GREENVILLE, SC – Bo Moore passed for 221 yards and two touchdowns to lead NCAA I-AA eighth-ranked Furman to a 24-7 Southern Conference victory over Elon in front of 9,174 fans at Paladin Stadium Saturday evening.
The game marked the Southern Conference’s debut for Elon (0-1, 0-1 SoCon), the league’s newest member. Moore completed 15-of-26 passes and added 19 rushing yards while the Paladins (1-0, 1-0) won for the 17th time in their last 18 home conference games. His touchdown passes covered 41 yards to Brian Bratton and 33 yards to Brian Stone.
“We knew it was going to be a battle playing a Southern Conference game right out of the gate,” said Furman coach Bobby Lamb. “We handled Elon pretty well the last two years, but we knew they would come in here fighting, and they did. It was battle, but we’re very happy right now.”
“We came down here to win a ball game, and obviously we didn’t get that done,” said Elon coach Al Seagraves. “We made some improvements from last year, and our kids really battled. We’ll learn some things from this game, and we’ll become a good football team."
Furman scored on its second possession of the contest, covering 68 yards on four plays highlighted by Moore’s 41-yard strike to Bratton to give the Paladins a 7-0 lead midway through the first quarter.
Elon knotted the game at 7-7 with a 10-play, 66-yard march that culminated with a 32-yard burst up the middle by Chad Nkang at the 10:17 mark of the second period.
The Paladins regained the lead on the last play of the first half when Danny Marshall drilled a 41-yard field goal to make it 10-7, capping an efficient 42-yard, seven-play drive that consumed the half’s final 43 seconds.
Furman carried its momentum into the second half, taking the opening kickoff and moving 66 yards in five plays for a touchdown. A pair of Moore completions to Bratton covered 26 yards, and another to Grant Brigham for 20 yards gave the Paladins the ball at the Elon 20. On the next play, Stone took a reverse around left end for the score at the 12:36 mark of the third period and 17-7 lead.
Moore connected for his second scoring strike of the contest in the fourth quarter when he found Stone open in the corner of the end zone for a 33-yard strike on a fourth-and-16 play at the 10:55 juncture to make it 24-7.
Stone finished the game with six catches for 82 yards, and Bratton registered five receptions for 89 yards. Brigham headlined Furman’s 242-yard ground attack with 18 rushes for 110 yards.
The Paladin defense received a game-high nine tackles from Mike Killian, who also contributed two tackles-for-loss, a forced fumble, and a pass deflection.
Rashaud Palmer (67 net rushing yards on 19 carries), Nkang (57 net rushing yards on five carries, one TD), Anthony Crews (12-for-23 passing, two interceptions, 77 passing yards) and Stan Smith (four receptions for 48 yards) led the Phoenix offense.
Dwayne Ijames (three kickoff returns for 109 yards, including a long of 62 yards) and Anthony Turowski (10 punts for 373 yards, 37.3 average) led Elon's special teams efforts.
Ijames (seven total tackles, six solo stops, one forced fumble), Mike Sheley (seven total tackles, five solo stops, one tackle for loss), Eddie Bell (six tackles, one sack) and Mark Jetton (six tackles, three tackles for loss) paced the Phoenix defense.
Furman returns to action next Saturday when it plays Clemson in a 5 p.m. game at Memoria Stadium. Elon, meanwhile, will play host to Tusculum in a 6 p.m. contest Saturday at Rhodes Stadium.
Game Box Score
-– ELON –-
