Boone, N.C. – The Elon football team battled one of the best Group Of Five programs admirably Saturday before losing to FBS Appalachian State 44-10. App State led just 13-3 at the half before pulling away late.
 
Elon stayed close early with an opportunistic defensive effort and an efficient offensive performance.
 
On Appalachian State's first drive of the game, the Mountaineers drove inside the Elon 30 but Marcus Hillman earned the first of his two forced fumbles in the contest and Nick Veloz recovered the loose ball in the end zone. Veloz had a forced fumble a week ago in the 24-23 win over Campbell to go with his fumble recovery this week. 
 
The Mountaineers did eventually go ahead 7-0 with a 47-yard touchdown pass on their second possession but the Phoenix answered on its next drive. Elon drove to the 29-yard line and Skyler Davis connected on a 46-yard field goal to make it 7-3. For Davis, he improved to 5-of-7 on field goals this year with both misses being blocked.
 
App State added a pair of second quarter field goals, the last coming with one second left in the period, to take a 13-3 lead into the break.
 
In the third quarter, the Mountaineers again got on the board first and built a 20-3 lead but it looked as if Elon would answer once more. The Phoenix drove to the nine-yard line but a Davis Cheek pass was tipped and picked off, returned 90 yards. App State would score two plays later for a 27-3 lead.
 
Elon did finish the third quarter with its only touchdown drive of the game after Hillman's second forced fumble gave the Phoenix the ball at the App State 37. McKinley Witherspoon capped the drive with a two-yard plunge on third-and-goal.
 
NOTABLE

• Davis Cheek was 22-of-36 passing for 225 yards.
• Jackson Parham had five catches for a team-best 83 yards, including 47 yards after the catch.
• Cheek distributed the ball to eight different receivers throughout the contest.
• True freshman punter Jeff Yurk averaged 40.5 yards on eight punts, putting four inside the 20 and having a long of 52 yards.
• Jamir Malone and Devonte Chandler each had eight tackles to lead the Phoenix.
• Along with his two forced fumbles, Marcus Hillman had three tackles and a quarterback sack.
• Shamari Wingard had three pass break ups and has five in the last two contests.
• Elon won the time of possession battle for the third straight game, holding the ball for 32:53.
• Both teams had two turnovers in the game.
• Tre'Von Jones has two fumble recoveries in as many weeks. 

 
FROM COACH TRISCIANI
"I'm proud of our team and the way we played, especially in the first half. In the second half, we hurt ourselves with some penalties and turnovers. As that happened and we got fatigued, our discipline fell off. That's an area we need to continue to improve. We proved to ourselves that we can play with anybody but it takes 60 minutes to win a football game."
 
UP NEXT

• Elon will host William & Mary Saturday at 2:00 pm for Family Weekend.