WINSTON-SALEM – For the better part of a week, Wake Forest’s defense has had third down and red zone stops emphasized in practices. That was a byproduct of poor showings in each area of the first scrimmage of fall camp.

The emphasis paid off in the second scrimmage of fall camp, which was Thursday night.

“Coach Lambo has been making a big emphasis on that,” linebacker Dylan Hazen said of defensive coordinator Brad Lambert. “So we’ve been practicing all different sorts of scenarios like third-and-short, third-and-medium, double sticks, which is what you call third-and-long. …

“I feel like definitely from Scrimmage One to Scrimmage Two, we’ve executed a little better on third down.”

It wasn’t immediate—Wake’s first- and second-team offenses started the scrimmage 5-for-8 on third down. Hank Bachmeier threw a 17-yard touchdown to Jeremiah Melvin on a third-and-4, a pass interference penalty on Jamare Glasker gifted the offense a first down, and Michael Kern threw a 28-yard pass to Nick Ragano to convert another third down.

But on the same drive as the pass interference, Wake’s defense stuffed third- and fourth-down runs from the 1-yard line. And after the offense started 5-for-8 on third downs, it was stopped on four straight. With the first- and second-team offense on the field, the third-down conversion clip wound up at 8-for-17.

Not outstanding by Wake’s defense but an improvement from a week ago.

“Just rep counts being consistent with it, learning from your mistakes, because you’re going to make mistakes. That’s inevitable,” Hazen said. “Over the course of camp, I think we’ve improved a lot.”

The second scrimmage can feel like a crescendo of camp. Most situations have been practiced, the basics have been drilled; before Thursday night, Wake Forest had practiced on 14 of the previous 17 days.

This is when everything is supposed to come together — or, at least, it’s when everything should come together before it needs to come together, given the season opener was two weeks away (down to the hour) when the Deacons started the scrimmage portion of Thursday night.

For the most part, it did. This was a balanced scrimmage, neither side of the ball holding a significant edge, which is preferable for coach Dave Clawson.

“I thought the offense ran the ball well and got yards. But the defense really stepped up in the red zone,” he said. “If you get the ball down on the ground, you give yourself a chance to play another (down). We didn’t give up all these explosive plays in the pass game. We gave up yards and we gave up some run-game stuff, but I thought we played top-down better, kept the thing in play.”

Each quarterback competing for the starting role threw one touchdown and one interception. Both picks came in the red zone; Kern’s pass was popped into the air because of a goal line collision and landed in the hands of linebacker Quincy Bryant, while Bachmeier was picked off by Glasker on a third-and-7 throw to the inside shoulder of Melvin.

Bachmeier’s touchdown throw to Melvin looked like a busted coverage; Kern threw a 13-yard touchdown to Deuce Alexander in an overtime situation, converting on fourth down with a crisp throw and Alexander holding on through a hard hit by Rushaun Tongue.

The first third-down conversion came early and was courtesy of a leading candidate to be the offense’s MVP of the scrimmage.

On third-and-6 from the defense’s 39-yard line, Tate Carney bounced a handoff left and put freshman defensive back Myles Turpin into the ground with a vicious stiff arm, rolling down to the 3-yard line. Carney punched in a touchdown two plays later; he unofficially had eight carries for 52 yards and that score, along with a 10-yard catch on which he broke a few tackles.

Consider Carney the running back version of the scrambling quarterback who’s at a disadvantage in practices. That is to say, in the same way that a scrambling QB is hindered by being tackled when they’re touched, Carney is hindered when he’s down by thud or touch.

“I’m definitely more of a tackle guy, compared to a two-hand touch. That’s not my game,” Carney said. “But I’m excited whenever we get to open it up, put on the pads and tackle.”

That moment will come soon enough.

Thursday night was the two-week mark before Wake’s opener against North Carolina A&T. The Deacons have three more practices open to media before game planning and installation of opponent-specific packages and plays begins.

There’s some anxiousness, according to Carney, for an opponent that isn’t wearing the same jersey.

“We’re just excited to play another team. We’re ready for camp to be over and play that next team,” he said. “I wasn’t really thinking about it just because we’ve had our heads down working in camp, but whenever (Clawson) said that tonight, two weeks, I was like, ‘Sweet.’

“Got me excited, got me fired up. I think it got a lot of guys ready to go, too.”

Here were my observations during Wake Forest’s 15th practice and second scrimmage of fall camp:

Equipment: Full pads.

Weather: Kinda cloudy, low-80s.

Was today won by the offense, defense or neither: Neither.

I think this was something of a wash. Maybe that’s being a bit of a prisoner of improvement — i.e. Wake’s defense had more room for growth because of a sour first scrimmage.

But as Clawson pointed out, both sides of the ball had reason to feel good about certain things.

“We’re going to have to find ways to get off the field on third and fourth down and we did that tonight,” he said. “That was the difference in the scrimmage. I think the offensive yards (will) look good, but there weren’t a lot of points.”

