Elon Football Pulls Out Emotional Win at Maine

ORONO, Maine – After an emotional week with the death of a teammate, the Elon Phoenix football team earned a hard-fought 27-22 victory over the Maine Black Bears on Saturday, Nov. 14.

Elon improved to 4-6 overall and 3-4 in CAA Football play. Maine dropped to 3-7, 3-4 on the year.

Quotable: “As everyone knows, it’s been a hard, hard week on all of us. I told the team that what we experienced over these three hours is something none of us will ever forget. The heart we showed.” – Elon head coach Rich Skrosky

“This is a week that was hard on all of us. I can’t say enough about the love and support that my teammates have shown one another. The Elon community has been huge. When we made the decision to play today, we knew we were going to do it for Demitri and for one another. To see us go out there and get the win, and play with the heart and grit that we did was huge.” – Elon defensive back Miles Williams

How it happened: After an Elon turnover ended the first Phoenix drive of the game, the defense got the ball right back as Miles Williams sacked quarterback Drew Belcher and forced a fumble that was recovered and returned to the 16-yard line by Corey Mitchell. On the next play, Connor Christiansen executed a beautiful play-action pass and rolled out to hit Corey Joyner for a touchdown. The maroon and gold lead would grow to 17-0 in the second quarter after a 42-yard John Gallagher field goal and an eight-yard TD strike from Christiansen to Joyner.

Maine chipped away in the second half, getting a field goal in the third quarter before two consecutive touchdowns in the fourth cut the Phoenix lead to 17-16. Elon answered with an eight-play, 66-yard drive that concluded with a 13-yard dash into the end zone by Malcolm Summers. Summers toted the ball six times for 53 yards on the drive.

Noteworthy: Elon’s 27 points were its highest scoring output of the season… Maine’s 69 rushing yards were the fewest allowed by the Phoenix this year… Elon’s defense had three sacks on the day… John Silas led Elon with 12 total tackles to move in to fifth place on the program’s FCS tackles chart.

Up next: The Phoenix will conclude the season with a noon game at home in Rhodes Stadium against Delaware next Saturday, Nov. 21.