Box Score
GREENVILLE, S.C. – Joshua Jones made 13 tackles and returned an interception for what proved to be a game-winning, fourth-quarter touchdown as the Elon Phoenix snapped a three-game skid by upsetting 17th-ranked Furman 41-34 on Saturday.  The win was the fourth in a row in the series for Elon.  The Paladins had a three-game winning streak snapped and fell to 6-4 overall and 5-3 in the Southern Conference.

Offensively, Elon (5-5, 3-4 SoCon) racked up 442 yards, including 111 yards rushing by #A.J. Harris#.  The 100-yard game was the first by a Phoenix on the ground this season.  Thomas Wilson completed 20 of his 26 passes for 279 yards and a career-best four touchdowns in the victory.  Wilson's primary target was All-American Aaron Mellette who caught eight passes for 144 yards and two scores.

Jones' 13 stops gave him 101 on the year, the first 100-tackle season for the senior.  He also moved into fifth place on Elon's career tackles chart with 332 as he passed Ernie Tootoo (323 from 1978-81).

"We got back to the basics," said Elon head coach Jason Swepson.  "We had to run the ball and had to make the run game go to take some pressure off.  It was beautiful to see.  Coming into halftime, I put it on the o-line and d-line.  I told them, 'You guys do your job, control the line of scrimmage on offense and penetrate on defense, everything else will fall into place.' The players were communicating with each other.  They believed and knew they were going to win the game.  This is a fantastic win for us."

With the game tied at 27, David Wood brought a kickoff back 40 yards to the 45 before Wilson looked deep down the Furman sideline where he found a streaking Mellette wide open for a 55-yard score to put the Phoenix back in front 34-27.

Still clinging to the one-score lead, Jones picked off a Chris Forcier pass and raced 40 yards for the score.  It was the second time in his career that Jones brought an INT back for six points.

Elon began the game with the ball at its own 17 and quickly drove near midfield before Harris was stripped of the ball by Kadarron Anderson.  The fumble was picked up by Ryan Steed who returned the ball 48 yards for a touchdown as the Paladins took an early 7-0 lead.

The Phoenix answered with an 80-yard drive that ended when Wilson rolled right and found an open Matt Eastman for a two-yard touchdown pass.  Elon kept the ball on the ground for the majority of the drive, running the ball 10 times on the 12-play drive.  Harris got the majority of the carries, toting it eight times for 60 yards.  The PAT failed when the snap was mishandled and Elon trailed 7-6.

Furman faced a third and 16 at its own 45 when Forcier lofted a pass over the middle for Colin Anderson who raced to the Elon 10 for a 45-yard pick-up.  Three plays later, Forcier found Anderson in the right side of the end zone for a four-yard TD pass as the Paladin lead stretched to 14-6 with 1:31 to go in the first quarter.

After getting pinned at its own six-yard line by a Furman punt, Elon methodically marched down the field before Wilson tossed a perfect pass to Mellette down the left sideline for a 22-yard touchdown strike as the Phoenix pulled within a point, 14-13.  On second-and-eight from its own eight, Rasaun Rorie adjusted to a Wilson pass and hauled in a 35-yard completion up to the 43.  Later in the drive, Wilson found Mellette for a 17-yard connection to the Furman 42.

The Paladins responded immediately, going 65 yards on just three plays.  The big play of the drive was a 61-yard pass from Forcier to Daniel McFadden.  Two plays later, Forcier ran it in from two yards out.  The snap on the PAT was muffed and Elon found itself down seven, 20-13, with 6:02 to go in the half.

In the first half, Elon out-gained Furman 239-189 in total yardage.  The Phoenix ran for 118 yards in the half on 22 carries, averaging 7.0 yards per carry.  Wilson completed 10 of his 13 passes for 121 yards and two touchdowns.

The Phoenix defense held Jerodis Williams, the league’s second-leading rusher, to just four yards on seven carries in the first 30 minutes.

Elon began its second drive of the second half at its own 46 after a Furman punt.  On second-and-eight, Mellette hauled in a 16-yard completion.  On the next snap, Harris raced 21 yards through the Paladin defense to take it to the Furman’s 15-yard line.  From there, Wilson threw to the front right corner of the end zone where Christian Dennis went up and made the touchdown grab.  Adam Shreiner’s PAT knotted the game at 20 with 5:11 left in the third quarter.

Furman looked like it was going to end an Elon drive quickly late in the third quarter as the Phoenix lined up to punt from the Paladin 46-yard line, but a roughing the kicker penalty kept the drive alive for the maroon and gold.  On second-and-23 from the Furman 23, Wilson connected with Dennis for nine yards before picking up another four with a pass to Mellette.  That set up a fourth-and-inches before Dontay Taylor dove over the pile for three yards to the seven.  After he took it to the one on the next play, Taylor dove over the top of the pile again, this time getting into the end zone for the eighth time this season to give Elon its first lead of the game, 27-20 with 12:35 to play.

The Paladins returned the ensuing kickoff to midfield and then gained 24 yards on third-and-four to move to the Elon 20.  Williams then took it to the five to set up a first-and-goal.  On third-and-goal from the two, Forcier drilled a pass to Cameron Mason to even the game back up at 27 with 9:03 showing on the clock.

Furman added its final score when Forcier completed a 10-yard pass to Ryan Culbreath. 

The Paladins got the ball back at its own eight with just 30 seconds remaining and moved the ball to the Elon 38 before a desperation heave into the end zone was picked off by Elon's Akeem Langham.

The Elon defense allowed just 65 yards on the ground.

Forcier came into the game completing over 67 percent of his passes, however the senior connected on just 18 of his 33 attempts.

Elon will return home to Rhodes Stadium to close out the 2011 season by hosting Appalachian State in a 3 p.m. game.