Entering Syracuse’s 12:30 p.m. kickoff with Wake Forest, freshman defensive end Isaiah Johnson had two career total tackles. He’d only appeared in three games, most recently against Tulane on Sept. 21. Forty-two days ago.

But two hours later, he made the biggest play of the game.

With Wake Forest facing a 2nd-and-7 at its own 41-yard line with less than seven minutes left in the second quarter, Johnson split the Demon Deacons’ right guard and right tackle before batting Tanner Price’s pass backward into the air.

As the football flipped slowly toward the ground, Johnson laid his 6-foot-4, 270-pound frame out across the Carrier Dome turf and made the grab.

“I didn’t think I was going to catch it,” Johnson said as a huge smile spread across his face. “I was a little stunned when I caught it.”

The interception set Syracuse up for its second third-quarter touchdown as the Orange (4-4, 2-2 Atlantic Coast) defense went on to shut out Wake Forest (4-5, 2-4) in its 13-0 victory in front of 38,550 on Saturday. It capitalized on Michael Campanaro’s injury and came away with its first goose egg in conference play since shutting out Rutgers in 1996 — when Johnson was 2 years old.

Syracuse turned to exclusively three-down linemen packages with one defensive tackle: John Raymon, out for the year, and another, Eric Crume, a game-time decision.

This allowed the Orange to start rising freshman linebacker Marqez Hodge and focus on taking away the Demon Deacons’ short passing game.

Wake Forest never even reached the red zone.

“We practiced that all week,” Johnson said. “We was ready for it. We wasn’t going to let them get the win. We just came out there and worked harder than them.”

Ultimately, SU’s game plan wasn’t as tested as the coaching staff expected.

Crume, who defensive coordinator Chuck Bullough said didn’t practice on Wednesday, played.

And Campanaro, the leading receiver in Wake Forest school history and for whom SU spent two full weeks preparing, missed almost the entire game.

He left after Jeremi Wilkes tackled him on a third-down crossing route to halt Wake Forest’s opening drive. He was later diagnosed with a broken collarbone.

“That was a go-to guy and we took him out of the game,” linebacker Cameron Lynch said.

Lynch said the game plan was to have defensive back Wayne Morgan shadow Campanaro in the slot and receive help from the boundary linebacker on that side.

Instead, the SU defense was faced with Sherman Ragland III, who entered the game with just five catches on the season.

Price struggled to find his secondary targets as the SU front provided consistent pressure – chasing him out of the pocket six times – and the secondary made no sizable mistakes.

The Demon Deacons managed just two first downs in the first quarter and were 2-of-10 on third-down conversions at halftime.

They had more penalty yardage – 50 – than rushing yardage — 33.

“Being an old defensive guy, I found that game to be extremely sexy in the first half,” SU head coach Scott Shafer joked. “It’s about execution, or lack thereof, and we had that going on both sides.

“But when you have a lack of execution on the offensive side of the ball, you probably have pretty doggone good execution on the other side.”

Until that point, the Orange offense was equally putrid. But Johnson’s interception, coupled with a lengthy touchdown drive to start the third quarter, shifted the momentum entirely in Syracuse’s favor.

Jay Bromley stopped the Demon Deacons’ next drive, forcing WFU tailback Dominque Gibson to fumble.

Lynch stormed through the Wake Forest line on its next drive to send Price tumbling backward on a throwaway.

“We knew what our game plan was and we just executed it well,” Lynch said.

On its second-to-last drive, Wake Forest finally moved the ball: A 9-yard run by Price and 23-yard completion to Ragland brought the Demon Deacons to the SU 45 with 4:36 left.

After one Price incompletion, Bromley burst through the line again and wrapped him up as he threw the ball away. Price was called for intentional grounding.

On the ensuing 3rd-and-25, Bromley squelched Wake Forest’s final hopes, pummeling Price into the ground once more.

With the victory, the SU defense proved that its 56-point embarrassment two weeks ago is in the past. With four games left, three seem winnable. The Orange only needs to win two.

Said Johnson: “We want to go bowlin’.”

Published on November 2, 2013 at 7:53 pm

Contact Stephen: sebail01@syr.edu | @Stephen_Bailey1