As almost 7,600 fans watched on at Rhodes Stadium, Elon University’s football team put on a dominating offensive clinic for Homecoming Weekend 2024, beating Campbell University 50-27 for their first home win of the season.
Elon began the game Nov. 2 with some stout defense, forcing an early punt on Campbell’s opening drive. Then, on the first play of Elon’s initial offensive drive, redshirt senior quarterback Matthew Downing connected with redshirt senior Chandler Brayboy for a 66-yard touchdown to get the crowd of students and alumni going. Brayboy was a key contributor in the first quarter, clocking 108 all-purpose yards in the first quarter.
Elon’s defense continued to look strong, forcing a few more stops, and punter extraordinaire Jeff Yurk continued his impressive campaign — downing a punt on Campbell’s 1-yard line early in the first quarter. Elon’s defensive performance was led by redshirt junior Caleb Curtain who ended with 12 total tackles. Head coach Tony Trisciani also praised redshirt freshman Asher Cunningham’s performance as he stepped in for redshirt sophomores Marco Patierno and Brandon Tyson, who were both inactive due to injury.
“He’s big, strong, physical, can play sideline to sideline and can tackle, and I'm real proud of him for the job that he did today,” Trisciani said in the postgame press conference.
Elon got on the board again during a drive where the Phoenix went for it on 4th and 2, converting off a 16-yard catch by redshirt freshman Zimere Winston. A few plays later, senior Rushawn Baker ran the ball in for a touchdown to extend the lead to 14-0.
Campbell answered with a 42-yard touchdown, but then one of the strangest plays in college football occurred.
Campbell lined up for the extra point attempt, kicker Jake Brady put his foot to the ball and it was blocked by the Phoenix; however, it didn’t stop there. Brady picked the blocked ball up and tried to throw it to his teammate to save the play, but redshirt sophomore Ishmel Atkins intercepted it for Elon and ran it 95 yards back to the other end zone, scoring a defensive two-point conversion.
Redshirt sophomore Ishmel Atkins celebrates after scoring a rare defensive two-point conversion on Nov. 2.
The Camels scored again soon after with a 70-yard passing touchdown to wide receiver Sincere Brown. Deep into the second quarter, Baker got his second touchdown of the day to cap off a methodical 12-play drive for Elon to extend the lead to 23-13. That drive’s success was aided by a crucial fourth down conversion where Yurk completed a fake field goal pass to get the first down.
Immediately after, redshirt freshman Brennan Davis blocked a Campbell punt deep in their own territory and gave Elon an automatic redzone opportunity. Freshman kicker Luke Barnes took advantage of it, knocking down his first career field goal attempt. Elon went into the half up 26-13.
As the second half began, Brayboy picked up where he left off and opened the half with a 51-yard kickoff return. Two plays later, he caught a 36-yard touchdown. Brayboy’s explosiveness was unmatched. As soon as he got the ball in his hands, it seemed almost impossible for Campbell’s defense to find a way to bring him down. His speed, his jukes and his spins proved to be too much to handle. Entering the game, Brayboy was averaging 37.2 yards per kickoff return. Against Campbell, he averaged 57.
After a 62-yard kickoff return later in the third quarter, Brayboy secured his career high in all-purpose yards with 309. The number was also the highest all-purpose total in a game by any FCS player this season. Within that number, he had 183 receiving yards and added two touchdowns. Brayboy was happy with the performance and said his first touchdown was his favorite. He also said that he was happy about the win, overall.
“I’m just happy for the guys. Anytime the program or the guys around here are happy, it’s always a great day to be a Phoenix,” Brayboy told Elon News Network.
Trisciani praised the team’s performance throughout the game, and said it was crucial for other guys to step up and help Brayboy.
“We talked about winning their moment, and the guys stepped up and won their moments,” Trisciani told Elon News Network in the postgame press conference. “Those are big moments when it comes to momentum and field position in that football game and Chandler's special, he was explosive, but he can't do it alone.”
Redshirt senior Chandler Brayboy celebrates during Elon's first home-game win of the season against Campbell on Nov. 2. Brayboy had his career high with 309 all-purpose yards.
It was a dominating performance for the Phoenix as the team continued to run up the score, scoring their most points in a game this season.
As Brayboy put on a show, Baker continued to amass yards and got his first 100-yard rushing game of his Elon career. He scored his third touchdown early in the fourth quarter. Baker showed out in the absence of freshman standout T.J. Thomas Jr., who missed the game due to injury.
Baker finished with 154 rushing yards, a career high. The offense was firing on all cylinders. Going into the game, Campbell had allowed 210.3 rushing yards per game, so Baker’s dominance could have been predicted, but Downing’s success through the air was unexpected. Downing finished with 251 passing yards and 3 touchdown passes with almost no mistakes or bad throws.
Campbell didn’t give up without a fight, scoring a couple of second-half touchdowns, but never got it close enough to endanger Elon’s lead. Trisciani was happy with how his defense played, but said there were things they could have done better.
“We got plenty of things that we can coach and fix,” Trisciani said. “It's an explosive offense, and we'll hit the film room again tomorrow and be process driven, and we'll be correcting the mistakes in all three phases and getting back to the practice on Tuesday.”
Elon has struggled this year, having gone 3-6 and only finding their first home win of the season against Campbell, but much of it has been due to the team being handed the 17th hardest schedule in the FCS. Elon put on a show today, however, and managed to have their best game of the season in front of a homecoming crowd.
“As hard as it's been, there's a lot of support surrounding here, and I'm very grateful for it,” Trisciani said. “Just to play well at home in front of our people is important, and hopefully everybody had fun out there, and it was a great Homecoming.”
Trisciani said he was extremely proud of the team’s performance across all stages of football.
“I'm so proud of everybody in our operation, in our program and in our teams for the way that they have continued to fight and continue to prepare,” Trisciani said. “We knew it was going to take the best football team to win this one, not the best offense or defense or special teams or players or coaches, it's going to be the best team.”
Elon plays next at William and Mary at 1 p.m. on Nov. 9 in Zable Stadium.