Deacons put WakeyLeaks behind them with Military Bowl win

When the final seconds ticked off the clock, Wake Forest’s players doused their head coach with a cooler full of Gatorade, a celebration that was partially about a win in the Military Bowl — the Demon Deacons’ first bowl win in eight years — but also a chance to finally change a storyline that has hovered like a black cloud over the program for the past two months.

This was a season of progress for Dave Clawson and the Deacons. After two straight 3-9 campaigns, Wake won five of its first six games, earned a bowl berth, and looked competitive throughout. But when Clawson discovered parts of his playbook had been handed to Louisville before their Nov. 12 showdown, the narrative surrounding the…