The Phoenix takes on Charleston Southern in the annual Hall of Fame game - the home opener for first-year head coach Curt Cignetti.
After splitting a pair of road games to open the 2017 season, the Elon University football team will play at Rhodes Stadium for the first time this year when it hosts the 16th-ranked Charleston Southern Buccaneers for Hall of Fame Weekend on Saturday, Sept. 16. Game time is set for 6 p.m.
Fans are invited to gather on Bank of America Drive for the pregame tailgate, including the team’s Phoenix Walk with the Fire of the Carolina’s marching band, scheduled for about 3:30 p.m.
HALL OF FAME CLASS
At halftime, Elon will recognize the members of its 47th Elon Sports Hall of Fame class. This year’s inductees include women’s track and field standout Jessica Clendenning ’07, women’s soccer player Shannon Currin ’95 and football players Steven Ferguson ’00 and Andrew Wilcox ’09.
SERIES HISTORY
Elon has come out on top in each of its four previous meetings with Charleston Southern. The two first met in 1999 with the maroon and gold claiming a 38-13 victory at Burlington Memorial Stadium. In the last contest, Elon picked up a 21-13 win on the road in 2002. Elon is currently 57-32-2 all-time against members of the Big South Conference. Of the 57 wins, 45 have come against either Presbyterian (24) or Gardner-Webb (21). Elon and Charleston Southern, along with Liberty and Gardner-Webb, were the first four members of the league for football.
FIRST-YEAR HEAD COACH
Elon is under the leadership of Curt Cignetti, who was named the program’s 22nd head football coach on Dec. 31, 2016. The assistant coach/recruiting coordinator on Nick Saban’s undefeated 2009 National Championship team at Alabama, Cignetti spent the previous six seasons as the head coach at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, amassing a record of 53-17. Cignetti is the sixth man to guide the Phoenix since the program moved to Division I play for the 1999 season.
FUN PHOENIX FACTS
- Elon’s 34 points scored in the win at Furman were the most by the program since putting up 49 points in a win over West Virginia Wesleyan in 2013
- Davis Cheek became the first Phoenix quarterback to throw for at least three touchdowns since Mike Quinn tossed three at Delaware in 2014
- Tre Lennon hauled in nine passes, including two for scores; in doing so, he became the first Elon player to have at least nine catches in a game since Andre Davis did so against New Hampshire in 2014 and the first to have a multiple TD game since Corey Joyner at Maine in 2015
- Kicker Owen Johnson made the first two field goals of his career at Furman, including the game-winning 36-yarder with five seconds left