CULLOWHEE, N.C. – Scott Riddle threw for 354 yards and four touchdowns while the Phoenix defense held the Catamount offense scoreless on its last four drives, lifting Elon to a thrilling 38-36 Southern Conference road victory over Western Carolina Saturday night at Whitmire Stadium.
In the process, the Phoenix (3-2 overall, 1-1 SoCon) emerged victorious from Whitmire Stadium for the first time ever in eight visits. The win also marked Elon’s first triumph in Cullowhee in nine trips overall, dating back to a 35-30 Phoenix victory in 1968. The contest also gave Elon its third SoCon road win in its five years in the league, following victories at Chattanooga in 2004 and 2006.
“I think the most important thing about this win is that we found a way to win a close game, on the road, when we didn’t play very well,” Phoenix coach Pete Lembo said. “And I hope that it is another good learning experience for this football team. That even if the night doesn’t go the way we want it to, we honker down and still find a way to get it done.”
Riddle has now thrown for over 300 yards in each of his last four starts. His four touchdown passes equaled his career-high performance in a Phoenix victory over Liberty last month. He leads the SoCon and ranks high among the country’s NCAA-I FCS leaders in completions (first/30.2 per game), points responsible for (second/22.4 per game), passing yards (fourth/320.2 per game) and total yards (sixth/321.8 per game).
The Elon defense withstood an offensive assault by Western Carolina (1-5, 0-2) red-shirt freshman quarterback Adam Hearns, who erupted for a career-best 310 aerial yards, three passing touchdowns, 73 yards on the ground and his first career rushing score.
“It was like the Twilight Zone,” Lembo said. “I’m standing here saying to myself, we play (Georgia Southern quarterback) Jayson Foster next week and this guy was running like Jayson Foster, but he’s bigger and stronger and can throw the ball 60 yards.”
Hearns, who was making his first collegiate start, helped the Catamounts out-gain Elon, 462 yards to 404 in total offense, including a 152-to-28 yard edge in the rushing game. Eddie Cohen was the rookie's favorite passing target on the night, hauling in a career-high 12 passes for 177 yards and a touchdown.
In what started out as a high-scoring track meet with both teams combining for 51 first half points, it was the play of the respective defenses in the closing quarter that proved to be the difference in the outcome.
Receiving the opening kickoff, Western Carolina opened the high-scoring first half as the Catamounts drove 57 yards in just five plays. The drive was sparked by a 38-yard hook-up from Hearns to Cohen, with Willie Harper finishing off the drive with a TD run from two yards out.
Elon answered on its first possession, knotting the game at 7-7 with a seven-play, 59-yard drive when Riddle connected with Terrell Hudgins for a four-yard touchdown pass. The Catamounts led 13-7 after Hearns connected with Marcus Brown for a six-yard TD reception.
The Phoenix opened the second quarter with a 25-yard touchdown strike from Riddle to Hudgins to push the Phoenix ahead 14-13. Western fumbled the ensuing kickoff, setting up the Phoenix with perfect field position which Riddle exploited with a 24-yard pass to Hudgins and later plunging in from one yard out on a third-and-goal situation to push the Elon edge to 21-13.
But as was the case all night long, the Catamounts did not quit, answering with an 11-play, 50 yard drive keyed by an 11-yard pass to Cohen and an 11-yard slicing rush by Malone. Jonathan Parsons finished off the possession with a 42-yard field goal that split the uprights to close the gap to 21-16.
Western Carolina took its final lead of the night on Hearns' slippery 11-yard scramble that was concluded with a head-first flip into the end zone as to allude several Phoenix defenders that put the Catamounts on top 23-21 before Elon tallied its three-straight scores.
Dontay Taylor scored his first career touchdown on a two-yard toss from Riddle to give the Phoenix the lead back for good at 28-23 with 16 seconds remaining before halftime. The score capped a nine-play, 66-yard drive that only took 1:56 to orchestrate.
In the third quarter, Elon used a 36-yard field goal by Andrew Wilcox and a 53-yard touchdown pass play from Riddle to Bo Williamson to fatten its lead to 38-23. WCU pulled within 38-30 on a 17-yard TD pass from Hearns to Malone with 3:15 to go in the third period. The final margin was decided when Cohen scored on a 10-yard TD reception from Hearns with 13:38 left in the game, but Hearns’ pass for a game-tying two-point conversion failed.
"I am hurting for the team,” Catamount coach Kent Briggs said. “Everybody went out there and fought hard – we believed in each other all game long. We made some mistakes along the way and that's something we need to work on, but they played with a lot of effort out there and you can't be too down on them for that. Hearns did a nice job for us. He brought a lot of explosiveness to the offensive line and he avoided the pass rush well and made some key plays."
Riddle finished the night 30-for-45 while Hudgins and Michael Mayers each caught eight passes for 103 and 84 yards, respectively, with Hudgins tallying a pair of scores. Phoenix linebacker Daronce Daniels led all defenders with a career-high 17 tackles, including a career-best 10 solo stops.
Elon returns home to face Georgia Southern at 3 p.m. next Saturday at Rhodes Stadium. Western Carolina hits the road next Saturday as it travels to Chattanooga to face the Mocs at 6 p.m. at Finley Stadium.
–ELON–
