ETSU headed into Saturday’s contest with the Elon Phoenixes looking for their third straight win. What they found was a new Elon and a defense that was as fierce as their own.
Elon, celebrating the school’s 800th game, defeated the Bucs 14-0 before a crowd of 8,353 on a beautiful day in Rhodes Stadium in Elon, N.C. The weather seemed to be the only nice thing about the Bucs’ experience.
“This was not a pretty game for us, and, without question, it was a huge disappointment,” Coach Paul Hamilton said of the loss.
The first half saw ETSU’s defense halt Elon standout running back Rashaud Palmer. But ETSU experienced problems in special teams early, as kicker Jon Godfrey had a punt blocked deep in Elon’s territory.
“We gave out the short field in the blocked punt, and we can’t do that,” said Hamilton.
Elon quarterback freshman Anthony Crews ran the football in for its first touchdown of the day.
In the first half, the Bucs converted only one of seven third-down possessions.
Hamilton said it was hard to play good football when the team does not convert third-down possessions.
The Bucs did have a chance to score a field goal in the third quarter, but Godfrey missed from 47 yards out wide to the left.
“I knew the game would come down to kicking and turnovers,” Hamilton said, referring to the team’s failure in both areas.
The second half saw Elon come out strong on their first drive and score on an option, making the score 14-0.
ETSU quarterback Carl Meadows could not connect with any of his receivers in the second half, including wide receiver Andrew Nuckolls, whom he has connected with so many times this season.
“I was holding the ball a little too long and started feeling the pressure,” said Meadows.
However, Gaven Varner rushed for 102 yards despite the passing game being lackluster.
“There is not an offensive position that is not open this week,” said Hamilton.
That could be because the team played its worst football of the season, having no scoring chances in the red zone.
“You can’t run your defense out of the field as much as we did,” said Hamilton.
The defense played well as they stopped Elon’s rushing, held Elon’s passing to 45 yards on the day and had one sack.
“I see a group of men with a lot of things going through their head, but we can’t let that keep us from winning,” said Hamilton.
This being the Bucs last season, some speculate that, psychologically, it could be hard to muster another win.
“Never say die,” said defensive back Tony Tiller.
Never giving up for the Bucs is a challenge, as the team only travels with a razor thin 56 players. The next challenge for ETSU will be facing powerful Southern Conference teams, including division 1-AA top 25’s such as Wofford, Furman and Georgia Southern.
“We are going to play as hard as we can for 60 minutes,” said Tiller.
The Bucs must pick up on the offense. They have scored fewer points in the last two games than they did in their season opener at Eastern Michigan.
“They know the decision they have to make is to play hard, and we will find out which players are committed,” said Hamilton.

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