Oct. 2, 2010

Box Score

ELON, N.C. - The Samford football team came back from a 17-point second-quarter deficit, but its comeback fell just short in a 24-19 loss at No. 21 Elon Saturday afternoon at Rhodes Stadium.

"I thought we played well in the second half," Samford head coach Pat Sullivan said. "We just turned the football over in the first half and we didn't tackle, all of the things we talk about doing. There just wasn't a lot of emotion in the first half like there was in the second half. But, we came back and gave ourselves a chance when the defense caused some turnovers in the second half."

Samford (2-3, 0-2 SoCon) was led offensively by senior running back Chris Evans with 115 yards on 12 carries. Dustin Taliaferro and Connor Lowery split time at quarterback. Lowery completed 9-of-17 passes for 105 yards, while Taliaferro completed 6-of-12 passes for 37 yards. Each quarterback threw one interception.

Bryce Smith led the Samford defense with a career-high 17 tackles. Punter Bob Hooper averaged 43.8 yards on five punts. Cameron Yaw kicked two field goals, one a career-long 48-yarder and the other from 25-yards out.

For Elon (2-3, 1-1 SoCon), Scott Riddle completed 36-of-44 passes for 426 yards and three touchdowns. Sean Jeffcoat caught seven passes for 109 yards and a touchdown.

Elon struck first when Riddle hit Kierre Brown for a 36-yard touchdown with 9:22 to go in the first quarter. Adam Shreiner added the extra point to give the Phoenix a 7-0 lead. Elon made the score 10-0 when Shreiner kicked a 25-yard field goal with 2:27 to go in the first quarter.

The Phoenix struck again when Riddle hit Jeffcoat for a two-yard touchdown with 8:33 to go in the second quarter. Shreiner's PAT made the score 17-0.

Samford got on the scoreboard on its final drive of the second quarter. Yaw kicked a career-long 48-yard field goal with 20 seconds to go before halftime to cut the Elon lead to 17-3.

On the opening possession of the second half, Samford's Darion Sutton caused and recovered an Elon fumble, giving the Bulldogs the ball at the Elon 44-yard line with 13:29 to go in the third quarter. Samford drove the ball inside the Elon 10-yard line before Yaw kicked a 25-yard field goal to make the score 17-6 with 9:38 left in the third quarter.

On the Phoenix's next possession, Riddle was sacked and the fumble was recovered by Samford at the 50-yard line. After a 49-yard run by Evans gave Samford the ball at the one-yard line, Kelsey Pope scored on a one-yard run. Yaw's PAT cut the Elon lead to 17-13 with 7:27 to go in the third quarter.

Elon scored again when Riddle hit Andre Labinowicz for a nine-yard touchdown with 3:47 to go in the third quarter. Shreiner's extra point made the score 24-13.

Pope scored his second touchdown of the game, again on a one-yard run with 10:34 to go in the fourth quarter. The two-point conversion attempt was no good to make the score 24-19. Neither team was able to score the rest of the way making the final score 24-19.

Samford will return to action on Saturday, Oct. 9, when the Bulldogs play at Western Carolina. The game is scheduled for a 2 p.m. (CT) start from WCU's E.J. Whitmire Stadium.