App vs. Elon, Part II
As of noon Friday, about 200 tickets for Saturday’s Appalachian-Elon game at Rhodes Stadium were available for purchase through Elon’s ticket office. The remaining tickets are for seating on a grass bank beyond an end zone at Rhodes Stadium.
Saturday’s game will be televised by SportSouth.
More on the Mountaineers and Phoenix:
Elon’s Terrell Hudgins, a friend of Armanti Edwards (the two communicate frequently by text messaging), will be a focal point in a matchup of two of the most prolific offensive players in FCS history.
Hudgins has more pass receptions than any player in NCAA Division I history (362) and last Saturday surpassed Jerry Rice as the all-time leader in receiving yards (4,812) in FCS history.
“I think if you break Jerry Rice’s record, you’re probably pretty good,” Coach Jerry Moore of the Mountaineers said. “He’s a great player. He’s got a world of talent…. A guy like that is going to make plays on you. You’ve just got to hope to have good enough scheme to keep those things to a minimum… That guy can grab it with one hand or could probably get two fingers around the ball and catch it.”
Hudgins didn’t have a particularly productive day last season in the Mountaineers’ 24-16 victory over the Phoenix. Hudgins, covered mostly by cornerback Cortez Gilbert, had three catches for 23 yards.
Elon won no more than four games in any one season from 2001 through 2005. Pete Lembo took over as coach in 2006 and the Phoenix improved to 5-6, 7-4 and 8-4 leading up to this year’s 8-1 mark.
Lembo on the rise of the Phoenix: “I think we’ve continued to evolve into more of a complete football team, whereas in the early stages of building a program we were a passing offensive team. We really couldn’t run the ball and we pretty much had to outscore you to be in the game. Really over the last two years a quality defense and a balanced offense has emerged. We’ve gone from being a team that got some attention for being able to throw it around to now being more of a complete football team.”
Still out there for the Phoenix is a first Southern Conference title, and first FCS playoff berth. It came close last season, but lost three of its final four games after a 7-1 and were left out of the playoffs.
Hudgins, a senior, says this has to be the year for a complete breakthrough.
“We’ve had the opportunity the last couple of years but couldn’t get it done and that hurts,” Hudgins said. “If we don’t get a conference championship or if we don’t get to the playoffs, that’s really going to hurt. It’s not the way I want to end my college career.”
Mario Acitelli, an offensive tackle for the Mountaineers, is looking forward to Saturday’s showcase game.
“Ever since I’ve been here there hasn’t been two unbeaten teams going against each other this late in the season,” Acitelli said. “We’re getting their best and they’ll be getting our best. That’s the way you want to play for a championship.”
Appalachian and Elon are 6-0 in Southern Conference games this season. Only once since the SoCon was classified as Division I-AA (now Football Championship Subdivision) have two teams met with 6-0 records, when Marshall and East Tennessee State played in 1996.
The Mountaineers have won 18 straight games against SoCon opponents, which is league’s longest streak since West Virginia won a record 30th straight game in 1959.
The Mountaineers have won all six games against Elon since it joined the SoCon in 2003. Last season’s 24-16 victory in Boone is the closest game yet since the series resumed.
In last year’s game, the Mountaineers took a 14-0 lead in the first half but the Phoenix charged back and led 16-14 in the third quarter. The Mountaineers then took the lead for good with a 22-yard touchdown pass from Edwards to Brian Quick.
Edwards, who sat out most of the fourth quarter with a hip injury, wound up passing for 147 yards and rushing for 104. Elon’s Scott Riddle passed for 196 yards.