It all went wrong for the University of Maine’s football team in its 43-17 Coastal Athletic Association pasting at the hands of Elon University at Rhodes Stadium in Elon, North Carolina Saturday afternoon.
With the exception of one touchdown drive in the third period and a meaningless one in the fourth, the offense was again inept. The Black Bears had back-to-back punts blocked and gave up a 24-yard punt return that set up a game-changing touchdown and the defense allowed touchdown plays of 57, 55 and 39 yards.
Elon, boasting one of the nation’s best defenses, improved to 4-1 overall and 2-1 in the conference while UMaine is now 1-4 and 1-1 and has lost four in a row.
Elon took a 5-0 lead on Luke Barnes’ 39-yard field goal and a safety when Anthony Pecorella’s second straight punt was blocked and this one rolled through UMaine’s end zone.
UMaine had a chance to take the lead after strong safety Jeremiah McGill intercepted an Elijah Guttman pass and returned it 14 yards to Elon’s 12-yard line.
But three plays produced only five yards so UMaine had to settle for a 24-yard field goal by Sam Tremblay with 8:38 left in the half.
Three minutes and 27 seconds later, following a Pecorella punt, Guttman opened the drive with a 57-yard touchdown pass to tight end Dylan Magazu to make it 12-3.
On its next possession, UMaine moved the ball to the Elon-45 and elected to try to pick up the first down on fourth and five.
But Eddie Buehler’s pass fell incomplete and the Phoenix made the Black Bears regret the decision to gamble when Kamerin McDowell-Moore raced 55 yards for a touchdown to enable Elon to take a 19-3 lead into the intermission.
Elon held UMaine to a dismal 90 total yards in the first half.
UMaine climbed back into the game with 11:18 left in the third period when Rashawn Marshall ran 30 yards for a touchdown following runs of 12 and 26 yards by Buehler.
But the Phoenix responded 4:32 later after Josiah Payton set them up at the UMaine-43 with a 24-yard punt return.
Following a 37-yard pass from Guttman to Jaedon Alford, McDowell-Moore scored on a six-yard run to restore the 16-point lead.
Barnes added a 34-yard field goal with 57 seconds left in the quarter after Elon recovered a fumble punt by Juelz Russell.
The Phoenix sewed up the win with 11:19 remaining in the fourth quarter when T.J. Crews IV came off the bench to replace the injured Guttman and tossed a 39-yard TD pass to Kenaz McMillian on his first play from scrimmage.
Magazu scored his second touchdown of the game when he lined up in the backfield and plunged into the end zone from the one-yard line to make it 42-10.
UMaine scored a consolation touchdown when Caden Drezek came off the bench and engineered a 10-play, 75-yard drive culminating in his eight-yard TD pass to Kevin Jackson.
Freshman McDowell-Moore rushed for 126 yards on 14 carries and two TDs. Guttman completed 11 of 29 passes for 179 yards and McMillian and Jamarien Dalton each caught three passes for 46 and 41 yards, respectively.
Derek Hite had a game-high 10 tackles for Elon. Brodie Carroll had nine and Tony Hart III had eight.
Marshall finished with 105 yards on 14 carries for UMaine and Nick Laughlin had 34 on nine carries along with a team-high three receptions for 30 yards. Buehler completed 14 of 35 passes for 88 yards and Drezek was 5-for-12 for 60 yards.
McGill paced the defense with eight tackles and the interception. Sam Oppenheimer, who came into the game leading the FCS in solo tackles with 29, had six tackles of which three were solo. Noah Carpenter and Derek Berlitz each had five tackles.
Elon outgained UMaine 376-315 with UMaine having a 167-158 advantage on the ground and Elon holding a 218-148 edge in the air.
Elon will travel to take on New Hampshire (1-4, 0-2 in CAA) next Saturday at 1 while UMaine will entertain CAA newcomer Sacred Heart (1-3, 1-2) at 3:30.
Sacred Heart will be coming off a 20-13 win over New Hampshire.