Elon Stopped by #12 William & Mary Football

ELON, N.C. – The Elon offense produced its highest yardage output of the season, but it was not enough to overcome a quick start by William & Mary as the Phoenix football team dropped a 34-13 contest to the 12th-ranked Tribe at Rhodes Stadium on Saturday, Nov. 7.

The Phoenix dipped to 3-6 overall and 2-4 in CAA Football play while William & Mary improved to 7-2, 5-1 on the year.

Quotable: “The problem is that you don’t get to eliminate those 10 minutes. I didn’t think our energy was quite what it needed to be from the start. You get 11 Saturdays to do this and I didn’t think our energy was where it was last week. It should build. That was a tough start. Too many mistakes against a good football team. You go down 21-0 and that’s a hard hole to dig out of.” – Elon head coach Rich Skrosky

How it happened: William & Mary took the opening kickoff and went 69 yards on nine plays as Kendell Anderson ran in for the score from 19 yards out to put the Tribe up 7-0. On Elon’s second play of the game, a sack forced a fumble that was recovered by the Tribe. Five plays later William & Mary had scored its second touchdown. Elon’s next drive ended with a punt that was returned 70 yards by DeVonte Dedmon and the Tribe quickly built a 21-0 advantage.

The Phoenix would score two second-half touchdowns, both by freshman Malcolm Summers on two-yard runs. It was the first time an Elon player rushed for two or more scores since Karl Bostick did so at Furman on Oct. 5, 2013.

Noteworthy: Elon’s offense out-gained William & Mary’s by a total of 388 yards to 371… Quarterback Connor Christiansen completed 28-of-45 passes for a career-best 310 yards, marking the first time a Phoenix quarterback has thrown for 300 or more yards in 18 games… Jon Thomas led all players with eight receptions and 70 receiving yards… Corey Mitchell made a game-high 12 tackles, his sixth double-digit performance of the season… In the fourth quarter, Alexander Dawson blocked a William & Mary field goal try that was recovered by Adrian McClendon and returned near midfield… No William & Mary running back rushed for 100 yards, snapping a streak of 13 consecutive games with a 100-yard runner.

Up next: The Phoenix will play its final road game of the year next Saturday, visiting the Maine Black Bears for a 12:30 p.m. contest that will air on Fox College Sports.