ELON, N.C. – The No. 4/5 William & Mary football team had its four-game season-opening winning streak snapped with a 14-6 setback at Elon on Saturday afternoon.
W&M (4-1, 2-1) led 6-0 after three quarters, but the Phoenix (3-2, 2-1) found the end zone twice in the final stanza to secure the conference victory. The scores were the first offensive touchdowns allowed by the Tribe’s defense since the season opener at Campbell.
The loss snapped W&M’s school-record nine-game CAA winning streak and marked the Tribe’s first regular-season loss in its last 12 contests.
W&M built its lead with a pair of field goals by Caden Bonoffski in the second quarter, coming from 32 and 45 yards.
Elon claimed its first advantage with a 16-yard touchdown pass from Matthew Downing to Chandler Brayboy early in the fourth quarter and added another score on an 8-yard strike from Downing to Jamarien Dalton with 5:54 remaining.
W&M drove to EU’s 12-yard line on its ensuing possession but was stopped short on a 4th-and-3.
Tribe Standouts
Running back Malachi Imoh led the Tribe with 132 yards on 27 carries, while Martin Lucas rushed for 95 yards on 13 carries. Imoh’s effort marked the third consecutive game in which he eclipsed 100 yards on the ground.
Cornerback Ryan Poole totaled a team-high 10 tackles with 0.5 TFL, while linebacker Alex Washington posted eight stops with a forced fumble. Defensive end Nate Lynn recorded four tackles with a strip sack. Linebacker John Pius also recorded a sack.
Inside the Numbers
W&M outgained Elon, 343-302, which included a 307-115 advantage on the ground. Elon entered the game allowing just 88.8 rushing yards per game.
The Tribe held Elon to just 4-of-11 on third down, earned six more first downs (19-13) and controlled time of possession, 33:20-26:40, but scored on just one of its three trips into the red zone and committed a pair of turnovers.
The Opposition
In addition to his pair of touchdown passes, Downing finished the afternoon completing 14-of-20 passes for 187 yards, while Brayboy posted four catches for 109 yards.
Jalen Hampton led the Phoenix’s ground game and rushed for a team-high 74 yards on 13 carries.
Defensively, Caleb Curtain totaled 11 tackles with a sack, while Marco Patierno recorded 111 stops with 1.5 TFL.
Notes
In addition to snapping a school-record nine-game CAA winning streak and marking the program’s first regular-season loss in 12 contests, the setback was W&M first on the road during the regular season since 2021 … With his sack, Lynn is now tied for second on W&M’s career sacks list (27) … Pius also moved into a tie for sixth on the Tribe’s career sacks list (19) and fifth on the program’s all-time TFL list (32.5) … The Tribe has not allowed any points in the third quarter this season … W&M is now 5-4 all-time against Elon and 3-2 at Elon.
Up Next
W&M will return to action when it concludes its non-conference slate at Virginia next Saturday at noon.
