Late Fourth Down Stop Secures 24-17 Victory for Wolfpack
8/28/2025 11:56:00 PM | Football
RALEIGH, NC –Wesley Grimes's career high 121 receiving yards and a touchdown helped push the Pack to a 24-17 victory over East Carolina on opening night from Carter-Finley Stadium.
With ECU trailing by a touchdown and a fourth and one with 42 seconds left in the game, the Wolfpack defense sealed the win as redshirt junior Jamel Johnson shut down the receiver behind the line of scrimmage to give the ball back to the offense to kneel the game out.
This marks the eighth straight opening win for the Wolfpack with the lone loss in season openers under Dave Doeren coming in 2017 to South Carolina.
The Wolfpack's returning stars led the way on offense, with quarterback CJ Bailey throwing for 318 yards with a score on the ground and in the air to go along with Hollywood Smothers' team-leading 106 total yards from scrimmage. Grimes' career best came on just four catches as he surpassed his previous high of 76 yards as a member of the Demon Deacons two seasons ago.
True freshman Teddy Hoffmann was the newcomer to make the biggest impact, finishing with 93 receiving yards on five catches, highlighted by a 50-yard catch in the fourth quarter. That marked the most receiving yards for a freshman in his first game under Doeren.
Linebacker Caden Fordham led the defense, finishing with a game-leading 11 tackles with two tackles for loss and a sack. Fellow linebacker Sean Brown finished with 10.
ECU finished the game averaging one yard per rush. This is the lowest number since November 11, 2023, against Wake Forest.
The Wolfpack struck first with a 29-yard field goal try from Nick Konieczynski. The redshirt freshman opened up his collegiate account, going 1-3 from the field and 3-3 on extra points on the night.
The NC State defense held the Pirates to four straight three-and-outs to start the game, powering a 17-7 halftime lead.
Smothers extended the lead early in the second half, punching the ball in from the two-yard line to cap off a 10-play 80-yard drive.
The Wolfpack's win moves the all-time series to 20-14 and 17-7 at home. NC State will next face off against Virginia at home on Saturday, September 6th, at noon and broadcast on ESPN2.
NC State Coach Dave Doeren Quotable
It was a team win, it really was, Offensively we jumped out 17-0, got us a lead, Defensively, they had -20 rushing yards in the first half. It was really stingy. Both sides of the football helped each other throughout the night. We had three fourth-down stops. It was definitely a complimentary win. I look at this as a team win.
I love the way that the defense battled at the end. It's great to have a goal-line stand like that to win a football game. Proud of the guys, and at the same time, there are a lot of things that we can do better.
It was an awesome night. I'm very thankful for the fans - you guys were incredible! The crowd noise was amazing … the student section was awesome, Thursday nights at the Carter are special.
ECU Coach Blake Harrell Quotable
You've got 57,000 plus fans here, and what a great rivalry game for our fans, When you go play a 60-minute ball game against a good opponent and an atmosphere like this, you find out exactly where you are and unfortunately, we came up on the wrong side of it and a side I don't want to be on, but we've got to improve from here.
