Elon, N.C. Charles Evans came in during the last drive of the game for The Citadel and in a crushing hit, sent Elon quarterback Wes Pope to the ground in a play that was representative of the Bulldogs' dominating 44-7 win at Elon Saturday night. The Bulldogs and a Gatorade cooler-soaked Kevin Higgins led The Citadel to their most dominating SoCon victory since 2001.
Duran Lawson led The Citadel to their first road victory of the season as he went 14-for-18 with 223 yards passing and two touchdowns. His longest pass of the night came as a season high 80-yard pass went to freshman Andre Roberts for a touchdown. That pass was a career high for Roberts as well.
Roberts amassed 123 yards receiving, the first time since The Citadel's Oct. 14 game at Furman that a Bulldog receiver caught 100-plus yards. That previous mark was also Roberts as he caught 133 yards in that 23-17 loss at Furman.
Adding to the offensive onslaught was Tory Cooper, whose 109 yards made him the first Bulldog running back to rush for 100-plus yards in back-to-back performances since Nehemiah Brought in 2003. Cooper rushed for 150 yards against VMI last week.
The Citadel (5-6) finished the season with a winning Southern Conference record for the first time since 1992 when the Bulldogs finished the year with a 6-1 SoCon record en route to a Southern Conference Championship. The Bulldogs did that by winning four of their last five games, which has also not happened since that 1992 championship season. With the win, The Citadel clinched sole possession of fourth place in the Southern Conference standings. Elon ended their season with a 5-6 record, going 2-5 in the SoCon.
"I¹m just thankful our players came out and played hard and didn¹t have any turnovers,” said Higgins. “I was glad that we were able to pressure because Wes (Pope) is a great quarterback and they have some great receivers. Our kids were really excited about this game. It was a road game against a really good football team. Terrell (Hudgins) is a very good receiver. I think he¹s got a bright future."
The Citadel drove down on their first possession for an early field goal. Tory Cooper and Rontreal Tyler each caught a 14-yard reception to take the Bulldogs down to the six yard line before Blake Vandiver gave The Citadel the 3-0 lead with a 23-yard field goal.
The Bulldogs made it a 9-0 game at the tail end of the first quarter as Nuru Goodrum churned past two Phoenix players to score from 10 yards out. The Bulldogs were given great field position after James Wilson recorded his first career interception and ran the ball back 49 yards to the Elon 31-yard line.
The Citadel gained nine yards on the first play from scrimmage in the drive after Gary Domanski made a leaping nine-yard catch before falling out of bounds before Cooper rushed for four yards for a Bulldog first down. After an incomplete pass, Lawson ran the ball to the Elon 10 yard line before Goodrum punched the ball in for the score. Vandiver shanked the PAT, his first such miss since Sept. 23 at Pittsburgh.
On the Bulldogs next drive, Andre Roberts quickly extended The Citadel lead after Roberts scored on an 80-yard touchdown catch. That one play, 80-yard drive lasted only 26 seconds as Roberts broke past several Phoenix defenders in a career high for the true freshman and a season high for the Bulldogs. The play, coming at the 12:01 mark in the second quarter, gave The Citadel the 16-0 lead.
Redshirt freshman Derek Moore tacked on the next six points for The Citadel on a seven-yard touchdown pass from Duran Lawson with 5:25 left in the second quarter. Moore scored his first touchdown of his career after a nine-play, 57-yard drive that captured 4:11 off the clock.
The Phoenix' best chance to score in the first half came with 00:54 remaining as Andrew Wilcox missed a 45-yard field goal. The ball fell just short of the uprights and The Citadel headed into the locker room at halftime with a 23-0 lead.
On Elon's second possession in the second half, Joshua Lawson recorded his second interception of the season as he ran back Wes Pope's pass for 11 yards. That interception set up a 30-yard rush by Tory Cooper, bringing the Bulldogs to the Elon one yard line. Goodrum scored his second touchdown of the game with 7:57 left in the third and a Vandiver PAT gave The Citadel the 30-0 lead.
Goodrum went for the trifecta with 2:31 in the third quarter as he scored on a one-yard run. Goodrum scored his third touchdown of the game, a career best for the senior running back, putting the Cadets up, 37-0. Goodrum's third touchdown closed out a six play, 82-yard drive that lasted only 2:22.
Elon finally put some points on the board early in the fourth quarter as Pope threw a 14-yard touchdown pass to Terrell Hudgins. Pope connected to Hudgins on two other plays in that drive for a total of 44 yards before that 14-yard scoring pass.
Montrell Lee scored the final touchdown of the night on a five yard run with 7:36 left in the game. The Bulldogs quickly orchestrated a seven play, 83-yard drive that spanned only 3:19 that mainly featured rushes by Lawson and Lee. Cooper began the drive with a 17-yard rush up to The Citadel 32 before Lawson and Lee exchanged rushes for the remainder of the drive.
The final nail in the coffin came as time expired when Evans sent Pope to the ground in a crushing sack, a play that occurred just as Higgins received an ice shower of Gatorade from the players on the Bulldog sideline.
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