Generally, if the kicker is the most impressive player on your football team in a game, it means something went wrong in the other offensive phases.
That was the case Sept. 13 at Rhodes Stadium, where the Elon University football team took on North Carolina A&T State University.
The Phoenix had multiple drives that stalled out deep in Aggie territory, leading to sophomore kicker John Gallagher booting a career-high four field goals in Elon’s 17-12 loss.
The game was reminiscent of Elon’s season opener at Duke University Aug. 30, when the Phoenix had many of the same issues on offense.
“One thing for us was trying to score,” said junior wide receiver Andre Davis heading into Saturday’s game. “It was a lot of times we had drives that ended up stalling because of a drop, or someone didn’t execute a block, so just trying to execute and score more points can take a lot of pressure off the defense.”
After the game, Davis noted the similarities between the team’s performances in the two games.
“We just didn’t execute the way that I think we should or could have been able to execute,” Davis said. “Pretty much the same thing, just execution.”
Against Duke, the Elon offense looked serviceable and was able to finish a drive with a touchdown, scoring 13 points on the Blue Devils. The drive-killers on that night were usually drops, but against the Aggies, basic execution was the issue.
“To me, there are five elements of winning football, and it’s turnovers, big plays, first down, third down and red zone,” said Elon head coach Rich Skrosky. “And that’s a probability that I’ve been studying for a long time. If you hold a team to field goals, you’re going to be in the game. And credit to A&T. They did a good job in the red zone.”
Skrosky added he met with his captains on Friday night before the N.C. A&T game to discuss these five elements. But on the field, problems persisted.
Senior quarterback Mike Quinn threw two interceptions, the Phoenix were 3-of-16 on third down, and the offense failed to score a touchdown despite consistently threatening to score in the red zone.
“[We] just didn’t get the ball where it needed to go,” Quinn said. “We didn’t establish the run game as [well] as we should’ve, and once you do that it opens up the passing lanes, and we’re off to the races, as you can see with our yards after catch. It literally all comes back to execution. There were more opportunities this game to actually score, and we just have to capitalize.”
In all, the Phoenix had the ball inside N.C. A&T’s 20-yard line five different times. Four of those drives ended in field goals, while one attempt was blocked.
“On offense, the obvious thing that sticks out is the red-zone productivity, or lack thereof — being held to four field goals and then having the one blocked,” Skrosky said. “That has an effect on the rest of our team, when the defense sees the offense not getting in the end zone.”
Once deep in Aggie territory, the Phoenix tried a variety of different plays to punch it in for a touchdown. But everything from a run to a corner fade to a slant route was snuffed out by the Aggie defense.
“There were more opportunities, and I give them credit because they played man coverage down there, and we got the one-on-one battle for the most part,” Skrosky said.
Despite Elon’s inefficiency in the red zone, Skrosky was pleased overall with the progress he saw from his players, namely Quinn and Davis.
“You move ahead,” Skrosky said. “That’s what gets you excited. When you see a kid reach his potential and keep getting better on a daily basis, it validates what you tell him. There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t believe we’re going to go on the field and do it consistently. You just have to keep working at it.”