Late TD Lifts North Carolina A&T Past Elon

ELON, N.C. – A fourth-quarter touchdown run by Tarik Cohen broke a 7-7 tie and lifted the North Carolina A&T Aggies to a 14-7 victory over the homestanding Elon Phoenix in front of 9,729 fans at Rhodes Stadium on Saturday night.

Quotable: “It was a hard-fought college football game. You can’t have turnovers. The second one, near midfield, … really flipped the field position. We had the advantage; the field was tilted in our favor. That’s a talented team and a team that plays hard. I’ve got a lot of respect for what Coach (Rod Broadway) has done there (A&T).” – Elon head coach Rich Skrosky

“I think it’s two weeks in a row that the defense has done a great job for us. You can’t really ask for more than that. We have to do more as an offense. We’ve got guys crying in the lockerroom because they practice so hard and they work so hard in the game. As an offense, it hurts. You want to be productive.” – Elon quarterback Conner Christiansen

How it happened: Entering the fourth quarter, Elon (1-2) trailed the visiting Aggies (2-1) by a 7-0 margin. Christiansen then guided the Phoenix on an 80-yard drive that took just 1:36 to knot the game at seven. The drive, which began in the third period, saw a 10-yard Brandon Gentry run on the first play of the fourth quarter before Christiansen hit Demitri Allison for a 27-yard gain to the A&T 20. On second-and-six at the 16, Christiansen ran the read-option to perfection and ran in for the tying score. Later in the period, the Aggies began a drive at the 50 with exactly eight minutes to play. Medium gains moved the ball to the Elon 13 when Cohen broke free for his go-ahead tally with 5:22 showing on the game clock.

Inside the box score: The Elon defense posted five sacks for the second consecutive outing, the first time in over a decade… John Silas and Corey Mitchell continued to pace the Phoenix in tackles as each made a game-high 10 stops on the night… Christiansen accounted for 45 of Elon’s 88 rushing yards and threw for 143 yards on 19-of-32 passing.

Notes: Elon now has 13 total sacks in three games, seven shy of the total posted by the 2014 squad… The Phoenix also has 27 tackles for a loss this season after having 66 a year ago.

Up next: Elon will open up CAA Football play by hosting Towson in a 3 p.m. game for Family Weekend on Saturday, Sept. 26.