ELON, N.C. – Jayson Foster rushed for 129 yards and two touchdowns while Jermaine Austin ran for 125 yards and two scores as Georgia Southern topped Elon 49-7, spoiling its conference opener as well as 2005 Phoenix Family Weekend festivities Saturday afternoon in front of a season-high crowd of 9,875 fans at Rhodes Stadium.
The Eagles (3-2 overall, 2-1 Southern Conference) denied the Phoenix (3-2, 0-1) a fourth consecutive victory. Elon entered the contest ranked first in the league and 14th in NCAA-IAA in both rushing defense (81.0 yards per game) and total defense (274.8 per contest), but surrendered 503 total yards to Georgia Southern, including 359 on the ground.
After the Elon defense became the first this season to hold the Georgia Southern offense scoreless on its opening drive, the Phoenix offense marched 80 yards in 10 plays in 3:46 to claim an early 7-0 edge on an eight-yard Jarrett Meadors touchdown run with 9:17 left in the first period.
Georgia Southern responded with a 10-play, 65-yard, 4:53 drive on its next possession, capped by a six-yard Jayson Foster touchdown run to even the score at 7-7 with 4:24 to play in the opening quarter.
Jermaine Austin gave the Eagles their first lead at 14-7 on a 38-yard touchdown run with 10:04 remaining in the second period, concluding a 10-play, 80-yard drive that took 4:56 off the clock.
In setting up that go-ahead score, Foster broke free for an eight-yard run on a fourth-and-two situation on the GSU 48-yard. That run gave the Eagles a first-and-10 on the Elon 44-yard line. A six-yard run by Foster on the next play moved the GSU offense to the Elon 38-yard line and set up Austin’s go-ahead touchdown.
“We got a good offensive line push (in that fourth-and-two situation),” said Georgia Southern coach Mike Sewak. “We got them in the formation we wanted and we were able to pop Foster loose. That was a big play. Our team now knows that fourth down is a go down.”
Georgia Southern extended its advantage to 21-7 on a 30-yard run by Austin with 6:04 left before halftime. Austin’s second touchdown capped a six-play, 55-yard drive that only lasted 2:11.
On the Eagles’ next possession, Reggie McCutchen scored on a 49-yard pass from Foster on his team’s first play from the line of scrimmage. McCutchen stretched the Georgia Southern lead to 28-7 with 3:15 to play in the first half.
The Eagles quickly pushed its cushion to 35-7 – the eventual halftime margin – on a program-long 82-yard touchdown pass from Darius Smiley to Teddy Craft with 2:03 remaining before the break.
Georgia Southern cashed in on a four-yard touchdown run by Foster to increase its advantage to 42-7 with 5:41 left in the third period. Scoring quickly again, the Eagles only needed four plays and 1:50 to travel 22 yards following John Mohring’s recovery of a fumbled punt return by Elon’s Dwayne Ijames.
Brandon Andrews pushed the Georgia Southern lead to 49-7 on a three-yard touchdown run with 14:15 to play in the final quarter. The touchdown capped a three-play, 10-yard drive that lasted 45 seconds after David Willingham’s eight-yard sack of Elon quarterback Kye Hamilton led to a fumble recovered and returned 15 yards by GSU’s Dusty Reddick.
“Each game has started a one-game season ever since we lost our first SoCon game,” said Sewak. “Getting our offense in stride will help and our defense has been getting better.”
The Eagles out-gained the Phoenix in first downs (23-15), rushing yards (359-108), total offensive yards (503-259) and possession time (31:33-28:27). Hamilton completed 17 of 27 passes with two interceptions for 151 yards while Foster and Smiley combined for 144 yards on 3-for-9 passing with one interception.
“We were whipped in every phase of the football game today,” said Elon coach Paul Hamilton. “Their offense whipped our defense, their defense whipped our offense and their coaches whipped our coaches. They beat us from top to bottom. If they kept score for getting off the bus, they would’ve beat us at that, too.”
Elon’s Anthony Harris led all defenders with a career-high 15 total tackles while teammate Chad Nkang amassed 13 stops. Mohring tallied a team-high six total tackles.
In next week’s action, the Phoenix will visit No. 22 Wofford at 1:30 p.m. Saturday for its Homecoming. Georgia Southern hosts No. 18 Western Carolina at 1 p.m. Saturday.
– ELON – Game Box Score
