Niklas Sade heads into this weekend’s final football game of the regular season with a lot on his mind.
The newly crowned all-time leading scorer in NC State football history — breaking College Football Hall of Fame running back Ted Brown’s 36-year-old record, set in 1978 — is determined to get the second win over rival UNC-Chapel Hill of his career when the two teams meet Saturday at 12:30 p.m. at Kenan Stadium.
He’s still got some work to do in the final three classes of his finance degree, which means he’ll participate in December’s commencement exercises after only three and a half years of academic work.
And now that the Wolfpack is bowl eligible after its 42-13 win two weeks ago against Wake Forest, some preparations will be needed if the Pack is invited to a postseason game when bids are announced on Dec. 7.
First and foremost, however, Sade wants to thank the two people who never get any credit for the record he just set: his roommates, Scott Thompson and Wil Baumann.
Without their hard and consistent work, none of Sade’s 53 career field goals or 158 extra points (both school records) would have ever gotten off the ground, much less through the uprights. Thompson, a native of Rancho St. Margarita, California, is the longsnapper for each of Sade’s kicks, while Baumann, a native of Wilmington, is the holder.
Sade and Thompson have roomed together for three years, beginning with their freshman season in the campus residence halls. Baumann joined them in an off-campus apartment a year later. Thompson, finishing his degree in sport management, will join Sade in graduation exercises in December, while Baumann will graduate in sport management next spring.
Their time together off the field — and through countless lonely hours of practice and training — have given them a special bond that made the extra point that gave Sade the individual record satisfying for all three.
“Our chemistry and friendship off the field definitely helps on the field,” says Sade, a product of Raleigh’s Wakefield High School who was born in Germany and lived there until he was 8 years old. “We all trust each other. We all play for each other. They don’t want to do anything to hurt me, and I don’t want to do anything to make them look bad.
“I certainly don’t want to be the one who messes up the operation. If I miss, everyone kind of looks bad.”
Sade has rarely missed during the last two seasons while chasing Brown’s longstanding record. He’s made 29 of 37 field-goal attempts and 68 of 70 points after touchdown.
He knew his opportunity to enter the record books would likely come against Wake Forest, because he entered the game one point behind Brown’s four-year mark of 312 points.
“The whole season, everybody has been talking about it, and I’ve been trying to block it out,” Sade says. “But when it got down to the last one or two points, you kind of know it’s about to happen. I just tried to go out and do what I do in every game: Make the kick.
“I knew if I did my job, the record would come. I’m just glad that Scott and Wil were there with me. I think they were happier than I was.”
NC State Football’s All-Time Leading Scorers
Player Pos. Years Pts.
Niklas Sade PK 2011-present 317
Ted Brown TB 1975-78 312
Josh Czajkowski PK 2008-10 257
Stan Fritts RB 1972-74 256
Mike Cofer PK 1982-86 247
- Categories:
