead.