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ELON, N.C. – The Wofford football team used a 41-yard touchdown reception in the final ten seconds of the game to defeat Elon 28-21 on Saturday afternoon at Rhodes Stadium. Mitch Allen found Devin Reed in the end-zone to secure the victory on the road.
The Terriers are 6-1 on the season and 4-0 in the conference and the Phoenix are 2-5 overall and 1-3 in the SoCon. The Terriers were led in rushing by Eric Breitenstein with 152 yards and two touchdowns, while Devin Reed had two catches for 51 yards and a touchdown. The Phoenix were led by Scott Riddle with 246 passing yards on 27-of-39 with three touchdowns. Sean Jeffcoat led the receivers with 89 yards and one touchdown.
“I think that we have grown a little bit and we have learned to find a way to win,” said head coach Mike Ayers. “We had a couple of mistakes in the kicking game to give them good field position and it makes it tougher on our defense. At the end, they cracked the door open with a punt and once they did that we were going to try everything we could to try and make it happen. We found a way to win. In the second half they executed better and we did not execute as well. When you have a team that is explosive like they are, a lead can go away in a hurry. Offensively we struggled and were not as dialed in. Elon had two weeks of preparation and they did some good things.”
The teams traded punts on the opening four possessions of the game, with each drive going three-and-out. On the third drive by Elon, Scott Riddle was intercepted on a pass over the middle by Mike McCrimon. A personal foul at the end of the play gave Wofford the ball at the Elon 18-yard line. On the first play, Eric Breitenstein went the 18-yards for a 7-0 lead at 6:36 in the first quarter.
The Wofford defense forced another three-and-out and Wofford took over at the three-yard line. The Terriers picked up five first downs and capped the drive with another 18-yard run by Eric Breitenstein for a 14-0 lead at 14:29 in the second quarter.
Elon gained two first downs on their next possession, but were forced to punt after two holding calls. The Terriers then were forced three-and-out and the Phoenix took over at the 48-yard line. They picked up one first down, but on fourth-and-one, Tommy Irvin broke up a pass to give the ball back to the Terriers.
Wofford was able to gain four first downs, including a conversion of a fourth-and-one by Eric Breitenstein, but a 37-yard field goal as time expired in the half by Christian Reed was wide right. At the half, the Terriers had a 14-0 lead and held the Elon offense to only 66 yards with three first downs.
The Terriers got the ball to start the second half and wasted little time as Mike Rucker ran the kickoff back 84 yards down the far sideline for a 21-0 lead. Elon responded with a touchdown pass from Scott Riddle to Aaron Mellette with 12:44 on the clock for a 21-7 score.
After trading punts, Elon returned a punt to the 35-yard line. With the short field, the Phoenix scored on a six-yard pass from Riddle to A.J. Harris to make it a 21-14 game with 2:20 left in the third quarter. Wofford was forced three-and-out and punted to start the fourth quarter. Elon was going to punt, but Scott Riddle ran a fake to pick up the first down. The Phoenix were able to tie the game with a 24-yard touchdown pass from Riddle to Sean Jeffcoat with 11:20 left in the fourth quarter.
With the ball back, Wofford picked up a fourth-and-two. On the next play, the Terriers fumbled the ball and it was recovered by the Phoenix with 8:46 left in the quarter. Elon was driving, but the ball was fumbled at the one-yard line out of the end-zone, giving the Terriers the ball at the 20-yard line. A reverse by Brenton Bersin gained 24-yards, but a sack on third down forced Wofford to punt with 3:49 on the clock. Elon gained a first down, but punted with 1:36 remaining.
Wofford got the ball back on the Elon 49-yard line. After gaining one first down, the Terriers were down to the final plays of the game. With nine seconds left and a third-and-14, Mitch Allen found Devin Reed for a 41-yard touchdown grab. Elon had one final play, but the laterals ended with an illegal forward pass.
The Terriers had 297 total yards, with 246 on the ground. Elon had 313 yards, 246 of which were passing. Wofford had the time of possession advantage. Wofford was 4-of-13 on third downs. Elon was 6-of-14 on third down.
Next weekend Wofford will host The Citadel at 1:30 pm. The game will mark Homecoming for the Terriers and the game will be broadcast on SportSouth. The Bulldogs (2-6, 0-5) were defeated 20-0 on Saturday by Georgia Southern.
Wofford vs. Elon Post-Game Notes
The interception in the first quarter by Mike McCrimon was the first of his career.
Eric Breitenstein has at least one touchdown in each of the seven games this season and has two or more in the last six games.
With the win, head coach Mike Ayers has reached 150 career wins. He is 150-105-1 in 26 years at Wofford and ETSU.
The Wofford defense held Elon without a 100-yard receiver for the first time this season.
The kickoff return for touchdown by Mike Rucker to open the second half was the first for Wofford since Sean Lees had a 79-yard return on November 10, 2007 at Chattanooga. It was the second of Rucker’s career.
The road team has won the last five meetings in the series.
Game captains for Wofford were Clark Gaston, Devin Reed and Andrew Young.
Attendance was 9,752 at Rhodes Stadium.
