Fresh off a 45-14 rout of Western Carolina at Gibbs, Wofford had won the last five games they played (three of which were SoCon contests), boasting a 5-1 record, only blemished by a 33-10 season-opening setback to the FBS Ohio Bobcats.
An early stalemate was broken by two drives capped off by the rushing power of Eric Breitenstein, who punched in two 18-yard touchdowns, with 6:36 left in the first quarter, and just over thirty seconds into the second quarter to secure a halftime advantage for the Terriers.
Mike Rucker shattered any memory of monotony left by the first half with his adrenaline-pumping 84-yard kickoff return to start the second half.
With a 21-0 lead, and all the momentum they could ask for, it seems that the Terriers were in the clear.
Elon's subsequent possession, which ended in a 16-yard touchdown pass from Scott Riddle to Aaron Mellette, marked the beginning of a time span that saw twenty-one points for the home team. But only fourteen of them were unanswered - but we'll get to that later.
Riddle launched two other touchdown passes, the first of which, a six-yard strike to A.J. Harris, came with about two minutes left in the third quarter.
A 24-yard pass to Sean Jeffcoat with only 3:32 remaining in the game tied things up at 21.
The clubs proceeded to trade fumbles and punts, until the Terriers received the football near midfield with about 1:30 left on the clock. What happened a few plays later can only be described in photographic form:
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| Screenshots taken from TerrierVision's video highlights. |
But I'll go ahead and give it a shot with words, anyway. With the game clock showing only nine seconds, Devin Reed jumped up in the end zone, in the midst of a few Phoenix defenders, holding the ball triumphantly as he ran towards his celebrating teammates. Reed had just won the game by catching a 41-yard touchdown from Mitch Allen that can only be described by one word: Miraculous.
An illegal forward pass concluded the doomed Phoenix lateraling attempt, and sealed an exciting 28-21 victory for Wofford.
Each side dominated their own offensive discipline, and it wouldn't be hard to guess what Wofford's was. Yep, rushing. The Terriers put up 246 yards to Elon's 67, and were led by none other than Eric Breitenstein's 31 carries for 153 yards and a pair of touchdowns.
The Phoenix recorded 232 yards through the air, compared to Wofford's 51.
Elon actually put up two more yards of total offense than the Terriers, but at the end of the day, what good is yardage if you don't put it to good use?
I hope you enjoyed revisiting the excitement of this game that brought Mike Ayers his 150th career win, and helped pave the road to a share of the 2010 SoCon title.
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