HARRISONBURG, Va. – The high-powered offense of fifth-ranked James Madison proved to be too much for the Elon University football team as the Phoenix dropped a 63-14 decision in the season finale on Saturday afternoon.

Elon finishes the season with a 2-9 overall record and a 1-7 mark in CAA Football play. The Dukes will advance to the FCS playoffs with a 10-1, 8-0 record.

How it happened: Including a 23-yard touchdown run by Trai Sharp on the game's first series, James Madison jumped out to a 27-0 lead. Elon put together an eight-play, 85-yard drive to get on the board. The Phoenix drive looked like it would stall when the maroon and gold faced a third-and-20 from its own 20, but Daniel Thompson was able to find a seam and race for 24 yards to move the chains. Three plays later, Thompson would find a streaking Efrim Borders for a 56-yard touchdown strike.

Elon trimmed its deficit to just 13 points on its first drive of the second half as the Phoenix marched 75 yards in 11 plays to make it a 27-14 contest. De'Sean McNair toted the ball on the first five plays, the last of which went for 20 yards and got Elon to the JMU 32-yard line. Thompson sandwiched completions of 12 yards to Matt Foster and 14 yards to Jeremiah Bridges around two more McNair carries to move the ball to the one-yard line. Two plays later, McNair plunged in for his third rushing touchdown of the year.

The Dukes responded by scoring in just five plays, the last of which was a 21-yard pass from Cole Johnson to Domo Taylor that gave JMU a 35-14 advantage. JMU would add one more third-quarter touchdown and found the end zone three times in the final 15 minutes.

Stat Leaders: 
Rushing
Elon – De'Sean McNair (22 carries, 86 yards, 1 TD)
JMU – Khalid Abdullah (19 carries, 125 yards, 1 TD)

Passing
Elon – Daniel Thompson (11-23, 132 yards, 1 TD)
JMU – Cole Johnson (12-13, 274 yards, 2 TD)

Receiving
Elon – Jeremiah Bridges (3 receptions, 31 yards)
JMU – Domo Taylor (4 receptions, 114 yards, 2 TD)

Defense
Elon – John Silas (10 tackles, 1.0 TFL)
JMU – Gage Steele (10 tackles, 0.5 TFL)

Noteworthy: Elon's 337 yards of total offense was the third-highest output of the season... The Phoenix was flagged for just one penalty... With 10 tackles, linebacker John Silas concluded his Elon career with 360 total tackles to rank fifth in program history... Silas also finished his career with 14 double-digit tackle performances.