An explosive rushing attack propelled the Elon University football team over Hampton University 41-20 on Family Weekend.
Elon was coming off a 26-16 loss against East Tennessee State University last week and looked to win their Coastal Athletic Association opener.
Sophomore running back TJ Thomas Jr. got involved early, breaking a few tackles en route to a 22-yard catch from redshirt freshman Landen Clark, who scrambled out of a sack. Thomas then ran in a 23-yard touchdown on the following play for his first rushing attempt of the day.
Elon’s defensive line played well early on, led by defensive lineman and sophomore phenom Kahmari Brown. They held Hampton’s usual proficient rushing offense in check, holding them to a 2.3 yards per carry average in the first half. Hampton entered the day averaging about 200 rushing yards per game. Head coach Tony Trisciani credited Brown’s performance, who racked up a sack and six solo tackles.
“Kahmari is a super athlete, and he's hard to block,” Trisciani said. “We bottled up a lot of runs at the first level, at the line of scrimmage.”
After Elon’s first score, Hampton got on the board with a 44-yard field goal after a 35-yard pass by quarterback Braden Davis to get into Elon territory. Hampton’s defense put constant pressure on Clark throughout the first half, hitting him three times and forcing him to make mistakes.
Clark is coming off an electric start to the season, having been named CAA Rookie of the Week twice so far. Clark only had 34 passing yards in the first quarter and completed passes to only two players in the entire half — Thomas and sophomore wide receiver Isaiah Fuhrmann. Fuhrmann was efficient with his role, picking up 120 yards in the opening half.
Toward the end of the first quarter, Hampton made another field goal to bring the score to 7-6. Clark started to get into his rhythm in the second quarter, throwing an 81-yard touchdown to Fuhrmann on the first play of the quarter. Trisciani said he was impressed with Fuhrmann’s performance and credited the depth of the wide receiver room.
“If there's three of them out there, you can cover all three. If there's four, you better cover all four of them,” Trisciani said.
Elon’s defense added onto this effort by picking off Davis during the following drive. Redshirt junior defensive back Ishmel Atkins secured the pick for the Phoenix, the first of his two interceptions that half.
Halfway through the quarter, Elon got a 34-yard field goal to extend the lead to 17-6 thanks to a pair of big plays from Fuhrmann and running back junior Jimmyll Williams.
The Pirates proceeded to go on a long, grueling, 10-play drive into Elon territory, but ended up with nothing after Atkins picked Davis off for the second time in an interception that required video review to ensure he caught it before the ball hit the ground. The two teams traded punts to end the half.
Hampton came out of halftime looking reinvigorated, scoring a 75-yard rushing touchdown on the first play of the half with running back Jah’Kei Chavis sprinting down the sideline. On the following drive, Clark was strip-sacked by defensive end Chris Jackson, giving Hampton the ball six yards away from the redzone. The Pirates took advantage of the promising field position by throwing a 44-yard touchdown.
In a matter of just three minutes, Hampton had scored 14 points and swung the pendulum of momentum back in their favor by taking the lead 20-17.
The sequence was a disastrous start to the half for Elon. Everything seemed to go against them as they struggled to contain this Hampton team that looked nothing like its first half self. Elon attempted to get some momentum going by converting a fake punt run, but then a tipped ball led to a Clark interception the very next play. Trisciani said the team didn’t panic, however.
“It's all about being in the moment, and we talk about that a lot as a program, and that's how you do it,” Trisciani said. “You get the momentum back by playing football one play at a time, and it's one stop at a time on defense, whether it's forcing a punt or getting a takeaway and then sustaining drives. There was no panic on the sideline.”
With six minutes left in the quarter, Elon finally got a stop thanks to a much-needed sack by freshman defensive tackle Chaz Knox. The Phoenix’s offense then started to return to form as they got the ball back. Junior Dan Frederick led the way and rushed for 30 yards off four attempts during the drive. Clark capped it off with a six-yard scamper into the endzone to retake the lead 24-20. The momentum had swung back into Elon’s favor with a quick 3-and-out for Hampton.
After a field goal extended the lead to seven, Elon began to pull away soon after with a rushing touchdown by Thomas.
Elon, a team that has relied on Clark’s arm for much of the season so far, found its ground game to be its strength in the fourth quarter, finishing the game with 288 rushing yards and four touchdowns. Elon entered the game averaging 168.3 rushing yards per game.
Williams was the standout for the Phoenix, rushing for a career-high 172 yards and a touchdown. He capped his day off with a 45-yard run late in the game that saw multiple Hampton defenders trailing behind as he left them in the dust and stiff-arming the few that kept up with him. Williams said “stay in bounds” was running through his head throughout the run. He added that finishing games is key to Elon’s success.
“I just wanted to put the nail in the coffin,” Williams said. “We already had the lead, and it was all about finishing.”
Williams attributed the success to running back coach Nate Harris and said the running back room’s hard work paid off today.
“We're always out there 20 minutes before everybody, and we're always out there 20 minutes after everybody,” Williams said.“That hard work shows up consistently.”
Elon moves to 3-2 and will play next Oct. 4 at Towson.