Hundreds of Phoenix fans made the trek to University of Richmond Stadium Saturday to watch the Elon football team square off against the defending NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision champions. While the result wasn’t quite what they were hoping – a 16-13 loss to the fourth-seeded University of Richmond Spiders – fans young and old enjoyed a thrilling game on a beautiful fall afternoon.
Before kickoff, students, faculty and staff, parents and alumni took over a nearby parking lot and a corner of the stadium to tailgate, celebrating Elon’s first playoff appearance in more than a quarter-century.
“It’s been 28 years since I’ve been to an Elon playoff game,” said President Emeritus J. Earl Danieley ’46. “It’s great to do it again.”
For Lynn “Gator” Newcomb ’58, an Elon football player from 1954-57 and a member of the Elon Sports Hall of Fame, the matchup between the Phoenix and the Spiders had a deeper meaning: Newcomb, a Richmond resident and native, was hoping the team would earn him some bragging rights.
“This morning, I was getting butterflies, like I was going to play today,” he quipped.
Head coach Pete Lembo’s Phoenix squad (9-3 overall, 7-1 Southern Conference) found itself behind 13-3 at halftime, but a stingy second-half defense – led by Brandon Wiggins’ 13 tackles – limited the Spiders to just three points in the second half. Quarterback Scott Riddle led the team to a field goal on the offense’s first possession of the second half and found wide receiver Terrell Hudgins in the end zone for a 22-yard touchdown midway through the fourth quarter.
Feeding off the energy of the loud Elon crowd, the Phoenix defense came up with two big stops in the game’s final five minutes, but the ensuing offensive drives stalled and kicker Adam Shreiner couldn’t connect on field goals of 27 and 48 yards.
Riddle finished the game with 309 passing yards, the 17th time he has surpassed the 300-mark in a game. Hudgins, who earlier this season passed NFL great Jerry Rice for first place in the FCS record books for career receiving yards, completed his outstanding college career with 12 catches for 167 yards.
Despite the disappointment that inevitably accompanies a close loss, many Elon fans left UR Stadium talking optimistically about the future – which, coincidentally, begins next August when Elon returns to face Richmond to open the 2010 season – and expressing hope that this year’s playoff run wasn’t a one-time trip.
“I know what it means for the team to make the playoffs,” said Jayson Teagle ’08, who traveled with fellow alumni from Atlanta to attend the game. “For me, when I say I graduated from Elon, it makes me proud to know how far this program has come.”
Richmond moves on to face Appalachian State in the second round of the FCS playoffs next weekend at UR Stadium.
By Kristin Simonetti ’05, Office of University Relations