Elon Football Drops Opener at Wake Forest

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Wake Forest used a stout second quarter offensive attack and limited an extremely young Elon offense as the Demon Deacons downed the Phoenix 41-3 in the season opener for both teams on Thursday, Sept. 3.

Quotable: “I thought our preparation coming into the game was right. I thought we had a good week of practice. I thought the kids were locked in for the most part. The scout teams did a good job. The thing I was most disappointed in was our composure. I think some of them (young players) got caught up in the moment. In the third series, we had nine freshmen playing on the offensive side of the ball. We have to do a better job of coaches of making sure we’re preparing them for that moment. We’ll go back to work tomorrow. One of the advantages of scheduling this game on a Thursday is it gives us a little extra time going in to week two.” – Elon head coach Rich Skrosky

How it happened: After settling for just a field goal in the first quarter, Wake Forest found the end zone three times during the second stanza to take a 24-0 lead into halftime. The final score came when Wake quarterback John Wolford eluded Elon rushers and then found his way down the field for a 70-yard run. Elon got its three points on a 45-yard field goal from John Gallagherin the third quarter.

Inside the box score: Winston-Salem native Chris Blair led all players with 13 total tackles, 11 of which were solo stops… Rob Sullivan posted the first two-sack game of his career… Quarterbacks Daniel Thompson and Connor Christiansen split time and each threw for 50 yards… Thompson completed seven of his 14 passes and Christiansen eight of his 14 attempts… Christiansen was the team’s leading rusher, accounting for 22 yards rushing on four carries.

Notes: David Petroni booted punts of 61 and 60 yards, both surpassing his previous career-best of 59 yards that he had done twice in 2013… A total of 12 true freshmen saw playing time for the maroon and gold, as did five red-shirt freshmen.

Up next: Elon will hit the road for the second straight week as the Phoenix visits Gardner-Webb for a 6 p.m. game on Saturday, Sept. 12.