Elon Football to Renew Rivalry With Gardner-Webb This Weekend

ELON, N.C. – The second week of the 2015 football season finds the Elon Phoenix squad on the road again as the maroon and gold visits Gardner-Webb for a 6 p.m. contest on Saturday, Sept. 12.

Fans unable to attend the game can also listen to the game on WSML 104.5 FM and 1200 AM or at elonphoenix.com as David Hibbard and Taylor Durham have the call. The radio broadcast will start at 5 p.m. Fans can also listen to all Elon football games via the TuneIn Radio app. This app is free to download to your smartphone.

A video stream is available through the Big South Network.

ELON VS. GARDNER-WEBB:
Elon and Gardner-Webb were former rivals as NAIA and NCAA Division II members of the South Atlantic Conference. The two were also both members of the inaugural Big South Conference football season. Elon and GWU have played 29 times with the maroon and gold victorious in 20 bouts with the Runnin’ Bulldogs.

OH CAPTAIN, MY CAPTAIN
The Phoenix football squad elected two captains for the 2015 season. Serving as captain for the second year in a row is senior defensive back Miles Williams. He will be joined by first-year captain, junior linebacker John Silas.

Each week the Phoenix will also name a game-week captain and are listed below:

• at Wake Forest – B.J. Bennett
• at Gardner-Webb – Rob Sullivan

NOTES FROM LAST GAME
• Elon played 12 true freshmen and five red-shirt freshmen in its opener at Wake Forest
• Chris Blair had 13 total tackles, marking the fifth double-digit tackle performance of his career
• True freshman Daniel Thompson earned the start at quarterback, becoming the first true freshman signal caller to start a game for Elon since Scott Riddle in 2007

WELCOME TO THE SHOW
In its season opener at Wake Forest, Elon played 11 true freshmen along with six red-shirt freshmen. At one point, the Phoenix offense lined up with nine freshmen on the field.

QB SPLIT
The Phoenix went with a two quarterback system in its first game of the year as both true freshman Daniel Thompson and red-shirt freshman Connor Christiansen saw action. Thompson got the start and completed six of his 13 passes for 44 yards. Christiansen threw for 56 yards on 9-of-15 passing. Christiansen also led the team in rushing on the night, gaining 22 yards on four carries.

SACK FREE
Elon snapped a streak of 15 consecutive games of allowing a sack in its opener at Wake Forest. The Phoenix quarterbacks were not sacked once in their debuts. The last time that Elon did not allow a sack was Oct. 26, 2013 at Western Carolina.

BOOMING PETRONI
Junior punter David Petroni drilled the longest two punts of his career against Wake Forest as he hit punts of 61 and 60 yards. He averaged 44.2 yards per punt and hit three of 50 or more yards. Four of his punts pinned the Demon Deacons inside their own 20-yard line. For his efforts, Petroni was named the CAA Football Special Teams Player of the Week.