ELON, N.C. – On a cold and rainy Saturday afternoon, the Wofford College football team took advantage of five takeaways as they shut out Elon 16-0 at Rhodes Stadium. The Terriers had three field goals in the final four minutes of the first half for a 9-0 lead and added a touchdown in the second half for the win.
Wofford is 4-3 and 2-2 in the SoCon. Elon is 4-3 overall and 2-2 in the CAA. The Terriers were led by
Gerald Modest Jr. with 107 rushing yards on 24 carries, while
J.T. Fayard was 11-of-25 passing for 130 yards.
Conner Deviney added three field goals. The Phoenix was led by Kamerin McDowell-Moore with 25 carries for 164 yards.
"It was a great team win," said head coach
Shawn Watson. "I thought obviously the defense played lights out, and we needed him too in these conditions today. We came up with five turnovers. The defense did an awesome job and stopped a really good running back. The offense answered when we needed them to in these conditions and held onto the ball. We saw some good things on special teams; they played well. I think we are finding unique ways to win football games. I can't say enough about the staff. They've done a great job of using all the resources we have in the building right now because we got some guys down. I am really happy with the team win."
Wofford had the ball first and after a first down they faced a fourth-and-three. On a fake punt, the run was short and Elon took over on downs. On fourth-and-one, a pass was broken up by
Corey Williams and Wofford had the ball at the 46-yard line. After the Terriers went three-and-out, the Phoenix went three-and-out and punted. A sack on third down on the ensuing drive brought up a Wofford punt with 6:44 left in the first quarter. Elon then gained two first downs before punting. The Terriers had one first down before punting. With the ball back, the Phoenix fumbled, with
Logan McCloud on the force and
Eli Campbell on the recovery. Wofford had one first down before a penalty and sack pushed the team back, and they punted two minutes into the second quarter.
With the Phoenix starting at the seven-yard line, they went three-and-out and punted as the Terriers took over at midfield. Wofford was unable to gain a yard and punted, with the ball fair caught at the five-yard line with 10:38 on the clock. After Elon gained one first down, they punted. Wofford had first-down receptions by
Gerald Modest Jr. and
Colby Alexander to move across midfield. The drive stalled and the Terriers punted, but a roughing the punter call gave Wofford a first down. The Terriers got on the board with a 42-yard field goal by
Conner Deviney with 3:26 left in the first half for a 3-0 lead.
Eli Campbell intercepted a pass on third down and he returned it to the four-yard line. Wofford added a 22-yard field goal by
Conner Deviney for a 6-0 advantage. On the kickoff, a fumble on the return was forced and recovered by
Aiden Morris at the 24-yard line with 48 seconds left in the half. As time expired in the second quarter,
Conner Deviney made a 37-yard field goal to give Wofford a 9-0 lead at the break.
To open the second half, Elon went three-and-out and punted.
J.T. Fayard found
Ivory Aikens for a 41-yard first-down completion.
Jack Purdy and
Gerald Modest Jr. added first down catches to move inside the ten-yard line. A short pass from
Kaeden Gilstrap to Anjuan Coleman gave the Terriers a 16-0 lead with 9:50 on the clock. After the Phoenix had a first down,
Eli Campbell intercepted his second pass of the game and returned it to the 40-yard line. Wofford gained one first down before a 40-yard field goal attempt was wide left with 6:17 left in the third quarter.
The Phoenix had a 41-yard run for a first down to move across midfield. A 40-yard field goal attempt was blocked and picked up by
Perrin Ketchin. The Terriers started their next drive at the 32-yard line but had to punt. Elon converted a fourth-and-one and added a first down by penalty, but the drive stalled. A fake punt was called, and the pass was completed for a 33-yard gain. On fourth-and-three inside the 20, the ball was tipped at the line of scrimmage and fell incomplete. Wofford took over with 9:28 left in the game at the 13-yard line but went three-and-out and punted. Elon had three first downs, but
Zayd Rogan intercepted a pass and returned it to the 43-yard line with 4:00 left in the game.
Gerald Modest Jr. had two rushing first downs before the two-minute timeout. The Terriers had one more first down and ran out the clock for the win.
Wofford had 252 total yards on offense, with 153 passing yards. Elon had 257 total yards, with 179 of those rushing yards. Wofford had 14 first downs to 12 for the Phoenix. Wofford was 2-of-17 on third down and 0-of-1 on fourth down. Elon was 2-of-13 on third down and 2-of-4 on fourth down. Wofford had five penalties for 55 yards, while Elon had three penalties for 22 yards. Wofford had a 31:54 to 28:06 time of possession advantage.
Wofford vs. Elon Post-Game Notes
This was the 41
st meeting between the two teams, with Wofford holding a 29-12 lead in the series.
The game was played in the remnants of Hurricane Isaias, with rain and wind primarily in the second half.
It was the first shutout by the Terriers since a 17-0 win over VMI on November 19, 2016. The last time Wofford was shut out was September 10, 2022, by Elon.
The Wofford defense was led by
Logan McCloud with nine tackles and the defense combined for five tackles for loss.
Gerald Modest Jr. had 107 rushing yards, his second 100+ rushing performance this season and the second of his career.
Eli Campbell had his first and second interceptions of the season, giving him nine for his career. Campbell added his first career fumble recovery.
Aiden Morris had his first career forced fumble and fumble recovery.
Logan McCloud had his first career forced fumble and
Zayd Rogan had his first career interception.
The field goal blocked by
Jake Thorner was the first for the Terriers since October 4, 2025 (
Seth Foster vs. WCU).
Conner Deviney was 3-of-4 on field goals. He is the first Terrier to make three field goals in a game since Luke Carter at VMI in 2019 (3-3).
Four players made first career starts in the game, including RB
Davis Penn, CB
Ky'Ree Murphy, OL
J'Von Lindsey and OL
Kam Wallace.
Game captains were
Gavin Batt,
Aiden Morris and
Isaiah Scott.
Attendance at Rhodes Stadium was 5,379.
Wofford will be back at home on Saturday, October 17, to host VMI as part of Homecoming weekend activities. Tickets are available by visiting
https://woffordterriers.com/tickets.
