Elon Football Phoenix Falls to #17 James Madison in Season Finale

ELON, N.C. – Quarterback Mike Quinn threw for two touchdowns, ran for one and caught another, but the Elon Phoenix dropped its season finale by a 59-27 margin at 17th-ranked James Madison on Saturday, Nov. 22.

Elon ends its first season as a member of CAA Football with an overall record of 1-11 and an 0-8 mark in league play. JMU improved to 9-3, 6-2.

“It was disappointing from the get-go,” said Elon head coach Rich Skrosky. “We’ve been relatively competitive all the way through. That first half was really disappointing. We’ll move forward. I know what this place will be. It’s too good of a place not to get it back to where we had it when I was here from 2006-10.”

JMU got the scoring started on its first drive of the game, going 82 yards in 3:18 to take a 7-0 lead on a three-yard run by Khalid Abdullah. The Dukes extended the lead to 14-0 late in the first quarter after taking over at the Elon 24 after a blocked punt. Four plays later, Jauan Latney toted it in from three yards out.

Down 17-0, Odell Benton recovered a fumble at the JMU 30-yard line on the first play of the second quarter. On Elon’s first play, Quinn handed the ball off to Justin Osborne on a jet sweep. Osborne stopped and threw back to a wide open Quinn who went in for the score to get the Phoenix on the board.

The Phoenix added three touchdown scores in the second half. The maroon and gold took the opening kick of the third quarter and went 65 yards for a score as Quinn ran the ball in from a yard out. In the fourth quarter, Quinn lofted a 21-yard score to Demitri Allison and hit Andre Davis for a nine-yard strike on the game’s final play.

Elon entered the game leading the CAA and ranking second nationally in penalty yards per game. In the finale, the Phoenix was not penalized once.

Elon’s defense had three players post double-digit tackle performances as Chris Blair made 12 stops, John Silas posted 11 and Jonathan Spain made 10 tackles. The Phoenix had two sacks and one interception. The sacks came from Silas and Justin Snavely. Snavely also recorded the pick.

Spain concludes his career in the maroon and gold with 362 total tackles, the fourth-most in program history.

Quinn completed 21 passes for 201 yards and two scores. Six of the completions went to Allison who had 68 receiving yards. Osborne caught five balls for 71 yards. Thuc Phan’s 87 rushing yards on 14 carries led the team.

Quinn wraps up his career in a Phoenix uniform with 5,201 passing yards, the fourth-best total ever by an Elon player.