The Elon Phoenix fell 35-0 in the Homecoming Weekend game 2021 against the Villanova University Wildcats. The # 13 squad in the Football Championship subdivision proved that they overwhelmed Elon on offense and defense and never allowed the Phoenix to find its rhythm. “Villanova deserves a lot of credit, they dominated the football game, they played a suffocating defense, they took advantage of some advantages, they were opportunistic,” said head coach Tony Trisciani. “We just didn’t make it today.” A completely unproductive first half allowed only three touchdowns against the Phoenix, although the result could have been much worse. The game started with a quick work on the Villanova offensive by the Elon defense. However, when senior quarterback Davis Cheek stepped onto the field, the ball went straight back to the Wildcats on its first throw. Things didn’t improve after that. The Villanova offensive would return to the field after a brief offensive show from the Elon offensive. The Phoenix Defense closed it again, but the punt return was dropped and restored by Villanova special teams. In three short, rapid minutes, the Wildcat offensive was on the field twice and benefited from the second drive. Cheek praised the defense for holding up when his offensive continued to fall short. “Having three drives and only giving up seven points after two turns is pretty tough,” said Cheek. In the second half, too, the defense was able to keep the offense to only two touchdowns. For junior running back Jaylan Thomas, he recorded only five rushing yards for the entire game, his lowest value of the season. He said Elon’s offense struggled to find momentum against sixth-placed Villanova defense. “We knew that if we played our ball style we would be a close game in the fourth quarter, but we struggled to play our ball style,” said Thomas. “We struggled to gain overall momentum today.” Trisciani said the team will be back at work tomorrow to find out what the glitches were from today’s game and make corrections for next week’s game against the Towson University will make. “That hurts,” said Trisciani. “We’re going to make sure we set our goals for the week in training, we’re going to train with a goal and prepare to be 0-1 against Towson next week, you know it’s the only thing we know to do . “The Phoenix will travel to Maryland this Saturday for their final away game of the season.
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