ELON, N.C. – Quarterbacks combined to throw for 233 yards and four touchdowns while the Elon University defense finished with three interceptions and five sacks to highlight football’s first scrimmage of fall camp on Sunday, Aug. 11, inside Rhodes Stadium.
Playing in his first game-like action since last season, Davis Cheek combined to complete 11 of 17 passes for 168 yards with three touchdown passes. Kortez Weeks finished with six receptions for 139 yards while catching two of Cheek’s touchdown tosses. On the ground, Brelynd Cyphers carried seven times for 56 yards to lead the Elon running backs. Defensively, Cole Coleman had five tackles and Marvin Pearson closed the day with 1.5 sacks. Coleman, Greg Liggs, Jr. and Adam Chnupa each came up with interceptions on the day and Zavier Williams forced a fumble on a screen pass in the backfield.
Elon’s first scoring drive saw Joey Baughman drive the offense 65 yards with Cyphers opening the drive with a 43-yard carry up the middle. Chipping away in the red zone, Baughman capped things with a play-action keeper from three yards out for the score on 4th-and-1. On the very next play by the first-team offense, Cheek hit Weeks down the middle and Weeks shook a would-be tackler on the way to the end zone.
In red zone action, Cheek hit Avery Jones on 3rd-and-8 from 12 yards out to put points on the board. On the following drive, Mark McGuire converted 2nd-and-goal from the three by hitting Chandler Brayboy in nearly the exact same spot Cheek hit Jones near the uprights in the back of the end zone.
Closing the day, Cheek and Weeks took over the final drive with the classmates connecting twice, including a 64-yard touchdown pass over the middle to end the scrimmage.
Following the action, head coach Tony Trisciani offered his thoughts on a range of topics:
General thoughts on the day:
“You like to see the explosive plays, certainly on the offensive side. We’ve got a talented group of receivers so if we can get the ball in their hands in some space, they’re capable of scoring points and hitting home runs so really pleased with those big plays. I thought the defense played really well all day. They stopped the run, it was really tough to run the football against our defensive front and we came away with some takeaways and those are important. Certainly on the offensive side of the ball we have to hold onto the football and can’t have the interceptions and can’t have the ball on the ground but I’m pleased with how our defense flew around and came up with some of those takeaways.”
On things that were specific to Scrimmage 1 that the team wanted to work on:
“We worked a lot of the green zone, the middle of the football field – the 30 to 30 – today. We wanted to get a good amount of reps and wanted to get about 25 reps for the ones and we were right at it. A little bit of red area today, not a lot. The next scrimmage, we’ll do an overtime period and we’ll get a little more of the high red and low red in that. We just introduced the two-minute drill. We’ve had one practice working the two-minute so wanted to get a drive in even though it was a bit abbreviated with the explosive play so we didn’t really get the two-minute operation like we would’ve liked to but we’ll come back with that in scrimmage two.”
After a day off Monday, Elon will be back to work at the Hunt and Tucker Practice Fields on Tuesday at 10:15 a.m. to start work building toward its second scrimmage on Friday night at 7:30 p.m. inside Rhodes Stadium.
All practices and scrimmages throughout fall camp are open to the public. Media members wishing to attend practice must contact the Athletics Communications Office at (336) 278-6761 or awilson26@elon.edu by 5 p.m. the day before a 10:15 a.m. practice or by noon the day of for any of the three scrimmage sessions.
Season tickets to see the team’s chase for a third-straight berth in the FCS playoffs are on sale now through the Elon Ticket Office. To purchase, order online by clicking here or contact the Ticket Office at (336) 278-6750. Fans can also purchase season tickets in person by stopping by the Elon Ticket Office, which is located at Gate A of Schar Center. Season parking passes for the 2019 campaign are on sale to Phoenix Club members at the Maroon & Gold ($250) giving level and above. Parking passes can be purchased by clicking here.
Remaining 2019 Elon Phoenix Preseason Practice Schedule
Tuesday, Aug. 13 – 10:15 a.m.
Wednesday, Aug. 14 – 10:15 a.m.
Thursday, Aug. 15 – 10:15 a.m.
Friday, Aug 16 – 7:30 p.m. (scrimmage)
Monday, Aug. 19 – 10:15 a.m.
Tuesday, Aug. 20 – 10:15 a.m.
Wednesday, Aug. 21 – 7:30 p.m. (scrimmage)