ORONO, Maine- The Elon Phoenix got three touchdown passes from Davis Cheek and controlled the ball for nearly 38 minutes on Saturday afternoon, en route to a 33-23 win over the Maine Black Bears in a Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) football game at Alfond Stadium.
Elon (3-3, 2-1 CAA) converted 12 of 16 third down plays on the afternoon in the win (75%), with several of those key downs being 10 yards to go or more and out possessed the clock over Maine 37:59 to 22:01. The guests also took advantage of three 15 yard personal foul penalties on the Black Bears in key spots. Elon marched down the field on the opening drive of the game and Cheek hit Donovan Williams for a nine yard touchdown pass and a 7-0 lead. Maine came right back and got into position to put some points up when quarterback Derek Robertson hit Andre Miller on a 47 yard pass to the Phoenix 30 yard line. The Bears settled for a Jonny Messina 40 yard field goal to make it 7-3. On one of the key plays of the first half on a 3rd and 8 at the Maine 30, Cheek found a wide open Jaylan Thomas along the left sideline and Thomas easily found the endzone untouched. The extra point was blocked and it was 13-3. In the later stages of the second quarter, Maine stopped Elon on a fourth down play but then couldn’t convert on a fourth down themselves at the Phoenix 45. Elon turned that into a Cheek to Bryson Daughtry 39 yard TD pass, with the point after no good on a bad snap to extend the advantage to 19-3. The Black Bears took some momentum into halftime though, as Robertson completed passes of 22 yards and 16 yards to Miller and Devin Young respectively and then tossed a 25 yard scoring pass to Shawn Bowman with 35 seconds to go to cut it to 19-10 at the break.
Maine would use that momentum to start the third and would march down to the Elon 20 yard line, before Messina would miss a 37 yard field goal as the deficit remained at nine. The Phoenix then took advantage of a unsportsmanlike penalty on the Black Bears when they had been stopped on a 3rd down and 22 at their own 13 yard line. The drive would continue and was capped off by a Cheek keeper of one yard to push the lead to 26-10 late in the quarter. Redshirt freshman receiver Trevor Ewing answered the call for the hosts though taking the ensuing kickoff 96 yards to the house. Maine failed the two point try and were still down by 10. Elon quickly went three and out, and the Bears struck again aided by a 55 yard completion from Robertson to Miller that set up a direct snap to receiver Zavier Scott who took it in for an eight yard touchdown run to cut it to just three 26-23 headed to the fourth. An unnecessary roughness call on the kickoff on Maine gave Elon the ball at their own 40 rather than the 25, and the Phoenix took advantage of that eventually finding the endzone again on a two yard run by McKinley Witherspoon with 10:14 to play that would cap off the scoring.
Maine Head Coach Nick Charlton said after the game, “It’s my responsibility to be sure we execute, and we didn’t do that today. There was too many areas that we left plays out there. Felt like we lost the game and I told the players that we left way too many plays out there, and had the ability to win the game and did not do that. 12-16 on third down and 37 minutes of possession time there is a million things we can talk about there, but that obviously is not good enough and is hard to overcome and that needs to be addressed pretty immediately. I’m a little aggravated right now cause I feel like we left one out there. That’s a solid football team (Elon), but I’m worried about Maine cause I’m the coach of Maine”.
Robertson finished 19-32 passing for 283 yards and one touchdown in the loss for Maine, who falls to 1-4 and is still winless in the CAA (0-3). Freddie Brock rushed 13 times for 50 yards as both teams didn’t establish any real ground game on the day. Miller had a career performance. The Old Town native caught eight passes for 176 yards, breaking his previous high of 143 and is the most yards for a receiver in a game at the school since Earnest Edwards had 196 back in 2018. Bowman also caught five for 50 yards and the second quarter touchdown. Ray Miller, Austin Chambers, and Shakur Smalls all had 10 tackles each for the defense. Cheek was 29-37 passing for 332 yards and three touchdowns and added a short touchdown run as well in the victory. Thomas had 18 rushing attempts for 45 yards, and Witherspoon added 11 for 37 and the touchdown that sealed it for Elon. Jackson Parnham and Kortez Weeks both led in receptions with six a piece, while Daughtry had the most yardage with 89 yards on four grabs. Cheek spread around his completions to eight different receivers. Bo Sanders had seven total tackles to lead the Phoenix defense. The Black Bears host their annual homecoming game next Saturday when William & Mary is in town for a 12 p.m. CAA matchup.
