“WWJD.” In the words of acting head coach Ed Pinkham, it means “What Would Jason Do?”
With head coach Jason Swepson absent from the sidelines Saturday afternoon after being admitted to the hospital on Friday morning with chest pains, Pinkham took over as acting head coach for Saturday’s game against Div. II opponent West Virginia State. The Phoenix beat the Yellow Jackets in decisive fashion, 48-14.
“I was trying to think of what would Jason do, what is that; WWJD? What would Jason do right now,” Pinkham said. “I always think of Jason. I have so much respect for him and he is just a great great leader with these kids.”
With the team gearing up for the start of conference play, senior wide receiver Aaron Mellette finally got his season going after a tough start to the year. Mellette picked a good day to do it, as scouts from the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons and Miami Dolphins were in Rhodes Stadium for the game. Coming in, Mellette was held to 49 yards on 6 receptions and a touchdown on the young season. He more then doubled that total Saturday, finishing the game with 9 catches for 129 yards and two touchdowns.
“The first couple weeks, it was rough,” Mellette said. “It felt good to come out here and dominate the first half like I did and going towards Georgia Southern now, it’s conference play so I’ve got to turn it up another notch again.”
After winning the coin toss and deferring to the second half, Elon took their opening possession 53 yards, which was capped by a 17-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Thomas Wilson to receiver Rasaun Rorie. On his way to the end zone, Rorie put a nice stiff arm on West Virginia State defensive back Jabril Pearsons, forcing his way to the corner of the end zone for the game’s first points.
After kicker Adam Shreiner sent a 41-yard field goal attempt wide right on the Phoenix ensuing possession, Elon capitalized with touchdowns on each of their next four drives leading up to halftime.
Sophomore running back Karl Bostick broke a 43-yard touchdown run right through the middle of the Yellow Jacket’s defense, which was followed by Mellette and Wilson’s first touchdown connection of the game; a 20-yard strike in the back left corner of the end zone. The yardage on the touchdown reception put Mellette over 3,000 yards for his career in the maroon and gold. He currently stands at 3,034 total.
Midway through the second quarter, senior tight end Chris Harris found the end zone on a 17-yard reception from Wilson. The touchdown was the first of Harris’s career at Elon on just his second career reception. A 3-yard touchdown pass from Wilson to Mellette followed Harris’s reception as the end of the half drew near. The catch was Mellette’s final catch of the day.
With less than a minute to go in the first half, West Virginia State finally got on the board with a 70-yard touchdown run up the middle from running back LeFloyd Phillips. Phillips broke free after freezing Elon defensive back Chandler Wrighenberry. With Wilson seeing the play unfold from the sidelines, he knew he had to let Wrightenberry hear it at halftime.
“That was bad,” Wilson said. “I think he got mad at me for giving him a hard time, but that was bad.”
After halftime, the Phoenix came out and engineered a nine play, 53-yard drive that set up Shreiner for a 31-yard field goal. The Phoenix ensuing drive saw freshman running back Tracey Coppedge cough up the ball in Yellow Jacket territory. The drive was the last of the game for quarterback Wilson.
Wilson finished completing 18 of 25 passes for 261 yards four touchdowns.
On his second drive of the afternoon, backup quarterback Mike Quinn led the Phoenix on a 12 play, 63-yard drive that ended in a 3-yard touchdown pass from Quinn to receiver Ricky Brown that put the Phoenix up 48-7. The touchdown was the first of each player’s career at Elon.
The Yellow Jackets found the end zone one more time when running back Aubura Taylor took the kickoff back to the West Virginia State 46-yardline. Three plays later, quarterback Ricky Phillips found receiver Shanin Bennefield for a 42-yard reception down to the Elon 1-yard line. Phillips completed a pass to receiver Ervin Kent two plays later for the score.
The Phoenix finished with 571 yards of total offense with 301 of those coming on the ground. Freshman running back Thuc Phan led the way on the ground for the Phoenix with 110 yards on 15 carries. Bostick finished with 12 carries for 77 yards and a touchdown while Coppedge ran 15 times for 64 yards.
“We had a great day rushing,” Wilson said. “All phases really. We threw the ball well and ran the ball well towards the end when we needed to.”
As for Swepson, initial expectation is that he will return to the team “by midweek,” but ultimately, it is the doctor’s decision as to when he will be able to return, that according to Elon Athletic Director Dave Blank.
[box]Elon starts conference play next week when they travel to No. 10 Georgia Southern, who is coming off a bye week after falling in their last game to The Citadel 23-21.[/box]