By Bob Sutton
Special to The Alamance News
One of the Triad’s biggest events takes place this weekend and Elon’s football team is heading right into the middle of it.
North Carolina A&T is celebrating its 100th homecoming, making this perhaps the biggest Greatest Homecoming On Earth (GHOE) of all time. Most estimates indicate that more than 200,000 visitors will descend on Greensboro for the weekend.
Elon is Saturday afternoon’s football opponent.
“Playing A&T is up the road and a rivalry and I know guys up there,” said Elon running back Dan Frederick. “GHOE and Halloween, it’s going to be huge.”
Elon (4-4 overall, 2-2 Coastal Athletic Association) and N.C. A&T (3-5, 2-2) are in the middle of the conference standings. Both teams were off last week.
“We know that we’re going to get their absolute very best in front of a big homecoming crowd,” Elon coach Tony Trisciani said.
“Now that you add that it’s a regional, local rival for us, conference game, GHOE. They know what it is. (Our players) know how big of an event it’s going to be. I’m looking forward to guys having the opportunity to play in front of that atmosphere and that type of energy.”
It’s a big deal for the Aggies, but the football team is trying to pay attention to what happens inside the stadium.
“This is why you play college football for games like this,” N.C. A&T coach Shawn Gibbs said. “. . . We can’t get caught up in the hoopla and all the stuff going on around us.”
Elon center Gabe Navarro was involved in last year’s homecoming at N.C. A&T from a different perspective. He played for the Aggies vs. South Carolina State.
“The GHOE game is the hardest they play,” Navarro said of the Aggies. “They know what they’re playing for. It don’t matter who they’re playing.”
Navarro and Elon running back Jimmyll Williams spent two seasons as teammates at Division II Virginia State before finding their ways to CAA teams and eventually becoming teammates again. Navarro was a left tackle for the Aggies.
Navarro pointed out that the Phoenix is 0-3 in homecoming games this year, including this month’s home loss.
Frederick rushed for a career-best 101 yards in last year’s season finale vs. the Aggies at Rhodes Stadium. He said the Phoenix is gearing up for another strong finishing stretch to a season.
“The mindset is to win all these four games,” Frederick said.