QB report: This is the first time in fall camp you can’t say it was one of their days.

Kern started with the first-team offense, and then it was Bachmeier with the second-team offense. For the third series, with the first-team offense returning, Bachmeier stayed at QB.

That was the extent of it, which — I think — illustrates how level their competition is.

The Yellow Legal Pad — meaning they’re unofficial — stats for each one:

Bachmeier: 10-for-17, 103 yards, one touchdown, one interception | two scrambles, 12 yards | no sacks.

Kern: 9-for-14, 117 yards, one touchdown, one interception | one carry, 5 yards | one sack.

Catch of the day: Wide receivers Nick Ragano and Ian Ver Steeg.

Each walk-on had a fantastic catch on the sideline with the second-team offense and it’s impossible to highlight one without the other.

Ragano’s came first, hauling in a 28-yard catch to convert third-and-1 and put the offense at the 3-yard line. He was falling backward and out of bounds, still getting his arms high enough for the catch and toe tap on the sideline.

Ver Steeg’s wasn’t for as many yards but sealed a “win.”

Going on context clues, the offense was leading in an end-of-game situation. Needing one more first down to seal the victory (under two minutes left) and facing third-and-11, Kern scrambled to his right and threw to Ver Steeg on the sideline. He made an under-duress catch through tight coverage, getting a foot down for a 13-yard gain.

Three kneel-downs by Kern meant Wake Forest won … and Wake Forest lost.

Quotes of the day: Just chatting about the weather with Hazen …

Hazen: “This is perfect. And if it’s this weather? For Night One? Phewwww. It was beautiful. It felt nice, felt good. Body is feeling good.”

Deacons Illustrated: “You’re probably happy to be out of the heat.”

Hazen, who’s from Texas: “Oh my goodness, you have no idea. Stepping on feels-like-100-degrees turf in Texas, compared to this weather up here? Especially this camp. This camp has been a little rainy. It’s been humid but it’s been raining a lot.”

D.I.: “Naw, you guys have gotten off easy.”

Hazen: “Oh my gosh, yes. You have no idea. We’ve gotten a lot of good wet-ball work, so we’ll be ready for that if that ever happens in the season.”

Freshman/newcomer of the day: Freshman safety Jacob Cosby-Mosley.

Feels like a default pick — puntentional — when a freshman has a two-interception day.

Both of them came with the third-team offense and defense on the field. That is, with all due respect, when the play-by-play stops being tracked on the Yellow Legal Pad.

And I think both interceptions came on tipped passes.

Still, they’re interceptions. And they’re by the same freshman safety who seems to have a knack for making big plays. Wake Forest is deep at the position and it seems unlikely Cosby-Mosley will see a bevy of snaps this season.

But if, or when, he ends up playing, don’t be shocked if he proves himself as playmaker.

Positional observations: We’ll try not to make this too bulky …

- Without going into specifics, some starters who haven’t missed much time (if at all) were held out of this scrimmage. That’s likely precautions being taken with players who have played at least 1,500 snaps in their careers.

It made for a good look at some positions … like wide receiver, defensive tackle, defensive end and cornerback.

- Freshman quarterback Jeremy Hecklinski got one drive with the second-team offense. He was 2-for-4 for 24 yards; his deep third-down throw to Ver Steeg was knocked away by Antonio Robinson Jr.

- This might have been a first for me, watching a scrimmage. Branson Combs had a personal foul for a late hit out of bounds. It wasn’t late so much as he just finished his tackle when he should’ve realized how far into the sideline he was.

The goal line stand came later on the drive and he made up for it, getting in on the third-down stop. Hazen and Nick Andersen combined for the fourth-down stop.

- I’m not sure how much of a role Camden Hardy is going to have this year. There’s a clear pecking order at defensive end, with entrenched starters (Jasheen Davis and Kendron Wayman), a primary backup (BJ Williams), and an emerging redshirt freshman (Tyler Walton) in front of him.

But Hardy is going to be good. He flashed a couple of times with an early batted-down pass, and then late with a run stuff. It’s easy to say it’s genetic with him; he’s the son of Kevin Hardy, the No. 2 overall pick in the 1996 NFL draft who had a nine-year career and was an All-Pro linebacker in 1999.

News of the day: Running back Ty Clark III won’t be the only freshman who plays above the four-game minimum to retain a redshirt, but he’s the only one who’s gotten an on-record endorsement from Clawson about it.

“Ty Clark is going to play for us,” Clawson said. “Right now, Demond (Claiborne) practiced before the scrimmage. But every year, you need three or four running backs. And right now, Ty and Kennedy (Fauntleroy) are competing for that 3- and 4-spot.

“Most years, those guys play. Going into it, it’s going to be Demond and Tate. And then Ty and Kennedy have both had really good camps. And Ty has really impressed.”

Clark had 11 carries for 35 yards — it felt like more, probably because they were hard earned — in the scrimmage. Fauntleroy had 14 carries for 42 yards.