BOILING SPRINGS, N.C. — Through two overtimes, the Elon University football team had run 72 offensive plays for just 184 yards against Gardner-Webb University Saturday night.
The next play — the first of the third overtime — became the difference, as redshirt freshman quarterback Connor Christiansen hit freshman receiver Corey Joyner for a 25-yard touchdown pass to put Elon ahead, and senior defensive back Julius Moore soon after intercepted a pass to end the game as the Phoenix snapped a 10-game losing streak and beat the Runnin' Bulldogs 21-13.
“[Joyner] was behind the safety, and so I had to wait for him to get in front,” Christiansen said. “And then he finally got ahead, and I threw a decent ball. It was a 50-50 play, and I had to put it in that spot, and Corey just made a great play.
“I told him he’s a bad man for making that play.”
Christiansen then found Doug Warrick for the two-point conversion.
It appeared Joyner bobbled the ball on the touchdown, but that's not what he said happened.
“We [Joyner and senior Gardner-Webb safety Adam Johnson] actually both caught the ball at the same time,” Joyner said. “But he was falling down, so it was easier for me to hold on to the ball.”
The defense, which gave up just 305 yards on 95 plays tonight, pushed Gardner-Webb back a yard on the three plays to start the third overtime possession.
On fourth down, backup quarterback Chase Arrington — in place of starter Tyrell Maxwell, who was knocked out of the game two plays earlier — had his pass picked off by Moore.
“Just coming into the locker room after the game, everybody’s happy,” Christiansen said. “We’re all loving on each other, [head coach Rich] Skrosky is fired up, jumping on [redshirt freshman Daniel Everett]’s back, and he got up. He’s got a little vertical on it.”
Skrosky could only laugh and confirm the report from tonight’s starting quarterback.
“I wanted these guys to know that winning is happy,” he said. “I probably jumped about [holds fingers two inches apart]. There wasn’t much vertical there. But I’m happy for these kids.”
Christiansen made his first career starter as true freshman Daniel Thompson was ruled out with “a non-football injury." Thompson was at the game, and made his presence felt to the new starter.
“I like preparing knowing that I’m starting — that’s definitely easier,” Christiansen said. “But besides all that, Daniel, and I’ve already thanked him after the game, he was in my ear the whole game just telling me what sees.”
The game was marred by malfunctions with the play clock and scoreboard, as both flashed in and out during the game. Eventually, the referees made the decision to cut both and run everything on the field.
“You won’t hear this much from coaches, but I’ll compliment the officials tonight,” Skrosky said. “I think they really did a good job of trying to manage the game. You talk about extra stress – now one guy is keeping the game clock and another is keeping the play clock – they did the best job they could.”
There was no score after a lethargic first half. Of the 15 possessions in the first half, 10 ended in punts, two in turnovers, two in missed field goals and Gardner-Webb had its last drive end at the halftime whistle.
Gardner-Webb fumbled away the first drive of the second half, which was recovered by Everett. But the teams exchanged punts on the next two possessions.
Elon, with great field position, finally broke through, as Christiansen was able to scramble for 17 yards on third-and-14 to push the Phoenix into goal-to-go situation. Then, on second down, he rolled out and found Joyner in the front right corner of the endzone for an 8-yard touchdown.
The single score almost ended up being enough for the Phoenix, but there was still one final drive with 2:35 to go for the Runnin’ Bulldogs. They quickly pushed the ball to the 1-yard line.
On fourth-and-goal from the 3-yard line, Maxwell rolled right and found junior tight end Mike Estes for a touchdown, and after two timeouts, sophomore kicker Paul Schumacher hit the extra point to force overtime.
Elon and Gardner-Webb exchanged field goals in both of the first two overtimes, which set up Christiansen’s touchdown pass to Joyner in the third overtime.
The three overtimes makes the game the longest in Elon history.
The win snaps a 1-18 road skid that dates back to 2012 for the Phoenix, who will have its home opener Sept. 19 against local rival North Carolina A&T State University.