Coastal Carolina University senior running back Lorenzo Taliaferro eclipsed his single game rushing mark in the third quarter, helping his Chanticleers to a 53-28 win over Elon University on Saturday afternoon, Sept. 28.
Taliaferro’s afternoon was part of an offensive showcase at Rhodes Stadium that included a combined 649 yards of total offense in the first half. The No. 11-ranked Chanticleers trailed Elon 28-25 with 3:46 to play in the first half, but reeled off 28 unanswered points to improve to 5-0 in the 2013 season.
Elon, fresh off of a near-comeback against Appalachian State University the previous week, carried momentum into the Family Weekend showdown. The game’s first quarter saw all five possessions result in touchdowns, energizing the crowd of 10,277.
The Chanticleers began the game with a 10 play, 75-yard drive capped off by a 24-yard run from Taliaferro.
“Just a man-child playing out there against boys,” Elon head coach Jason Swepson said about the 6-2, 230-pound back. “He bounced off some tackles - we’ve gotta make those.”
Elon responded quickly. On the 
Phoenix’s first play from scrimmage, junior wide receiver Kierre Brown took a handoff in the backfield and scampered for 55 yards up the near sideline.
“Great play call from coach,” Brown said. “(We practiced) it all week, set it up, changing personnel around (to) confuse them a little bit, and got great blocking.”
“We felt like as a staff that we’ve got to get more touches with Kierre,” Swepson said. “That was our goal. We felt like we could get the edge out on that defense.”
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Three plays later, junior quarterback Mike Quinn found junior tight end Doug Warrick in the back of the end zone for a two-yard strike to tie the game.
The lack of defense from either team continued as the Chanticleers called Taliaferro’s number once more, this time on a one-yard carry. A bad snap on the extra point attempt resulted in a 13-7 score that would be short-lived in its own right.
Elon mounted a 12-play, 70-yard drive featuring six runs and six passes, but was barely kept alive at one point. Elon faced fourth-and-one at the Chanticleers’ 24-yard line, and the Phoenix opted not to attempt a field goal. Instead, redshirt freshman running back B.J. Bennett ran up the middle for two yards and a first down, leading to a pass from Quinn to senior wide receiver Rasaun Rorie for a touchdown. The ensuing extra point gave Elon its first lead in over 120 minutes of football and sent the home crowd into a frenzy.
“Confidence was key,” Brown said about his team’s fast start. “We usually come out a little flat, but we came firing on all cylinders.”
The Phoenix defense could not come up with a stop on the ensuing possession, an 8-play, 75-yard drive that culminated in a one-yard run from sophomore quarterback Alex Ross.
Trying to gain a seven-point lead, the Chanticleers attempted a two-point conversion, which resulted in an incomplete pass.
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Trailing 19-14, Elon was forced to punt for the first time, but the defense stepped up in its own right, giving the Phoenix the ball back with a chance to regain the lead.
That they did.
Bennett took a direct snap deep in the Chanticleer red zone and ran in for a seven-yard touchdown. Leading 21-19, the Elon defense once again failed to muster a stop and Coastal Carolina retook the lead on a 15-yard pass from Ross to senior slotback Niccolo Mastromatteo.
“We had no answers,” Swepson said. “They were bigger, stronger, faster.”
Elon got the ball back with 5:22 to play in the second quarter courtesy of an interception from junior linebacker Jonathan Spain. With only 24 yards separating the Phoenix from the end zone, the offense went to work. Quinn found sophomore tight end Zach Duprey from two yards out. Duprey’s first career catch put Elon up 28-25 with 3:59 left before halftime.
From there, the wheels fell off.
The Chanticleers used a 40-yard touchdown pass from Ross to sophomore slotback Tyrell Blanks to completely suck the momentum out of Elon just before halftime. Even though Elon only trailed 32-28, the Phoenix would not score again.
“Last week we scored right before half and changed momentum,” Swepson said. “This week they score a touchdown right before half and take momentum and going into half it kind of looked like the game was over.”
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Elon got the ball first to start the second half, but a three-and-out followed by another Chanticleer score quickly opened the game up to a double-digit margin for the first time.
“We just lost our edge and fire that we came out with,” said redshirt freshman linebacker Corey Mitchell.
His teammate, sophomore defensive back Julius Moore, agreed.
“We came out in the second half and didn’t come out with as much enthusiasm as the first half,” Moore said.
On the ensuing possession, freshman kicker John Gallagher missed his sixth field goal try in seven attempts in 2013; a moment Swepson believes knocked the last of the air out of the Phoenix.
The Chanticleers would score two more times as Elon struggled to move the ball in the second half. Elon gained only 78 yards in the game’s entire second stanza, a far cry from the 255 in the first half.
Quinn finished the day 15-of-27 for a mere 94 yards, though he did toss three touchdowns. Brown was the leading rusher for Elon, with 92 yards on only two carries. Bennett gained 62 yards on 10 carries with sophomore Tracey Coppedge galloping for 53 yards on 11 touches.
Senior receiver Rasaun Rorie caught five passes for 49 yards and a touchdown, and redshirt freshman Justin Osborne added 15 yards on three catches.
Elon returns to the field next Saturday, Oct. 5, when the Phoenix travels to Greenville, S.C. to take on Furman University. Gametime is 1:30 p.m., and the contest will be broadcast on ESPN3.