To Elon Phoenix head football coach Jason Swepson, the scoreboard looked a lot better at Rhodes Stadium this week than at Kenan Memorial Stadium last week.

The Phoenix defeated the visiting North Carolina Central Eagles 34-14 Saturday night, using an efficient offense and a stiff defense to improve to 1-1 this season.

“I’m very pleased, obviously with the victory,” Swepson said. “All the credit goes to the players and to the assistant coaches for believing and letting that one last week roll off our back and come to work this week and having a tremendous week of practice and come out and get the W.”

The Phoenix came out firing, going up 14-0 early on two consecutive 11-play touchdown drives. The first saw senior quarterback Thomas Wilson hit senior wide receiver Aaron Mellette for a nine-yard score, the first touchdown of the season for Elon. Seven minutes later, true freshman running back Tracey Coppedge earned his first career touchdown on a 10-yard burst to give the Phoenix a 14-point advantage with 1:02 left in the opening frame.

The quarter closed with senior cornerback David Wood picking off NC Central junior quarterback Matt Goggans and returning the interception to the Eagles’ 9-yard line

“You can’t script it any better,” Swepson said. “You’ve got to give the credit to the players and the assistant coaches for believing in the system and coming out. Last week, a lot of egos were hurt and it was frustrating to see their faces because we’re a better team than that. It showed today.”

Last week, the Phoenix was embarrassed in a 62-0 loss to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

This week, Elon had a little bit of fun, Wilson said.

“We were just efficient,” he said. “We were throwing the ball well, we were running the ball well. All phases of the offense, we were executing on. It always helps when we’re able to run the ball - it opens up the passing game. When we pass the ball, it opens up the running game. We got a little bit of both working."

Wilson completed 13-of-18 passes for 178 yards and two touchdown passes, one to Mellette. The other one was a 35-yard chuck to sophomore wide receiver Kierre Brown. He found six different pass-catchers.

“I’ve got a great group of receivers,” he said. “I would say the best in the conference and one of the top receiving corps in the country. We’ve got depth, we’ve got speed, we’ve got quickness, we’ve got height. They’ve all got hands, they can all run after the catch. Having a deep receiving corps opens up holes all over the field.”

Some of those holes came on the ground. Sophomore running back Karl Bostick had 18 rushes for 51 yards and a score, his first for Elon, while Coppedge carried the ball 11 times for 26 yards.

“Both of them played outstanding,” Wilson said. “Their presence has definitely helped us out a lot offensively. Having two guys back there, and hopefully we can get (junior Matt) Eastman back here pretty soon, and get a good three-man rotation between the three of them.”

Eastman and senior tight end Chris Harris, two key offensive pieces for Elon, did not dress. But the Phoenix’s defense stepped up. Senior linebacker Blake Thompson, sophomore cornerback Akheem Langham and Wood all came away with interceptions and the Phoenix forced four turnovers in all.

“After a great week of practice, we just stepped up to the task and ran with it,” Thompson said. “I think we can only go forward from here. We can’t take any steps back, because the competition will only get higher and higher.”

Elon senior kicker Adam Shreiner made two of three field goals, making from 28 and 21 yards and missing from 49 yards out.

NC Central struggled on the offensive side of the ball. At the end of the third quarter, before second-string players came in for both teams, the Eagles only had 35 offensive yards on 34 plays.

Goggans completed just one of 12 passes for ten yards and threw two interceptions. Eagles’ senior wide receiver Geovonie Irvine had two catches for 53 yards and a late touchdown catch from backup quarterback Jordan Reid to lead NC Central.

Next week, the Phoenix returns to Rhodes to take on West Virginia State University, who lost to North Carolina A&T State University 77-0 Saturday night. But Wilson is quick to not let that score make him cocky.

“We’re going to welcome them in here next week and come out firing,” he said, “just like we did tonight and hopefully execute just as well, if not better, than we did tonight.”

[box]Game Notes

  • Mellette had four catches for 40 yards, a marked improvement over last week’s two catch, nine yard performance. He did not play the second half after cramping up near halftime. Swepson said he will be fine.
  • Elon true freshman linebacker Jon Silas left the game in the second half with a shoulder injury. Swepson said the shoulder would probably require surgery.
  • Wood’s interception was the first of his career.
  • The Phoenix walked away with four sacks on the night, one each by junior defensive lineman Jay Brown, redshirt freshman defensive lineman Rob Sullivan, senior linebacker Thonda Taylor and redshirt freshman linebacker Evan Kendrick.[/box]