By Bob Sutton
Special to The Alamance News
Elon’s football team saved some of its best work for the latter part of Saturday afternoon’s game against Hampton.
The result was a 41-20 victory for the Phoenix in its Coastal Athletic Association football opener at Rhodes Stadium.
“Really proud of our resiliency and our ability to regain the momentum of the game and control of the game,” Elon coach Tony Trisciani said. “. . . It’s all about being in the moment.”
Elon (3-2 overall) scored the final 24 points in front of an announced Family Weekend crowd of 11,158.
Jimmyll Williams rushed for a career-high 172 yards on 13 carries and T.J. Thomas, Jr. ran for two touchdowns, while quarterback Landen Clark threw for a touchdown and ran for another. Ishmel Atkins made two of Elon’s three interceptions with a pair of first-half pickoffs.
Hampton (1-4, 0-2) limited Clark to 169 passing yards on 10-for-23 passing, with nearly half of those yards on one heave.
It was the same final score as when the teams met last year, though this time Elon won.
Hampton scored two touchdowns in the first 3:03 of the second half to burst to a 20-17 lead.
“We had just had to reset,” Atkins said. “We really didn’t make any changes because we knew what we did wrong.”
Trisciani liked the response.
“There was no panic on the sideline,” he said. “We knew what we were capable of. We needed to gather ourselves and get it done.”
Davis LeDoyen’s 23-yard run on fake punt for an Elon first down didn’t change momentum because M.J. Moultrie II intercepted Clark on the next play. After that, the Phoenix ended up scoring on its final four possessions.
“There’s a lot of different ways to win football games,” Trisciani said. “Those first two possessions of the second half is not our preferred method.”
Thomas appeared shaken up on a third-quarter punt return, yet the Phoenix launched a crucial drive that resulted in Clark’s go-ahead 6-yard touchdown run. The march was kept alive by right guard Tim Hogan’s recovery of running back Dan Frederick’s fumble.
Then on Elon’s next possession, Williams racked up 56 rushing yards before Thomas scored from 1 yard out. Luke Barnes kicked a 33-yard field goal and Williams ran in from 14 yards out on the next two drives.
“We pride ourselves on finishing games,” Williams said.
Earlier, Thomas ran 23 yards for the opening points on Elon’s second possession of the game. That came one play after his 22-yard reception.
Clark’s bomb to Isaiah Fuhrmann for an 81-yard touchdown on the first snap of the second quarter was followed about 3½ minutes later when Barnes’ 34-yard field goal pushed the Phoenix to a 17-6 lead.
Atkins is the first Elon player with more than one interception in a game in three years.
