ELON, N.C. -- As preseason camp begins to wind down, the Elon Phoenix football team scrimmaged for about two hours during Fan Appreciation Day at Rhodes Stadium on Saturday afternoon.  On hand to greet the fans were members of other Elon fall sports teams as well as the cheerleaders and Phoenix mascot.

A depleted offensive unit struggled to move the ball against the stout maroon and gold defense for much of the day and found the end zone just once on the afternoon.

"We've got some guys banged up on offense and it showed today," said head coach Jason Swepson.  We were missing our starting tight end, missing our starting left tackle, missing a starting wide receiver and we've had three running backs get injured in the last couple of days.  We still have two weeks to get healthy on offense.  The good thing is we got a good chance to look at some of the backups in a starting situation.  We were playing with a skeleton crew there on offense.  The defense is somewhat healthy and veteran and playing well.  It didn't look like we wanted on offense today."

After a first half of nine drives, the team worked on its four-minute drill for much of the remainder of the day.

The first score of the day came on the fourth drive of the scrimmage as quarterback Thomas Wilson was pressured and his throw was picked off by Miles Williams who returned the interception down the home sideline 73 yards for a touchdown.

"Coach (Ed) Pinkham practices interceptions and what you're supposed to do after an interception and it worked like clockwork," said Swepson.  "You had the other 10 guys running down the field with him, Miles got to the nearest sideline and had the ball in the outside arm.  It was great to see those guys taking their coaching."

The offense's lone TD came on the final play of the scrimmage when John Loughery hit a streaking Lichota Seidewand for a 50-yard strike.

Wilson finished the afternoon with 68 passing yards after he completed seven of his 19 attempts.  Mike Quinn was 9-of-19 for 55 yards while Loughery completed five of his seven passes for 86 yards and a score.

The three freshmen running backs - #B.J. Bennett# (two carries, 15 yards), Tracey Coppedge (six carries, 11 yards) and Thuc Phan (four carries, 12 yards) combined to gain 38 yards on 12 attempts.

Defensively, the Phoenix had four sacks, including 1.5 from John Silas.  Jordan Jones, Gary Coates and Chris Jones were all in on sacks as well.

"We had two final four minute situations today," added Swepson.  "The good thing is that the guys are more aware of the clock and field position than they were a year ago.  I feel a lot more comfortable in our team knowing situations than I did a year ago."

Elon will take Sunday off before resuming practice at 8:25 a.m. on Monday morning on the Hunt and Tucker practice fields.  Monday will be the final two-a-day of the preseason.

As a reminder, season tickets are still available.  For more information on purchasing tickets, click HERE.  For information on the season ticket referral program, click HERE.

Upcoming 2012 Elon Phoenix Preseason Practice Schedule
(All practices are at the Hunt and Tucker practice fields unless otherwise noted)
Mon., Aug. 20 - 8:25 a.m.
Mon., Aug. 20 - 6:10 p.m.
Tues., Aug. 21 - 3:40 p.m.
Wed., Aug. 22 - 3:40 p.m.
Thurs., Aug. 23 - 3:40 p.m.
Fri., Aug. 24 - 12:30 p.m. (Scrimmage; Rhodes Stadium)
* Schedule subject to change