By Bret Strelow
bstrelow@salisburypost.com
RALEIGH ó With veteran tight end Anthony Hill catching a touchdown pass and Chuck Amato congratulating him afterward, Carter-Finley Stadium had a retro feel Thursday night.
Amato, now a Florida State assistant, stood near midfield following N.C. State’s 26-17 loss and embraced some of the Wolfpack players he once coached. They walked toward the Murphy Center moments later, and Amato moved quickly in the opposite direction.
“Bittersweet, bittersweet,” Amato said. “It feels a heck of a lot better to walk out of here with a win than a loss.
“Over there, they don’t believe they can beat Florida State ó they know they can.”
The Wolfpack defeated FSU four times in Amato’s seven years as N.C. State’s head coach. The school fired Amato after the 2006 season, and he made a highly anticipated return to Carter-Finley Stadium on Thursday.
Tom O’Brien’s teams are now winless in two tries against the Seminoles.
“We’re on a journey, and we’ve got a lot of young kids learning to play hard,” O’Brien said.
Redshirt freshman Russell Wilson threw for 181 yards and two touchdowns, including Hill’s first score since 2005.
Wilson’s 67-yard touchdown pass to Owen Spencer on the first play of the fourth quarter pushed the Wolfpack (2-5, 0-3 ACC) ahead 17-13, but FSU (5-1, 2-1) responded with an 11-play drive that ended with Bert Reed’s 17-yard TD reception. Graham Gano made a 44-yard field goal with 4:33 remaining and added a game-clinching 53-yarder with 1:53 left.
Christian Ponder completed a 23-yard pass to Taiwan Easterling on a third-and-17 play from the Seminoles’ 34 early in FSU’s go-ahead series, and Reed later rushed for 6 yards on a third-and-3 carry.
FSU went 10-for-17 on third-down conversions, and N.C. State finished 1-for-9.
“The game was probably decided on third down,” O’Brien said. “We couldn’t get off the field and couldn’t stay on the field.”
The Wolfpack, trailing 23-17, faced a fourth-and-14 from its 30 when it called its first timeout with 3:01 remaining. A long pass from Wilson fell incomplete, and Gano’s final field goal sealed the outcome.
Amato had a long exchange with N.C. State true freshman T.J. Graham and greeted backup quarterback Daniel Evans. Hill, Willie Young and DeAndre Morgan went out of their way to find Amato.
N.C. State fullback Harrison Ritcher, whose brother played for the Wolfpack before joining FSU’s staff as a graduate assistant, posed for a picture with Amato. An hour after the game ended, Amato walked across an empty field with several people and entered the Murphy Center.
“It was real good seeing Coach Amato,” Hill said. “I just went up to him and gave him a hug. I definitely, definitely miss him. He said ‘Good game’ and told me I wasn’t supposed to catch that touchdown.”
Hill, a redshirt senior, returned to action against Boston College on Oct. 4 after missing four games with a chest injury. The only other touchdown of his career came three years ago in a win at Florida State.
With Hill already in the fold and three more impact players returning to the lineup against FSU, the Wolfpack had reason to be optimistic.
“Everybody was pretty confident when they knew we all were coming back,” defensive tackle Alan-Michael Cash said. “We went into the game feeling real good.”
Cash, who had missed three straight contests following knee surgery, sacked Ponder to end the Seminoles’ opening possession.
Offensive guard Curtis Crouch suited up after sitting out three games with a foot injury, and standout linebacker Nate Irving played sparingly before reinjuring his right ankle. He had missed N.C. State’s last two games.
“He’s probably gone again for a while,” O’Brien said.