Editor’s note: The article below is a republished story from The Daily Orange’s coverage of Syracuse and Wake Forest’s second matchup in football on Sept. 1, 2011.

Kevyn Scott’s performance was a microcosm of the Syracuse defense.

The senior got beat on a couple pass plays through the first three quarters. He had to leave the game in the third quarter with a leg injury. And later in that period, he took a bad angle on a quick hitch that allowed Wake Forest wide receiver Chris Givens to scamper down the sideline for a score.

But, like the rest of his Orange teammates, he turned it around in the fourth quarter and overtime.

‘I think Kevyn Scott, he showed resiliency,’ head coach Doug Marrone said. ‘He’s out there working, working. They win (some plays). Their receiver had a heck of a game in Givens. All of a sudden Kevyn Scott comes back with a great pick. That’s a fifth-year senior that never gives up.’

Scott picked off a pass late in the fourth quarter to deny the Demon Deacons a chance to win the game in regulation, as he and the rest of the SU defense pulled themselves together and defeated Wake Forest 36-29. The Demon Deacons torched Scott and the rest of the SU defense for 326 yards in the air and 406 yards total, but the fourth quarter belonged to the Orange.

After the Syracuse ‘D’ showed no resemblance to the unit that ranked No. 7 in the country from a year ago for 45 minutes, the unit overcame exhaustion and injuries to make key stops in the fourth quarter.

Scott in particular came up huge twice for the Orange.

He cut in front of Givens to pick off a pass from quarterback Ted Stachitaswith less than five minutes remaining in the fourth quarter. Minutes later, on the last play of overtime, his blanket coverage sealed Syracuse’s come-from-behind win as he had perfect coverage to prevent a catch by Givens in the end zone.

‘Usually, in the past, we get down and we give up,’ Scott said. ‘But those guys never gave up. I went down, (safety) Phillip Thomas went down, but we never gave up. We kept fighting.’

Early on, some broken coverage led to big plays for Wake Forest that could have demoralized the SU secondary. It was Givens in particular that frustrated the Orange’s cornerbacks.

He was left uncovered down the sideline on the Demon Deacons’ second possession for a 37-yard catch. Givens would have likely scored on the play had he not fallen down making the grab.

In the second quarter, the junior receiver blew past Thomas for a 60-yard touchdown to put Wake Forest up 13-7. By halftime, he had already piled up 124 yards on just four catches.

‘Givens, all respect goes to him,’ Scott said. ‘He’s a good receiver. He runs some solid patterns, and he got himself open.’

The Demon Deacons held possession for over 20 minutes in the first half, whereas SU struggled offensively and repeatedly went three-and-out.

That left an already weakened defense exhausted. Defensive end MikhailMarinovich threw up twice on the field. Three of the four starters in the secondary needed medical attention at some point during the game.’It was really tough,’ linebacker Marquis Spruill said. ‘Everybody was cramping. Then they had to throw (freshman cornerback Brandon Reddish) in for a little bit and everybody was like, ‘Oh, man.’ But everybody got back on track.’

They didn’t get back on track, though, until the fourth quarter, when SU caught a break just before a Wake Forest field goal. SU defensive end Chandler Jones fell into the legs of Demon Deacons quarterback Tanner Price, knocking him out of the game.

‘When the quarterback went down,’ Jones said. ‘I felt like that was our time to kick it up a notch and start to get this ball moving.’

The Orange offense ignited itself and came back to tie the game, and the defense responded to suffocate the Demon Deacons and backup Ted Stachitas.

SU held Wake Forest to just 37 yards of offense after Price left the game.

Scott’s interception helped send the game to overtime, where SU got the ball first and scored.

Wake Forest stalled at the 19-yard line and faced a fourth-and-four. And with Scott in one-on-one coverage with Givens on the outside, the Orange corner knew where the ball was going.

Stachitas tried to squeeze a fade pass into Givens in the end zone, but Scott was in perfect position as the pass bounced away to seal the win.

‘(Givens) was their guy,’ Scott said. ‘We were in man-to-man coverage. Last play of the game. And I seized the moment. I said, ‘Bring it on.’ And weprevailed.’

Published on September 10, 2015 at 11:17 pm