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SportsAmerican Football

Top-ranked Miami hold off North Carolina 38-35 to stay unbeaten

Darian Mensah threw three touchdown passes and Mark Fletcher Jr. scored three times as the Hurricanes survived a shootout in Chapel Hill.

From the editorial desk · Chapel HillPublished
Miami Hurricanes quarterback Darian Mensah (file photo)
Miami Hurricanes quarterback Darian Mensah (file photo)Photo: Various U.S. Army photographers including Cadet Matthew Griffin, Cadet Noah Murray, Sgt. 1st Class Alan Brutus and John / Wikimedia Commons, Public domain

Key points

  1. No. 1 Miami beat North Carolina 38-35 at Kenan Stadium on Saturday night.
  2. A strip sack by Marquise Lightfoot set up the touchdown that settled the game.
  3. Miami are 8-0 and top of the ACC, with a trip to Notre Dame next.

North Carolina pushed the top-ranked team in the country to the final minute, but Miami escaped Kenan Stadium with a 38-35 win on Saturday night to stay unbeaten.

The game swung back and forth all evening. Darian Mensah opened the scoring with a 2-yard pass to Malachi Toney at the end of a 13-play drive, and the Tar Heels answered twice through Jelani Thurman. A late Jake Weinberg field goal gave Miami a 17-14 lead at half-time, and North Carolina went ahead 21-17 on Billy Edwards Jr.’s first pass of the second half.

Demon June’s 1-yard run put the home side 28-24 up with 11:46 left. Mark Fletcher Jr. replied with a 2-yard run on fourth-and-1, his third touchdown of the night, a score that also tied the school’s career rushing touchdown record. Then Marquise Lightfoot stripped Edwards of the ball, Justin Scott recovered, and Mensah found Toney from 9 yards with 2:33 to play for a 38-28 lead.

Edwards was not finished. He completed 28 of 34 passes for 341 yards and four touchdowns, the last a 15-yard throw to Trech Kekahuna with 1:38 left, but Miami ran out the clock.

Mensah finished 22 of 29 for 274 yards and three touchdowns. The win ended Miami’s five-game losing run against North Carolina and its wait for a victory in Chapel Hill dating back to 2017.

Miami move to 8-0 and 6-0 in the ACC. North Carolina fall to 4-4. The Hurricanes now head to South Bend for a top-five meeting with Notre Dame.

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