Elon Men’s Football Unable to Overcome Towson

TOWSON, Md. – The Towson Tigers jumped out to a 10-0 lead in the first quarter and the Elon University football team was unable to rally back in a CAA Football contest on Saturday afternoon as the Phoenix fell by a 23-6 score.

BOX SCORE

Elon moved to 2-7 overall and 1-5 in CAA Football play. Towson improved to 2-7, 1-5.

Quotable: “Similar to a lot of the previous games, we’re in the game. We were going to make it a one score game with a couple of pretty good drives and we had the huge error. I know what we need to work on fundamentally. We know how to carry the football. The turnovers are unacceptable.” – Elon head coach Rich Skrosky

How it happened: Towson was able to put points on the board on each of its first two drives of the game. The Tigers went 48 yards before Aidan O’Neill connected on a 47-yard field goal to make it a 3-0 game. A six-play, 74-yard drive on the next Towson possession ended with a 24-yard touchdown pass from Morgan Mahalak to Christian Summers with 5:48 to go in the first period.

Elon cut it to 10-3 with 2:09 to go in the second quarter as John Gallagher drilled a 39-yard field goal. A quick three-and-out got the Phoenix the ball back with 1:20 to go in the half, but a sack backed the maroon and gold up and David Petroni would eventually have to punt. The Tigers earned great field position thanks to a 29-yard return to the Elon 23-yard line and would settle for a 37-yard O’Neill field goal to make it 13-3 at the break.

The Phoenix put together a good drive to start the second half and moved to the Towson 11-yard line on a 42-yard dash by De’Sean McNair. Elon would pick up another first down at the one before a fumble at the goal line was recovered by Towson.

Two drives later, Elon again moved inside the red zone as Daniel Thompson hit Jeremiah Bridges for 16 yards to the 10. A holding penalty on the Phoenix would back the offense up and Gallagher would make it a 13-6 game with a 38-yard field goal.

Towson would push its lead to 20-6 when Mahalak found an open Andre Dessenberg for a 26-yard strike early in the fourth quarter. O’Neill added a final 20-yard field goal with just under five minutes to go in the contest.

Stat Leaders:
Rushing
Elon – De’Sean McNair (17 carries, 91 yards)
Towson – Shane Simpson (23 carries, 187 yards)

Passing
Elon – Daniel Thompson (18-25, 116 yards)
Towson – Morgan Mahalak (12-24, 148 yards, 2 TD)

Receiving
Elon – Jeremiah Bridges (6 receptions, 42 yards)
Towson – Christian Summers (3 receptions, 68 yards, 1 TD)

Defense
Elon – Khalil Moore (8 total tackles, 1.5 TFL)
Towson – D’Sean Cummings (12 total tackles, 1 fumble recovery)

Noteworthy: De’Sean McNair’s 91 rushing yards were a personal best… Chris Blair recorded his second interception of the season… John Gallagher’s two field goals made give him 47 for his career, three shy of matching Adam Shreiner (2009-12) for second on Elon’s all-time field goals chart.

Up Next: Elon will return to Rhodes Stadium for a 1:30 p.m., game against Rhode Island on Saturday, Nov. 12. Prior to the game, Elon will honor its senior class.