Elon Football Gets Top-20 Test in New Hampshire

ELON, N.C. – Coming off of a 17-13 CAA Football victory over Towson, the Elon program will head farther north than it ever has before for a 3:30 p.m. bout at 20th-ranked New Hampshire this weekend.

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 2:30 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.

This weekend’s game will also be televised on the American Sports Network. A full listing of stations carrying the game can be found HERE.

ELON VS. NEW HAMPSHIRE:
Elon and UNH have met just once before with the Wildcats claiming a 48-14 victory in the Phoenix’s first-ever CAA Football game a year ago.

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
• vs. North Carolina A&T – Corey Mitchell
• vs. Towson – Ikenna Nwokeji
• at New Hampshire – Chris Blair

NOTES FROM LAST GAME
• Elon’s improved to 4-10 in conference openers at the Division I level with the 17-13 victory over Towson
• The win was the first league win for the Phoenix since moving to CAA Football
• John Silas posted the ninth double-digit tackle game of his career by making a game-high 16 tackles, including one sack, in the win over Towson
• Corey Mitchell added 12 tackles, his third double-digit performance of the year
• The Phoenix now has 14 sacks in four games, six shy of its total of 20 from 2014
• Elon held Towson to 5-of-16 on third down and 3-for-9 on fourth down

14 OR LESS
The Phoenix has held three consecutive opponents to 14 points or less (13 by both Gardner-Webb and Towson and 14 by North Carolina A&T). The last time an Elon squad kept opponents to 14 or fewer points for at least three games was 2009. That season, the Phoenix posted a streak of five consecutive games allowing 14 or less. In that stretch, all wins, Elon allowed 14 points to Georgia Southern, 12 at Furman, seven vs. The Citadel, 10 to Chattanooga and six at Wofford.

LINEBACKER DUO RACKING UP THE TACKLES
Junior linebackers John Silas (Powder Springs, Ga.) and Corey Mitchell (Jacksonville, N.C.) have been amassing impressive tackle totals over the past two weeks. Against Gardner-Webb, Silas made a career-best 17 tackles. He followed that up with a 10-tackle game against North Carolina A&T. Mitchell posted a personal-high 18 stops at Gardner-Webb and another 10 against the Aggies. Both posted double-digit tackle games in the win over Towson. Together, this pair has accounted for 83 tackles in Elon’s last three outings. For the season, they have a combined 92 total stops.

EARLY STREAK
Red-shirt freshman quarterback Connor Christiansen (Fishers, Ind.) has begun his career with 100 pass attempts through four games and has yet to have a pass picked off. In fact, Elon quarterbacks have attempted 113 total passes without an interception this season.

The program mark of 210 consecutive passes without an interception was set by Mike Quinn in 2013, a number that also set a Southern Conference record.

GENTRY MAKING A MARK
Walk-on sophomore running back Brandon Gentry (Monroe, N.C.) has made an impact this season. Gentry saw the first playing time of his career at Gardner-Webb and earned his first start against Towson. In the victory over Towson, Gentry ran for 48 yards and his first career touchdown allowed the Phoenix to move in front of the Tigers.