Richmond, Va. – The Elon defense held Richmond scoreless on three trips inside the 10-yard line in the second half and the Phoenix came away with their biggest win in two seasons, a 20-7 victory over the No. 22-ranked Spiders.
 
With the win, Elon improves to 2-3 on the season and 1-1 in CAA Football play. Richmond falls to 2-3 and is now 0-2 in conference. For the Phoenix, it is the third victory in four games inside Richmond's Robins Stadium.
 
This was the third meeting between the two programs in the 2021 calendar year, the first time Elon has ever faced a team three times in one year. Richmond beat Elon 38-14 and 31-17 during the unique and abbreviated 2021 spring campaign.
 
The victory also marks the fifth straight fall season in which Elon has taken down a ranked opponent. The Phoenix beat No. 19 Towson 25-23 to conclude 2019 and improves to 10-13 against ranked opponents since 2016.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• Richmond wasted little time getting out on top, scoring on a 33-yard pass with 5:50 left in the first quarter to take a 7-0 lead. But from that point forward, the Elon defense shut out the Spiders.
• Richmond missed a 46-yard field goal on its next drive and that opened the door for the Elon offense to go to work. A 12-play, 52-yard drive concluded with a 36-yard Skyler Davis field goal to cut the deficit to four at 7-3.
• After each team traded possessions, Richmond started a drive at its own 30 with 6:01 left in the first half. That's when Elon's defense came to life. On the first play of the drive, Dylan Tucker batted down a backwards pass and Joey Barbera recovered it at the Richmond 18.
• Two plays later, Davis Cheek found Bryson Daughtry for a 14-yard touchdown that gave Elon a 10-7 lead.
• The score remained that way until the third quarter. After Richmond went 3-and-out on its first drive of the second half, Elon put together an 8-play, 74-yard touchdown drive. The big play was a 43-yard screen pass to Jaylan Thomas and McKinley Witherspoon scored on a six-yard rush to put Elon on top 17-7.
• Richmond's next drive stalled out and Elon again manufactured a scoring drive, finishing with Davis' second field goal of the day, this one from 48 yards away.
• From there, Elon's defense played heroically, particularly once Richmond entered the red zone, seemingly time-and-again.
• Late in the third quarter, Richmond had first-and-goal from the one yard line, but ran for a loss of four and threw two incompletions. On fourth down, Richmond called for a halfback pass but it was picked off in the end zone by Tre'Von Jones, his second pick of the season.
• Midway through the fourth quarter, Richmond again drove the length of the field and had fourth-and-two from the six yard line. But Dylan Tucker came up with a stop for a one-yard gain and Elon took over again.
• Late in the fourth, Richmond had one more chance to try to rally. The Spiders had five chances inside the Elon three, but were stopped on each play, concluding with an incompletion on fourth down. From there, the Phoenix ran out the clock.

 
NOTES AND STATS

• Richmond ran 11 plays inside the Elon 10-yard line over the Spiders' final three possessions and were held scoreless.
• Elon was +2 on turnovers for the game, recovering the backwards pass fumble and getting the Jones interception in the end zone. The Phoenix did not turn it over.
• Elon threw the ball 30 times and ran it 36. The Phoenix ran the ball on each of the last 10 offensive plays.
• Elon had the time of possession advantage for the fourth time in five games, holding it for 30:14.
• The Phoenix were 7-of-17 on third down and scored 17 points on three red zone trips. Richmond was 9-of-18 on third down but scoreless on three red zone possessions.
• Elon went without a first down in the first quarter but had four on the first six plays of the second.
• Devonte Chandler led Elon with 11 tackles.
• Marvin Pearson was all over the field, finishing with 2.0 tackles for loss, a quarterback sack and two quarterback hurries.
• Along with his interception, Tre'Von Jones had 2.0 tackles for loss.

 
FROM COACH TRISCIANI

• "For us, we were 1-0 this week. That was the plan and we knew we were capable of it. Beating a ranked team added to the carrot that was dangling in front of us. We had to do our job and be disciplined and limit mistakes and big plays."

 
UP NEXT

• Elon heads back on the road to play at Maine Saturday at 2:00 p.m. Maine will be coming off of a bye week and is currently 1-3 overall and 0-2 in CAA Football play.