Elon Football Falls at William & Mary

WILLIAMSBURG, Va. – Three rushing touchdowns from Malachi Imoh helped William & Mary defeat the Elon University football team, 31-10, on Saturday evening, March 20, at Zable Stadium.

BOX SCORE

The Phoenix fell to 1-4 overall on the season and 0-3 during CAA Football play. William & Mary moved to 1-1 on the season and in league play.

The Rundown
The Tribe opened the scoring in the contest with a long touchdown run in the first quarter. William & Mary’s Malachi Imoh got loose on a 65-yard run at the 5:44 mark to put the Tribe ahead 7-0.

Elon narrowed the gap to four, 7-3, after a Skyler Davis 34-yard field goal with 41 seconds left in the first. The Tribe however added its second long touchdown run as Imoh scampered for 38 yards with 9:07 left in the second as William & Mary took a 14-3 advantage.

The Phoenix looked to add points before the end of the opening half after forcing its second fumble of the game at the William & Mary 42-yard line. Jalen Greene forced and recovered an Elijah Burns fumble to give the ball back to Elon with 4:54 left in the quarter. The maroon and gold drove the ball down to the Tribe’s 27-yard line, but Davis could not connect on a 49-yard field goal before the end of the half.

William & Mary received the ball to start the second half and scored on a Hollis Mathis 36-yard touchdown pass to Cole Blackman at the 11:39 mark. That extended the Tribe’s lead to 21-3, which was then expanded to 24-3 after an Ethan Chang 28-yard field goal with 6:44 in the third quarter.

Elon crossed the goal line for its first touchdown of the game with 7:18 remaining as JR Martin found Jaylan Thomas on a 17-yard touchdown pass. The key play on the four-play, 48-yard drive was a 39-yard pass from Martin to Bryson Daughtry.

Imoh added his third touchdown of the game with 3:46 left in the game. That freshman helped the Tribe push its lead to 31-10 which set as the final score.

Notes
• The Phoenix recovered three fumbles in the contest by Bryce Graves, Tre’Von Jones and Jalen Greene.
• Thomas led the Phoenix on the ground with 43 yards on 14 carries. He also led the Phoenix with 45 receiving yards on a career-high five receptions and one touchdown.
• Martin threw for a touchdown for the third straight week. The Suwanee, Ga., native passed for 108 yards in relief of Justin Allen in the second half. Allen threw for 34 yards and added another 13 on the ground.
• Omar Rogers had eight tackles in the game to lead Elon while Graves added seven stops with 1.5 tackles-for-loss and a pass breakup.

Up Next
The Phoenix continues its road swing with a visit to Richmond next Saturday, March 27. Kickoff is set for 4 p.m.