ELON, N.C. – Kye Hamilton passed for a career-high 183 yards and career-high three touchdowns to lift Elon to a 24-7 Southern Conference victory over The Citadel Saturday at Rhodes Stadium.
Hamilton (pictured left), who connected on nine of his 15 passes without an interception, moved within 10 yards of becoming the first Phoenix quarterback to pass for 1,000 yards in a single season since Maurice Blakeney threw for 1,323 yards in 1993.
Elon (3-7 overall, 2-5 Southern Conference) out-gained the Bulldogs (2-7, 1-5) 343 total yards to 224 in its home and league finale of the season. The Phoenix passed for 183 yards and rushed for 160 while The Citadel ran for 116 and threw for 108.
"I'm so proud of our football team," said Elon coach Paul Hamilton. "We've been on our backs the past couple of weeks. It would have been so easy for our players to pack it in, but they came back and played with passion today. We saw our players do a lot of things that a good football team does. It felt so good to see smiles in our locker room again after the game."
After a scoreless opening period, Anthony Crews snagged a 14-yard touchdown pass from Hamilton to put the Phoenix up 7-0 with 5:59 to play in the second quarter and decide the eventual halftime margin.
Michael Mayers, who hauled in four catches for a career-high 130 yards, scored on a 65-yard pass play from Hamilton to stretch the Elon edge to 14-0 with 13:32 left in the third stanza. That marked the longest pass play by the Phoenix this season.
A 37-yard field goal by William Rawls pushed the Elon advantage to 17-0 with 3:19 remaining in the third quarter. Duran Lawson scampered for a 19-yard touchdown run to put The Citadel on the scoreboard with 1:28 to play in the third quarter.
In the fourth quarter, Elon went on to score one final time when Crews caught a 13-yard pass from Hamilton with 12:58 remaining in the contest. Crews ended up with 27 yards on two catches – both for touchdowns.
Phoenix tailback John Taylor amassed 133 yards rushing on 35 carries while piling up 36:47 in possession time to 23:13 for the Bulldogs. Lawson led The Citadel offense, connecting on 13 of 34 passes with three interceptions for 108 yards. He also rushed for a team-high 85 yards on 13 carries.
"They (Elon) did a great job of controlling the line of scrimmage and the clock," said The Citadel's coach John Zernhelt. "They hit some big plays that were really the difference in the game. They (the Phoenix defense) shut down our offense and controlled the line. Nobody has scored the hard way against them all year and we didn't today."
For the Bulldogs, Josh Lawson tallied a game-high 11 tackles and James Greene racked up 10. For the Phoenix, Calvin Sutton amassed 10 tackles, including four for a loss of 12 yards while Irvin Raglin returned two interceptions for 19 yards.
Next Saturday, Elon concludes its season with a 1:30 p.m. non-conference contest at Liberty. The Citadel hosts Southern Conference foe Western Carolina at noon Saturday.
– ELON – Game Box Score
