Elon Football Falls to Stony Brook in Defensive Battle On Homecoming

ELON, N.C. – On a beautiful Saturday for Homecoming, the Elon Phoenix played a tough game against the nation’s top-ranked defense and the Stony Brook Seawolves, but fell in a 20-3 contest at Rhodes Stadium.

Elon’s offense churned out 250 total offensive yards, the second-most allowed by Stony Brook’s defense all season. The Phoenix defense allowed just 262 offensive yards, its fewest total yards surrendered this year.

“We had the field position battle early on,” said Elon head coach Rich Skrosky. “We got them (Stony Brook) off the field early on. We got off to a pretty good start. We knew the field position was going to be big with the style they play. We’re a little inconsistent right now. We’ve got to clean up the miscues we’re having. This was a good defensive team. The numbers that team has been putting up on defense are stupid. We knew going in we would earn every yard we could get.”

After stuffing Stony Brook (4-2, 3-1 CAA) on fourth-and-inches, Elon (1-6, 0-3) began its first drive of the game at the Seawolves’ 42-yard line. The Phoenix moved to the 24 before John Gallagher gave the maroon and gold a 3-0 lead with a 41-yard field goal.

Stony Brook came right back with a seven-play, 75-yard drive that ended with a 39-yard touchdown run by Stacey Bedell that put the Seawolves on top.

Elon’s first fumble of the season was a costly one as the Phoenix muffed a punt that was recovered by Stony Brook’s Jeremy Leggiero at the Elon 44 with 1:23 left in the first quarter. SBU’s drive carried in to the second stanza and an 18-yard toss from Conor Bednarski to Adrian Coxson put the Seawolves up 14-3.

The defense struggle carried over to the second half that featured a combined nine punts. The only score of the half was a three-yard touchdown run by Stony Brook’s James Kenner with just over two minutes to play.

With nine tackles on the day, linebacker Jonathan Spain surpassed the 300-tackle mark for his career. He now has 307 total stops, ranking eighth in program history.

The Phoenix will be back at home again next Saturday as Elon hosts the Richmond Spiders in a 3 p.m. game.