It may be easy to start the retelling of Elon University's 35-23 loss to No. 14 Appalachian State University Saturday at Kidd Brewer Stadium in Boone, N.C., with a reminder that the Phoenix is now 2-4 this season overall, 0-3 in the Southern Conference.

Another angle might be a continuation of the domination the Mountaineers have held over the Phoenix since 1965. It has been 17, 535 days since Elon defeated Appalachian State.

Whichever way one chooses to look at it, the Mountaineers were simply the better team on this day and came out on top.

Appalachian State junior quarterback Jamal Jackson was 20-29 for 304 yards and four touchdowns, including the eventual game-winning 23-yard chuck to senior running back Steven Miller to put the Mountaineers up 28-17 just 2:13 into the fourth quarter. It was a lead they would hold to the end.

“We had too many mistakes as a team,” Swepson said. “(Appalachian State has) some great athletes and we got big-played. We fought and played tough. We came up here expecting to play a physical football team and we came out to play physical and I think we did that.”

Elon senior wide receiver Aaron Mellette stole a goal-line interception from Appalachian State senior cornerback Demetrius McCray with 11:26 left in the fourth quarter to pull the Phoenix within five, but a Jamal Jackson one-yard touchdown run less than four minutes later sealed the victory.

Jackson was stuffed twice from the Elon 1 on the drive, but faked a hand-off to Appalachian State senior running back Steven Miller and scrambled unchallenged into the end zone on fourth-and-goal.

"(Appalachian State) just has so much speed and you can't make mistakes against a team with so much speed," said Elon sophomore linebacker Jonathan Spain, who had 12 tackles. "We made too many mental mistakes  and it killed us."

The Phoenix out-gained the Mountaineers on the day, notching 515 offensive yards to Appalachian State's 499. Elon senior quarterback Thomas Wilson was 35-41 for a career-high 419 yards and three touchdowns. Mellette finished with 13 receptions for 237 yards.

Appalachian State head coach Jerry Moore called Elon “one of the best teams we have played this year.”

“They are very talented at throwing the ball and it is about as good as you can get,” he said. “I have great respect with what they have done there at Elon.”

Elon got its offense going early. Wilson hit senior wide receiver Jeremy Peterson for a 34-yard reception on the first play of the game and was five-for-six for 66 yards on the first drive, capping it off with an 11-yard pass to Mellette. The Phoenix lead 7-0 just 3:24 into the game.

After forcing Appalachian State to a three-and-out, Elon drove down the field again, earning a first-and-goal on the Mountaineers’ 3. But the offense got one yard on three plays, and senior kicker Adam Shreiner missed a 25-yard chip-shot field goal with 8:30 left in the first quarter.

It was the first of many mistakes for the Phoenix. Along with his three touchdowns, Wilson threw three interceptions, two of them in the red zone on long drives.

“We missed two red score opportunities,” Swepson added. “In the last two games, we were perfect. We get a touchdown-field goal there, we get ten points and then we’re only down two. Not scoring in the red zone, something we’ve been doing a great job at, it caught up with us today.”

Elon played a relatively-solid first half defensively, but it allowed a couple huge plays in the second half that killed any offensive momentum Wilson and Mellette developed.

Mellette had a 59-yard touchdown grab from Wilson 4:42 into the third quarter to put the Phoenix up 17-14, the last lead they would have.

With 3:39 left in the quarter, Jackson hit junior wide receiver Andrew Peacock on a 25-yard pass for a touchdown to put the Mountaineers up for good. Peacock finished the game with seven catches for 71 yards.

“We knew we could take a shot deep, so basically it was just one-on-one, me and my defender ,” Peacock said. “I ran a nice corner rout and Jamal put it on me. (Elon has) an awesome defense and my touchdown really put us in a great state of mind.”

It was one of seven Mountaineer plays that went for 20-plus yards. Thirteen plays garnered 15 yards or more for Appalachian State.

“On defense, we made too many mistakes, way too many mistakes,” Spain said. "You’re going to be exposed when you make that many mistakes. We made good plays, but then we’d go make a mistake. That’s what kills us. We’d get them down second-and-20, and then the quarterback would run for 20 yards. We just can’t let that happen.”

Once again, the Phoenix walk away from a SoCon game with a loss. While this game has a major impact on its playoff hopes, Swepson still believes his team is a “good football team” and hopes to use the bye week next week to get healthy and rest his team.

“I think they’re giving a great effort,” he said. “What I told the team in the locker room, I think we’ve got some young guys that need to practice hard, young guys that we’re counting on to help these seniors go out the right way. This off-week, we’ve got to get healthy, but we’ve still got to practice and get better. They’re leaving it all on the field right now and I don’t think we’ve got anything left in the gas tank.”

 

Game Notes

  • Swepson was very critical of the referees after the game. He was particularly upset with second-quarter play when Wilson scrambled 11 yards for a first down, slid and took what Swepson deemed a late hit from Appalachian State senior linebacker Jeremy Kimbrough. “I thought the officiating missed a big-time call right there that would have given us 15 extra yards,” he said. “At points, I felt like we were playing two teams out there with App State and the officiating. That’s something that I got to get straight and look at the film and turn some plays in and try to get an even-called football game, and I don’t know if that was the case today.” Four plays later, Wilson was intercepted by Kimbrough at the goal line.
  • Miller had zero receiving yards coming into the game. He finished with five receptions for 97 yards and two scores, all career-highs.
  • Wilson now has seven interceptions this season.
  • Swepson was impressed with the atmosphere in Boone. It was his first time coaching a game here. “I would imagine it’s probably the best in all of FCS football,” he said. “I’ve been a lot of places at this level, Georgia Southern (University) a couple weeks ago, (University of) Delaware many years ago. This takes the cake.”